Update: What’s Been Going On…

Well, I made an announcement here that I’d soon be a father and I’m finding now that, sadly, I have to retract that statement.  It pains me to say it, but it is the truth and while I’ve come to grips with it, I couldn’t have done it without the kind words and support of everyone I call friends and my amazing family, as well.  Every dark cloud has a silver lining and if you let the clouds loom too long you’ll be so consumed by darkness that you’ll never see that silver lining.  So it’s good to see it early to know that what’s happened may actually be okay in the end.

That said, on to something a little more…bright.

Before I started this blog, I was the host of The Talk Nerdy Show, an unpopular podcast that I put on week after week after hiatus after week with a rotating cast like none have ever seen before.  Eventually the cast dwindled down to me and I lacked the furthered enthusiasm to continue on.  And I started this blog just after, and mounted Spread The Nerd, which needs some TLC again.

I got to thinking and there’s no reason I can’t do it on my own.   So, here’s what’s to come;

I think I can collect enough talking points to do a show THIS week.  It’ll be on Wednesday night.  I’ll do it live either on UStream, or some other free service.  I’ll mention talking points coming up and take breaks.  During breaks I’ll set up with the audience for anyone that wants to join the conversation a chance to call in via Skype.    I’m going to attempt to broaden the scope of the show as far as topics go.  With TNS I got lost in doing too many reviews and really fell short on doing anything humorous or information based.  One thing I won’t be doing any more is comic book reviews.  Just a Couple of Gs does that and they do it VERY well, well enough to dedicate one of two weekly shows to the topic alone.  I’m going to stick to the other facets of geek life.  At the moment, I’m not sure about a title.  I’m considering “Talking To Myself” but am looking for feedback on that, and the idea as a whole. So, for the time being we’ll call this “Ryan Macdonald’s Big Damn Untitled Geek Podcast!”

And while the blog has been on sort of a break, I hope introducing the opinions of friends and colleagues to my show will inspire me to expand on things talked about on the show.

Please, everyone reading this, comment and let me know what you think.

 

Checking In, Updating, Reminding, Reinvigorating, Promoting

Been a while since I talked on here about Spread The Nerd.  Currently, we’ve got two comics care packages out there.  One in South Florida, one in North Florida.  Both have done their job and should be on their way to their next stops soon.  There’s the current map below.

-Taking a break from hash tagging #spreadthenerd on twitter just to let others do it, just a week.  I search #spreadthenerd a few times daily and am happy to see others doing it consistently.  Some have even added it to the end of their Follow Friday tweets.  Someone else has adopted it as his own thing to promote his music video, and the TV series Chuck uses it to promote the upcoming season 5.  Oh well, I haven’t been sued yet.

– Happy to report that there is a steady stream of views to this blog since starting Spread The Nerd.  Granted it’s about 11 a day or so, and they’re all from searches for DCs New 52, sometimes title and character specific.  Regardless, views is views and I’ll get more of them after I review this week’s batch of new titles.

–Just a Couple of G’s just did a three hour episode where they reviewed 27 new titles.  That’s insane.  Head over to where the link is pointed and give them a listen, they’re spoiler heavy but they have a way about discussing titles that is pretty awesome it’s a lot more than just “I liked it, it was good, this is what happened.”  And they call artists and writers out on their BS if they need to.  Good times.

-Friends, fans, anyone: My girlfriend is running a Munchkin Demo/Launch Party to celebrate the release of Munchkin Axe Cop next month (Oct 22nd) at Heroes Landing in Clermont.  Come on out and chop some heads off.  Or, find me and we’ll break out the Doctor Who-infused Star Munchkin deck and give that a whirl.  Speaking of…

-I’d put my progress on the new Doctor Who deck at about 80% finished.  I’ve got about 24 or 25 cards completely done and my revisions to the previous deck are done too.  I’ll just need to print and stick those next.  I still have another 3 to find art for and another 5-7 to write.  I’ll get another Munchkin Custom Card Project Update up today or tonight with pictures, as that seemed to be quite popular.

-Last, but not least, if you head over to Geek World Order you’ll find in the blog section, not only, are my Issues here reposted, but I’m also writing exclusives for them as well.

Anyway, everyone, that’s all from me.  Keep checking in here, on facebook, and twitter.  Join the Spread The Nerd cause and introduce some geek into someone’s life.

Hugs for Maddy

Relentlessly cheerful artist, James Hance has worked up a new Wookie The Chew doodle to help pay for medical bills for his, also relentlessly cheerful, daughter Maddy.  If you head over to his website you can snag yourself a copy of the print shown above, appropriately, titled “Off to Save the Princess.”  All proceeds go towards his Hugs for Maddy fund.

While you’re there check out his other prints as well.  Word is he’s working on some really cool new Doctor Who themed stuff!

Issue #6: The New 52!

Flash #1 cover art.

Since the Flashpoint event started at DC we’ve been hearing about The New 52.  Comic Con was completely buzzing with news and information revealing tidbits here and there of art and story in regards to the new books.  I’ve been hesitant when it came to these new books.  I will admit I wasn’t and am still not 100% on board.  I just read Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 back to back and the transition was smooth.  I’ll give them credit for that.  It didn’t feel like a cop out, it didn’t feel forced.  It was a well planned progression into a new era for the same heroes and it was executed well enough.  What I don’t like is that we’ve lost Power Girl, among other heroes, in lieu of titles that hold no narrative for the heroes that belong to DC but instead tell stories of war and the old west.  Which is just fine, I like a good war story, and I love a western good or bad.

I like that we were lead into the new DCU in some areas by ongoing stories, like in the case of the Green Lantern.  We were taken down this road through the three ongoing Green Lantern titles (Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Emerald Warriors) and when the War of the Green Lanterns ended the status was no longer quo.  If you don’t know what’s going on, the short version is that Hal Jordan killed Krona.  The guardians revoked his status as a lantern and sent him hurtling back to earth.  Stripped of his yellow ring, as it found a new more worthy host, Sinestro was standing by to receive Hal’s ring and become the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814.  The last thing we see is Hal standing on the side of the road in the desert and the words Green Lantern Returns in GREEN LANTERN #1!

Action Comics

For me it solidified a reason to have a new #1, a reason to start fresh.  It didn’t make it feel arbitrary at all, like I felt it was when I first heard the announcement.

When it all first started pouring out, I admit I met it with a slack jaw and keystrokes so swift they could melt plastic.  My nerd rage fuse was primed, lit, and ready to blow.  I mean, 14 Batman books, 6 Green Lantern books, Static Shock, wars and westerns, and not one single sign of Power Girl.  I’m a little sore about not having her around, I honestly did love her ongoing story, it wasn’t ever heavy handed and was rather light-hearted and genuinely fun to read.  There were a lot of things to be met with anger at first, the Teen Titans look ridiculous to begin with.  Every iteration of Robin has wings, Superboy looks like a frat boy, I don’t even know what the thing on all 4s is, this is hard to accept.  DC has a lot that’s hard to swallow across the board, Deadman looks like he borrowed and modified Nightwing’s disco suit.  Barbara Gordon is Batgirl again, even though she’s been in a wheelchair since The Killing Joke.  All in two weeks we had a LOT of stuff thrown at us that didn’t quite sit right.

Still, I’m not signed up for anything except Green Lantern and Batman & Robin.  As I stated earlier, I read Justice League #1 and the first time through I finished it confused about who it was written for.  It felt like the first episode of yet another Justice League animated series, and at the same time it felt like the transcribed playtime of a bunch of kids playing super heroes.  Batman was pitch perfect.  Green Lantern, who, despite the Green Lantern story line, is Hal Jordan, is grating.  Like they re-wrote the character to better match Ryan Reynolds.  There was even a little dispute, started by Batman about what city belongs to who, and it seemed…I don’t know…out of place.  I couldn’t tell if this book was for long time fans, kids, adults, new readers, or what.

Batman & Robin #1

Don’t get me wrong, it was action-packed and fast paced, I do wish it had been a bit longer and showcased the other heroes more than just Green Lantern and Batman.  There was a bit featuring Cyborg, but he wasn’t Cyborg yet.  Just Vic.  Superman makes an appearance in the last 2 pages and then we’re left with a cliffhanger.

But, let me pose this, if you read or have read Flashpoint #5 pay attention towards the end, there’s a visage of a hooded woman with markings all over and glowing eyes.  She speaks of there being three time streams, obviously these are the DC of old, Flashpoint, and DCnU.  Clever as it is to include this, it offers an obvious opportunity to revert back to the old DCU.  Anyway, I mention this glow-eyed woman for a reason, in the crowd at Vic’s football game in Justice League #1 it was pointed out to me, and his Twitter followers, by Jon Kovalic (Dork Tower) that the very same woman is sitting in the stands watching.  I suppose over the next few months (or years) this will be revealed to us.

But I’m not going to nay-say the new universe, I’m willing to give it a shot and let it fan out before I pass my judgement on the whole thing.  I’m going to read Justice League, Batman, Batman & Robin, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman up through January of 2012 and give my words on the DCnU then.  We’ve been given a Batgirl preview and we learned that The Killing Joke happened and she was crippled, but we still don’t know how she’s up and moving around, did she recover? Anyway, right now, I’m hopeful.  I don’t fear what’s to come, I’m not mad about it anymore, I don’t feel it’s arbitrary.  I get it now, and I welcome the change.

Bring it on DC.  Just, don’t turn everything around for a milestone issue that would’ve been. *coughfantasticfourcough*.  Oh yeah, and don’t forget to spread the nerd.

Update: Spread the Nerd

Sorry there hasn’t been a real update in a while. A lot of what’s coming is all to do with Spread the Nerd. It has been embraced across the board and I’d be a fool to not stick with it. That said, issue #6 is in the works and will compile 101 ways to spread the nerd, if I can come up with so many.

Spread The Nerd — Follow Up

Yesterday was pretty awesome.  Retweets, reposts, support all around the Florida geek community and from others across the pond.  Spread The Nerd right now is an idea that needs to be passed on.  This is something I can’t facilitate on every level.  What I can do, is what I’m working on for this now.  A centralized location.  I’ll get a URL up here as soon as it’s registered, but what I hope to do is provide a location for those of you sending things out or giving things away to say that you have.  For now though, e-mail me at spreadthen3rd@gmail.com

Look, I can’t possibly get this out to everyone it needs to get out to on my own, so re-post the previous entry here in your blog.  Retweet the link. TREND #spreadthenerd.  Kick over trash cans and tell someone about it.  When the website is up we’re gonna get letterheads to download and print off and a logo to print out or post on your website.  Facebook pages to like the campaign.

This was, seriously, a fleeting idea I had and made a post about.  But over the course of the last 24 hours, you, my friends, have encouraged me to mobilize this thing and kick it into high gear.

Tell everyone!

After the break is detail of what to do if you’re going to take part.

Issue 5: The Sexual Orientation of Puppets

Last week it was announced by the people in suits at Sesame Street that Bert and Ernie are not gay.  They are, in fact, best friends and have no sexual orientation whatsoever.  My question is this; was that necessary?  Ever since this news hit last week I’ve read several opinions on both sides of this argument and given the opinions of others and the final decision from Henson studios I’ve got a few things to say about the whole thing.  First, Sesame Street could benefit greatly from a gay character.  A gay character.  One.  And not a puppet an adult.  They can teach tolerance for other people and their sexual orientations at a young age.  Some may say that there’s no need for that, but with homosexual relationships as celebrated and publicly open as they are now kids are inquisitive and it’s not about if they’ll understand, it’s about the fact that one day they’re going to ask.  So, yes, a gay human character on Sesame Street could be quite beneficial.

Issue 4: My Line of Work/Doctor Who

Some time ago I’d walked into a comic shop, the now defunct Bad Apple Comics in Leesburg, FL, and apparently “foolishly” asked what was good to jump into.  The answer I got was baffling, because it pretty much solidified the reason why I refer to them as “the now defunct.”  The clerk told me, in essence, that to read anything now would be hard to do as there were series upon series upon series of books to read first.  Luckily, some years later, I’d walk into Heroes Landing and hear a far wiser voice regarding the current state of what to read.  Regardless of that, upon hearing about the myriad of stories I’d need to be knowledgeable about to know whats going on at all I took it upon myself to sit down and flesh out a world where I could create stories that would be approachable from day one.  What came to life from that would be the epic and harrowing tale of a nameless ronin who’d live his life cast out of his family and the order which he swore devotion to.  He traveled the land with nothing but his sword and his guitar.

At the time of planning the books, this was the first and only incarnation of the hero from the, then, artist Kevin Woody

Issue 2: The Two Hundred Million Dollar Turd

Battleship.  Why?  Why do we need a Battleship movie?  Who decided what the world needs now is another toy property movie series?  Because we know that’s what this is going to be an attempt at.  You know what made the first Transformers movie good?  Demand.  People wanted it, everyone wanted it, and for the first time in his career there was something staring Michael Bay in the face that was actually meant for him.  And what happened?  It made a ton of money.  Now, we have two sequels, one of which is probably one of the worst movies in the history of professional cinematography as well as a two big dangling smudges on face of Dreamworks, the company that brought you Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, and a behemoth of a robot’s big swinging nuts.  So, Transformers is money, so let’s move along down the line and let’s see if we can repeat that success with another property.  This is when Hasbro steps in and says “Here!  Take them all!”  So now, what’s on the docket?  GI Joe and sequels, Battleship, View Master, Monopoly, and Candy Land.  WHAT?!  Are you @#!*% kidding me?  Let’s just pay Kevin James a ton of money to flap his gums and eat balls for 2 hours and we’ll call it Hungry Hungry Hippos!

No, wait, someone beat us to it, The Zookeeper is already a movie.  Darn the luck.

I’ll tell you what I absolutely despised about Avatar.  People went to see it because it looked good.  Not because the movie was good, or because it had a compelling story, or interesting characters, or because it positions itself to be a poignant film touching on topics that are actually issues in our real lives. Nope, it didn’t have any of that.  It had a contrived plot that’d been done two thousand six hundred and fifty-seven times before which managed to cram in a ham fisted message that was spoon fed to audiences with a snow plow.  You know why I’m completely opposed to Battleship after seeing only one trailer?  Because, I’ve seen it already.

Issue 1: Introductions/Comic-Con/Captain America

Hello!  Let’s start with a bit about myself.  I’m a 25 year old professional geek, I live with my girlfriend that I hope to soon start planning a serious future with.  And our dog, Gypsy, who tries to drink out of anything that has water in it and responds to the sound of The Doctor’s interstellar time machine, The TARDIS.  I used to host a fledgling little podcast called The Talk Nerdy Show but due to the complications of everyday life I felt it was time to pull the plug, it was fun while it lasted and I’m sure I’ll be at it again in no time.  I’m struggling to get any one of my three comic book scripts off the ground, keep my sanity in tact and my stress levels low at my place employment, I’m a dispatcher for my dad’s A/C repair company, and all while maintaining an interest in the few things I’m passionate about.

One thing I’ve been having, and really always had trouble with is my weight.  If you know me, you know I’m a big guy.  If you don’t, you do now.  And if for no other reason I need to get into better shape than I’m in now for the sake of our poor couches.  I went and paid for a gym membership I’ve used it all of a day. I dunno, I mean I want to go, and I really should be going but it’s just not all that appealing compared to staying in bed for a little bit longer.  Hey, I’ve got a GREAT idea.  Let’s get up extra early and go walk without actually going anywhere while terrible R&B and Pop music is blasted as loud and with as much bass as humanly possible across 800 tiny speakers in an attempt to get you pumped while accomplishing next to nothing.  A pound or two a month, that’s how this works.  NO!  I want to microwave s’mores for breakfast and watch another video of a cat trying to fit into increasingly smaller boxes before work.  But I gotta do it, I guess.

During the break from TNS we took, we went down to South Florida to visit my grandparents and to step into TATE’S Comics for the first time in about 15 or 16 years. We brought with us our increasingly large collection of Munchkin, and, if you’re not aware of the game you will be just by listening, as Caitlin’s quest to become an MIB for Steve Jackson Games is well underway.  Anyway, my family is, traditionally, not a set for new things, especially some of my cousins.  “Hey do you want to play a card game?” I was afraid would be interpreted as “Hey, let’s play poker/war/goldfish/etc.” but I was surprised how willing most were to play the game and to later see how excited to play again they were.  I thought for sure my cousins would take the “This is complicated…” road right out of things, like dear old dad.  But I’m pleased to report that they’re all anticipating several rounds of rematches in the coming week’s beach trip.  That said, I find myself completely enamored with SJ Games and Munchkin for the simple fact that they made it easy to customize the game on my own whim.