[Daily Geekery] November 30, 2010

I haven't quite worked out all the mechanics for these Daily Geekery entries. I think I'm only going to post them on week days since I don't share as much stuff over the weekend. But given my graveyard working schedule, am I counting local week days or US ones? Plus more content is published by US websites at night, so the whole US schedule makes a bit more sense.

Ah well, something else to puzzle over.

So to cut things short since I need to move on with my life, here are things I've shared since the weekend:

Links:

• TIME: The Tick, Tick, Tick of the Times - I think I've made it more than clear that I'm a big fan of TIME's James Poniewozik's writing. This this feature piece on why the news ticker may actually be a bad thing is remarkable - a great ready for anyone who cares about information overload on the news.
  
• Yahoo News: Marine pushback to permitting openly gay military - Beyond the seriousness of the issue at stake here, I just found the various examples and arguments used quite hilarious.
  
• Geekosystem: The Final Fantasy Period Table Of Elements - An awesome graphic - and the chemical symbols are also accurate!
  
• the garapata can speak...Given the chance, wouldn't you? - One of the teaser for the awesome new World of Darknes game that my partner Tobie ran at the November OGM. Yes, he actually had the Endless as characters!
  
• SugarSync - Yes, I've finally gotten onto the SugarSync bandwagon. Who wouldn't want 5GB of online storage right? Plus automatic back-ups and syncs plus pretty robust sharing features!
  
• io9: Is Haruki Murakami Hollywood's new Philip K. Dick? - A quick piece on growing discussions about Haruki Murakami movies on the horizon. I'm so for this!
  
• io9: We need more vampire slayers — just not more Buffy - An io9 rant about how we need more vampire slayers stories and not necessarily just more Buffy. Still, damn you Warner Brothers!
  
• Wise Bread: 8 Ways Convenience is Screwing Your Finances - An interesting list of reasons why "convenience" is not at all worth spending extra for.
  
• 5 Tips for Taking Great Vacation Photos - A quick list of ways to take better vacation photos while still actually enjoying your vacation.
  
• Gizmodo: 5 Things to Know Before Buying a Cordless Power Tool - What geek wouldn't want a new power tool, right?
  
• Gizmodo: A Cadre of Coffee Gifts for Caffeine Fiends - A list of great gifts you'd give a REAL coffee lover. And don't even think of getting me one of those useless Starbucks planners!

Images: Now how cool are these stamps? Videos: South Park Plagiarized College Humor
And that's your Daily Geekery for today!

[Comics] Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness (Vol. 3)

In your traditional comic book, each issue is a snippet of the world that the characters are involved in. And you really don't have that much time to cover a whole lot of the story within the limited pages of your standard comic book issue, but that's how the system works.

In a more limited series run, each issue becomes a heck of a lot more precious. And the big comic book companies capitalize on this by having very lengthy limited runs ranging from 6 issues all the way to 52 issues (we're looking at you DC Comics!). This gives them enough mileage to tell the kind of story that they want to tell while still brandishing the whole "limited" banner. It gets kind of cheesy, I know, but that's life in the comic book world now.

But then you get the truly limited runs that end up bloating each issue size beyond normal (and when I say bloat, I don't mean this in an overly negative way) but the end result is still fun. Thus you get the fulfillment of a rich story and something that is truly limited in scope. Personally, I'll always feel that six issues is the limit in terms of things. You get longer than that and it starts to become kind of cheesy.

[Movies] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part I (2010)

It’s somewhat strange to think that it’s been 13 years since Harry Potter first became a household name. Since then, a whole fandom has been created around the works of J.K. Rowling that has spanned seven books (plus additional supplementary titles) and is now on its seventh movie out of eight.

I doubt anyone could have predicted how far things were going to go, and this isn't even considering the impact her books had on other young adult authors who have followed in her footsteps. Just consider other book franchises that have experience success after the Harry Potter books such as the Eragon, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl and The Edge Chronicles series of books. More and more of them seem to be created year after year, much to the delight and horror of readers everywhere, depending on your perspective on things.

[Technicolor Musings] Stopping Hate Begins With Us

Lesbian & Gay Pride (185) - 28Jun08, Paris (France) by philippe leroyer via Flickr.

It's the second ever theorgy blogging day with the theme of "Discrinate, Not. Given the last theory was back in September and was about coming out, it's about time for another of these. I'm all for supporting the local LGBT blogosphere, or whatever you want to call it.

Discrimination - tricky topic when you get down to it. It's always easy to claim that someone is discriminating against you, but how often do you realize you're discriminating yourself? It's that nasty flip to the situation that we I feel we need to bring to the table as part of this theorgy.

Not bad, eh?

[Pink Scene] The 2010 LGBT Pride March On December 4

December 4 is not only Thai Environment Day in Thailand or Navy Day in both Italy and India, it's also the date of this year's LGBT Pride March! Sure, the traditional celebrations of Pride take place in June to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, but locally we always have a separate parade in December that coincides with December being AIDS Awareness Month.

This year's LGBT Pride theme is "One Love" and it also marks the first time the march is moving from Manila to the generously supportive Quezon City!



Straight Loves Gay (Philippine Pride March 2010)

For the details, a few links to remember:

• Online Registration Forms
  
• The Parade Route
  
• Guidelines and Reminders for Participants

Show your support and stand up for LGBT rights! And if you're not yet out, you can still join by wearing a mask or whatever elaborate costume you can come up with. The point is, if you value LGBT rights, then show up and support the cause!

Assembly time is at 02:00pm - see you there!


Lagy Gagita for Pride March Philippines 2010

[Daily Geekery] November 26, 2010

Given the US Thanksgiving Holiday, you can imagine how there wasn't as much new stuff being posted or discussed online. Not that there was totally nothing mind you - at least some folks decided to either schedule some posts or were actually at work for the holiday. Hooray for not having a life!

So here's the round-up of geekery from the past 24 hours:

Links:

• MTG Gatherer - Quintin Hoover - Yes, I actually began my day missing the older style of Quinton Hoover card art for Magic: the Gathering and I actually posted my search results. I am such a geek...and proudly so!
  
• Gizmodo: Lightning Review: Avatar on DVD - Gizmodo ran a quick review of the totally amazing Avatar DVD experience. I say it's amazing since the studios together with James Cameron apparently believe that we're into the movie without the benefit of 3D. Now isn't that something totally unbelievable and out of this world? *raises sarcasm sign*
  
• Lifehacker: 50 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For - In line with the Thanksgiving holiday, the Lifehacker team came up with a stellar list of 50 free web-based applications they are thankful for - and with very good reason! How many of them do you use?
  
• io9: Why did mammals evolve to enormous sizes - then get smaller again? - The geeky crew of io9 shared some interesting developments in research into the super-sized mammals of the past. It's a fascinating read and one that I hope you'll enjoy.
  
• io9: Which cities should get the retiring space shuttles? - With NASA's shuttle fleet being permanently retired, io9 opens up the discussions about where the last three should go. Naturally museums across the US are vying for one of the precious memorials of the space age and not all bids are going to be taken equally. Which museum do you think is going to get one?

Well, I know it wasn't much of a list of links, but that's what you get on a holiday. Still, we ought to be thankful for what we got - there are still some really meaty stories worth your geeky time.

And that's today's Daily Geekery!

[Movies] My Life In Ruins (2009)

A few weeks ago, my partner and I got into a major Nia Vardalos mini-marathon in a weird run of six degrees of movie watching. It's sort of what I refer to how while watching a movie you're reminded of another one and thus you queue that one up for viewing. This process repeats over and over again until you end up with a long string of movies to see and a whole day of your life spent in front of the television set.

No regrets there - these sessions only really happen when I'm together with my partner, so it does make for a rather geekily productive afternoon, evening or whatever statement of time is appropriate.

In this sense, Nia Vardalos movies are sort of a guilty pleasure. I love the way she writes comedy and of course the roles tend to only really work for her. I mean seriously, can you imagine anyone else trying to fulfill her role in the movies where she was the writer? Very, very strange indeed.

But this movie happens to be just one that she starred in and not necessarily one that she wrote.

[Daily Geekery] November 25, 2010

First, a very Happy US Thanksgiving Day to all you folks over in the United States! We may not celebrate the holiday around here, but given my work in the BPO industry, I still get what it's all about. So go enjoy your turkey! I kinda miss that dry, tasty bird.

So without further delay, items of geeky interest from the past 24 hours:

Links:

• CNN: 5 Facebook profile pics that make you look like a tool - You have to admit, you still see a lot of these kinds of profile photos around.
  
• CNN: Miners' deaths a national tragedy, New Zealand prime minister says - Mining remains to be one of the most dangerous professions around. At least until we can figure out a way to automate this somehow. Where are the robots George Jetson?
  
• Inquirer: 5 indie films highlight metro film fest - While they're not precisely in the MMFF itself, at least independent films are starting to get recognized in a better fashion. So when will we wake up and realize a film festival cannot thrive on trope-y Filipino movie archetypes anymore?
  
• Gizmodo: The Best Notebooks of 2010 - Darn, some of these had me looking at my netbook in an evil way. But no, I must buy a new desktop for games first!
  
• How-to-Geek: The Eightfold Noble Geek Path - A Buddhist-inspired path to nobility for geek programmer and system administrators.
  
• Yahoo News: Conservatives at odds with Vatican over condoms - While I doubt the Pope is going to clear the air anytime soon, I'm sure we all agree that he needs to come out and made a definitive statement soon. Instead he's stuck to being sneaky and flip-flop-ish by sneaking his comment into a book instead of a papal statement.
  
• Inquirer: Survey has to say what’s in RH bill - While surveys are always potentially vulnerable to badly-framed questions, somehow I don't think the Bishop's counter-example was a very good one.
  
• Inquirer: Still no winner for P633-M Grand Lotto jackpot - Okay, this particular lottery pot is getting pretty scary now. Anyone who wins is bound to get robbed or something shortly after collecting their winnings.

Images: Videos: Four Fat Sausages

[TV] Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 2

The second season tends to be a make-or-break season for any show, perhaps more so than the first. The first season generally gets you out there and most make it to the end. It's not a noble move - it's more because studios tend to at least give a show that long to prove themselves, hence the reason first seasons tend to be a bit shorter. But once you've survived this initial hurdle, the second season acts as a much taller one.

And for a science fiction show, it's probably one of the highest possible hurdles of all. We've seen many shows in the science fiction and fantasy genres die in their second seasons despite strong support for their initial runs. Joss Whedon's Dollhouse ended in this manner. So did the ever charming Pushing Daisies.

Thankfully, this show survived it's second season challenge, although whether or not it was really a strong enough season is hard to say. This one didn't particularly enamor me in any significant way, but it was still a good addition to the growing mythos of this particular chapter in Star Trek history.

[Daily Geekery] November 24, 2010

And here are all the geeky items of interest I shared over the past 24 hours. With luck you might enjoy some of them. Otherwise, do let me know - your comments are always appreciated!

Links:

• Google Doodle Touts 'Barefoot Contessa' Ina Garten's Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe - Google + Ina Garten = weirdly awesome.
  
• TIME: Ain’t That a Stake in the Heart: Warner Rebooting Buffy… Without Whedon - I'm a big fan of James Poniewozik's TV commentaries and this quick dip into the sans Whedon Buffy movie reboot. Good points all around.
  
• Geekosystem: Philosoraptor’s 50 Wisest Musings - Call me late in terms of this particular meme. But thanks to Geekosystem, I am now fully up-to-date regarding the awesomeness of the infamous Philosoraptor.
  
• Inquirer: Appeal to Pope: Allow condom use for couples - While I don't see the need to petition Pope Palpatine for anything really, it's interesting to note local government officials trying to weigh in on the issue and not just act as parrots for the Church.
  
• CNN: After strike, SK leader calls for 'enormous retaliation' against NK - This whole Korea situation does unnerve me. Of course given recent rhetoric between the two nations, I feel like things should die down in time again as the politicians take lead once a few political concessions are made. But it's hard to say at this point so we'll just have to wait and see for now.
  
• BBC News: Vatican clarifies condom comment - When the news about the Pope's new book came out, everyone jumped on his analogy about HIV positive male prostitute. While radical, the statement was still something that people could deny as being isolated. In a follow-up, the Vatican has now clarified that it's possible that the use of condoms to be used to prevent the transfer of HIV could be seen as less wrong that the contraceptive effects. It's not a full pass, but it is a sweeping statement that applies to both men and women. Take that CBCP!
  
• SlideShare: YOU SUCK AT POWERPOINT! - Yeah, this presentation sums up a number of my pet peeves about horrible work PowerPoint presentations quite nicely.
  
• Inquirer: Senate starts livestream of sessions - so our local senate is now livestreaming their sessions on the web for greater transparency. Modern C-SPAN much?
  
• Break.com: Geek and Gamer Girls Director's Cut - So I didn't catch this video when it first made the rounds of the web, so sue me. But then at least I've caught this awesome director's cut. Two points: (1) I so want a gay version of this and (2) Seth Green has his cute moments, doesn't he?
  
• EntertainmentEarth: Transformers Generations Deluxe Figures Wave 6 - I'm sorry, but that Thunderwing figure in the latest line of Transformers Generations toys is just awesome! I so want one of these!

Images:
A photo that is too awesome for words. Videos:
"It Gets Better" — Love, Pixar



Video Review of the Transformers: Generations Thunderwing

• CollegeHumor - Hardly Working: Wizard of Oz
  
• CollegeHumor - Honest 4 Loko Commercial

And that's today's Daily Geekery!

[Writing] NaNoWriMo Week 4 Update

Well, it's over.

I know, I know, there are still another six days in the month of November, whose end also marks the deadline of the NaNoWriMo challenge as well. As I've already mentioned in my personal blog, the combination of events that happened this month including my partner's first time to visit Boracay (with me of course), the discovery of OCTGN and joys of being able to play Magic: the Gathering again and my loss of Google Docs access at work, my progress in finishing ground to a halt.

It's okay - at least I tried. I knew my chances were slim this year because of the big Boracay trip plus the fact that wasn't overly excited about my story concept. As simple as it was, it wasn't all that compelling. Plus juggling five storylines at once was a bit too taxing. Still, I might revisit that particular story some time and get around to finishing it.

I might squeeze in a bit more writing just to have a somewhat decent finish. No promises though.

[Daily Geekery] November 23, 2010

I share a heck of a lot of stuff on my social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, but it's not usually stuff about me. In fact, it tends to be stuff I found online via all my RSS feeds in Google Reader in an effort to share interesting updates with my friends.

But since not all of you readers (1) follow my Twitter account or (2) even have Twitter, I figured it might be fun to run a quick summary of all the stuff that I've shared over the past 24 hours. Since most US news comes in the wee hours of the night while I'm at work (yeah, yeah, graveyard shift and all) the bulk of my shares tend to come in at that time.

So here's the round-up for today!
Links:

• Official Google Docs Blog - A bridge to the cloud: Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office now available to early testers - As a Google Docs user for many years now, this is tremendous news. It's interesting how instead of just making Google Docs more and more distinct from MS Office, they've taken the smarter path by trying to integrate better with it. So why use the online MS Office at all when Google syncing will become that much easier?
  
• "io9: Jason Stackhouse's pulls on the pleather for his superhero film Griff So apparently Ryan Kwanten, who plays the stupid yet physically impressive Jason Stackhouse on True Blood is appearing in a superhero movie. I didn't really pay much attention beyond that since we all know his core demographic just want to see him in tights (or a heck of a lot less). So that's enough for now.
  
• Scott Adams Blog: Scan or Pat Down - Scott Adams, creator of the geekily popular comic Dilbert, had a pretty awesome post about the new TSA security measures. Believe me, it's worth the read.
  
• Task Force Pride Philippines: 2010 LGBT Pride March - Guidelines and Reminders for Participants - For those interested, here's a detailed run-down of what you need to know if you're going to participate in this year's LGBT Pride March in Quezon City.
  
• io9: Tintin meets H.P. Lovecraft in this mind-bending mash-up art - Tintin + Cthulhu = AWESOME!
  
• io9: It's really happening: Warner Brothers reboots Buffy The Vampire Slayer without Joss Whedon - Sadly, Warner Brothers has announced a non-Joss Whedon Buffy reboot movie. And soon the Four Horsemen shall appear on the horizon.
  
• Cracked: The 20 Stupidest GI Joe Vehicles Ever - While I was never a big G.I. Joe fan, should I still feel guilty that I happened to have #3 on this list?
  
• "BusinessWorld Online Edition: Improving the transport system - This was an interesting analysis of what it might take to fix the horrors of Manila traffic. While I doubt that anything will be done related to this article right away (if at all), it'll probably help to keep passing this along.

Images:
Geekosystem: Schrödinger’s Cat Is AliveDead
And that's your Daily Geekery for today!

[Comics] Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Vol. 2)

For an independent comic book creator, what is the biggest goal for them? Seriously, have you ever thought about why these guys spend so much of their own hard-earned money of a gamble of sorts just to get a concept out there in the public eye? Is it for the money? The fame? Or are they paying off a debt to the Dark Lord in exchange for their artistic talents?

Frankly, there's no universal answer, as is the same for most things in life outside perhaps basic arithmetic. But I'm sure each creator with a story to tell has a reason he or she wants to tell it. And if anything, perhaps one of the more fundamental goals is to get that story out there and to have other people enjoy what you've created.

Of course reach tends to involve money and fame somewhere down the line, so those are certainly tangential bonuses. And when your story becomes a movie, I can only imagine the kind of fulfillment that gets you. This is but another part of what eventually became a movie with the same name this year, but it's pretty good all the way.

[Movies] Megamind (2010)

It's always annoying when we as movie-goers experience the typical Hollywood behavior of borderline plagiarism. You know what I mean - whenever different studios just happen to come up with movies that are highly similar to one another in terms of concepts. Thus we end up wondering if either of them are worth it and will probably go see both and run the risk of disliking neither.

The first example that comes to my mind is how Armageddon and Deep Impact came out in the same period. Both dealt with Earth-threatening asteroids from space and how humanity deals with it. I felt Deep Impact was a lot more fulfilling from a plot sense but of course Armageddon had an Aerosmith soundtrack and thus more people went for that. Call me elitist right now, har har.

This was definitely another of those cases with the movies being released a few months apart (or thereabouts). I won't get into a direct comparison of one to the other - let's just discuss whether this movie was worth it on its own. Then maybe we can explore that prior notion in a blog entry of itself.

[TV] Queer As Folk (US) - Season 2

It's funny how things that were almost monumentally important before may not seem quite so now. It's the curse of the progression of time in our linear existence, I suppose. We move on to bigger and better things and thus we easily forget the past.

Once upon a time, gay characters on prime time television was a rarity outside the realms of comic relief. Let's face it - it just wasn't quite as socially acceptable to have them "prancing around" on national television in those years. But now it's become a lot more accepted, although it's been a while since we've had gay characters in lead roles within a show outside of things they broadcast on Logo.

It's sort of strange to think that there's an entire generation of new young gay men and women who have yet to see this series. Then again, it's not like it was ever broadcast on television locally - it was always something you heard about from friends and had to acquire digital copies for yourself. I guess that may not be a bad thing - it sort of adds to the mythos around the show and why it's important to so many people.

And hopefully these reviews will help people become aware of what's out there as well.

[Movies] Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)

I'm pretty sure I wrote a review for this movie before, but that was back when I only used Multiply was my only output for geeky reviews and such. But since a proper review doesn't exist on this blog at this time, I figured it was okay to write an "official" version to be recorded well into the far flung future.

As part of my roster of actresses that I love, one major one among them is the most beloved Dame Judi Dench. And it's not just about her prowess in dramatic roles. She's actually quite good a comedy - perhaps devilishly so, and it's always a treat to see her in such roles here and there. It certainly is a testament to her wide range of skills as an actress and that deserves a heck of a lot of credit no matter how you look at it.

Yeah, she was great in the James Bond movies and all, but I know I really, absolutely fell in love with her when she played Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love. Then this movie came along and I knew I was hooked to loving her totally. I mean seriously, how can one resist her wiles, yes?

[TV] Star Trek Voyager: Season 4

In any long-running show, there always seems to be that season that makes or breaks the show. When a show gets past the first few seasons, the pressure mounts to come up with more and more dramatically challenging plot twists. Sometimes the gamble works. Other times it fails miserably, and hence we live with the term "jumped the shark" in terms of TV shows that went too far in this regard.

A lot of the Star Trek shows have all had their moments like this. Thus depending on your level of dedication to the franchise, there are varying recommendations in terms of when it's "safest" to start watching a particular Star Trek series. For example, you should only watch the first two seasons of the original series. Or perhaps skip the first season of The Next Generation. The time frames differ from case to case and really depending on the personal opinions of persons involved.

Many feel that for Voyager, you should either start at this season or end with it. The nuances are many and why one or the other can be determined to good or bad ultimately hinges on one thing - your opinion of Seven of Nine.

[Writing] NaNoWriMo Week 3 Update

Well, we're significantly past the halfway point in terms of this year's NaNoWriMo challenge, and as you can see I'm well below even just the halfway target of 25,000 words. My word count has been largely frozen ever since we fully got into our preparations for our big Boracay trip together with my boyfriend. I thought I might be able to squeeze in some writing time during the trip, but of course that didn't happen.

So as you can see by looking at the colored calendar to your right. I have a lot of red boxes starting right before the weekend. Not something I'm proud of, but I can proudly declare that at least my partner and I had a heck of a lot of fun at Boracay and it was worth every non-writing minute of it.

But yeah, I have a heck of a lot of writing to make up for.

[Comics] Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Vol. 1)

Venturing outside the big name comic book brands is always quite an adventure. Sure, the likes of Marvel and DC Comics have done a stellar job of nurturing and developing (and even exploiting) some of the world's most beloved characters and they're a pretty good set of comic books to fall back on.

But the world of the independent comic book and all the other smaller brands out there is still a heck of a lot of fun too. There are a lot of wonderful and unique stories to be told out there and you can't just stick to the big boys in order to find them.

Of course adventuring into such territories can be a mixed bag at best. It means dealing with limited supply, sometimes rushed issues, poor print quality and a whole host of other problems. But I'm pretty sure I'm in the right when I say that it's definitely worth all the hassle, no matter what other people say. Because you're going to find some pretty awesome comics out there that no one else might have gotten a chance to because they stuck to the largely familiar.

[Movies] Buried (2010)

I can totally relate to how a movie maker must feel like he or she thinks there's a really good concept that deserves to be translated into some creative output. And then you run with the idea, you make whatever it is you like to make and then presto - you end up with something that doesn't quite as look as good as you thought it would be as far as your imagination was concerned.

Things always look a heck of a lot better in your head. I say that as a guy who has tried his hand at creative writing, is attempting NaNoWriMo again and doing pretty much just what all geeks do at one point in their lives or another. Yes, this includes slash-fic. But let's get back to the point.

Some movies sound great in your head. Some movies seem awesome as a screenplay. But in between the time it stopped being an idea and ends up with a decent movie budget and ends up on the silver screen. Sometimes it's wonderful and magical or maybe even just amazingly brilliant in its originality. Other times it's a pile of crap and we as members of the audience end up feeling like we were somehow cheated out of a good movie.

Or maybe we just feel like it was such a waste since there was so much potential.

[Technicolor Musings] A Doctrine of Prejudice And Ignorance

I got into a minor argument with a more conservative friend of mine this week. Well, I felt it was an argument - I think he only sees it as a misunderstanding or me not respecting the need for the culture of his Facebook Wall or whatever he wants to call it.
It all started when he posted Katy Perry's latest video, Firework, on his Wall to celebrate how much he liked it and how he envisioned it as a song to carry along with his friends headed to World Youth Day next year. Given the content of the video includes a wonderfully poignant moment of a young gay man finding the courage to make his feelings known for another guy. For those who haven't seen the video, you definitely should - check it out:


Katy Perry - Firework

I replied with a short message of "Go gay love!" or something like that, fully knowing the irony of the video that he had posted. I didn't actually expect an acknowledgment - that would have made total sense to me given the beliefs he so publicly espouses. But instead he sends me a personal note to explain why he had to delete my comment given his other friends and how as much as he respected "my views", he needed to think about his other friends and how this might affect their opinion of him.

So yeah, naturally I flipped out, replied with a lengthy email about bigotry, hypocrisy and how he doesn't get to celebrate a video that prominently features support for gay relationships then turn around and tell me I shouldn't post stuff like that on his wall because of everyone else. Yeah, he only has a problem with "my views."
And thus we get to today's Technicolor Musings post about my continuing beef with the Catholic Church and how I don't expect us to peacefully co-exist if they keep up their currently practices.

[Movies] Gypsy (1962)

These days, when I hear about the possibility of another major Broadway musical being turned into a movie, I tend to cringe. As much as I hope for the best, it's never easy to translate the grandeur of a full musical into a usually 90-minute cut-up version on the silver screen. And my love for the original musical does not always translate into an automatic love for the movie (take THAT evil Hollywood producers!) since they're still completely different mediums. There are some things that just don't work quite as well in a movie, especially given the way movies are made today.

Granted, once upon a time a heck of a lot of movies were based on musicals and many of them are now timeless classics that we'll never forget. But in those days a lot of movies were speaking bits interspersed with big dance numbers that still followed the same sensibilities (and limitations) of the theater. As you watch those old movie musicals again you'll notice the need for extra large sound stages, attention to the spotlights and of course costumes, costumes and costumes. It may be a limitation to some, but it's definitely part of the charm.

So how did we get from there to here? Why do movie musicals have to seem like a potential train wreck unless they target the Disney demographic for more reliable numbers? Beats me, but perhaps movies like this one might lead to a potential explanation in time.

[TV] Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 1

The Star Trek series certainly changed the science fiction television landscape when it first hit the television airwaves. Science fiction only had a particular look and feel prior to this series - your typical rocket shit props and your green-skinned aliens. Instead we got ourselves a major dramatic series that tackled a wide variety of serious issues and concepts all against the backdrop of a universe were aliens look a lot like us.

I think that's one of the things that made Star Trek work so well for me. It was a show that had no qualms about presenting the fact that the most alien occurrences and events are all things that we as humans remain more than capable of ourselves. It was really a venue for philosophical debate, exploring human values and beliefs and turning things on their heads every now and then.

The various incarnations of the series over the years have tried to change up the mix in terms of how to present the on-going adventures of these space-faring people. The first two shows had us exploring the galaxy in massive starships and battling strange alien foes. But this time around they decided to go away from such adventures and instead focused on more of the political environment from a fixed point in space.

[Writing] NaNoWriMo 2010 Week 2 Update

Well, we're well into the second week of this year's NaNoWriMo challenge and I'm finally pretty much at par for the course. That's a bit of an achievement in itself, but at least I'm keeping at it. I keep saying that this year's attempt is not an overly serious one and it doesn't matter to me if I don't reach the goal, but there's something about seeing that darn graph NaNoWriMo provides. It just keeps goading me on to push harder and harder.

As you can see by the cute little graphic there on the side, I've been in the red for most of the month. There's just so much other stuff to juggle alongside my pseudo novel writing. It certainly helps that the story is pretty simple and mostly involved concepts borrowed from other stories and franchises. It does have that ripoff quality to things, but then as we keep saying, it's about the quantity this time and not the quality.

For the curious, my still untitled novel is based around the Magic: the Gathering archetype. So that means five wizards, five worlds but of course one big problem that has appeared in five different forms. Each world has started to lose in their fight against the invaders or whatever they end up calling them and they decide to seek the aid of their colleagues in the hopes that a better solution might be determined.

Yeah, nothing to write home about but it works for me.

Wish me luck fellow geeks!

[Comics] The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home

The comic book medium is certainly unique among all others. Let's face it, as much as we give a lot of credit to books for requiring the use of one's imagination to carry the story along, a comic book is a nice balance between visual imagery presented to you and room to try and imagine what happens between the panels. And there's a heck of a lot action that takes place in those moments and that requires that slight little leap of creative faith.

The world of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series is unbelivably rich and remains unlike any other of his works that I've had the chance to read. Sure, it's a given that this was envisioned as a multi-book series while most of his other titles are standalone novels, but that's besides the point. He goes into so much detail in terms of how he created this completely different universe with chilling touches of our own world. And despite the expansive possibilities presented by a full seven book series, there's still a lot about the lands of Gilead and beyond that have yet to be written.

So I for one am glad that (1) these five comic book miniseries were authorized to being with and (2) thus far they've been made with a degree of skill and artistry more than worthy of the original books.

[Movies] Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

Canada is not exactly a place we know as a source of talent or creativity. And it's not because they lack any of that - it's a natural consequence of being the country right next to the huge-ass United States of America that tends to be heck of a lot louder about achievements but of course not necessarily any better.
Yeah, I'm mean. I'm not sure if it's a gay thing or a geek thing. Probably both.

But there's a heck of a lot of fun, geeky things to be found with Canadian origins - and I'm not just talking about William Shatner and Alex Trebek. There are a wide variety of other actors, artists, toy designers and god knows what else. And best of all, there are comic book creators and all that fun stuff.

And then some of these comic books actually become movies. Now that's even cooler, especially when the movie is done rather well.

[TV] Will & Grace: Season 3

Character development in a network sitcom is hard to track. You have to admit, it's hard for characters to grow in any way because they deal with significantly new situations and end up returning as close to status quo as possible at the end of the episode. The "reset" nature of many comedy shows leaves us with unchanging characters faced with a constantly changing environment. It works to some degree but after a while it starts to get old.

Once a comedy sitcom manages to get past the first year or so of just surviving, only then are the writers are given a bit more leeway in terms of where to go with their stories. Thus we find out the characters still have parents who are alive with funny stories of their own, long lost children come out of the woodwork and comic relief characters suddenly have more story than just the running gag that they normally contributed to. It's just how network television works - secure your audience base first, then become more creative and return to step 1 in case ratings start to dip.

I had always felt that this show had demonstrated a lot of amazing growth over the course of its development, even as early as the first two seasons. However the third was certainly a key point in the whole process and it led to some pretty interesting character revelations and a shift in the status quo (and then some).

[Movies] My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

I got on the Nia Vardalos train pretty late - in fact it wasn't until Connie and Carla that I learned to fully appreciate the unique brand of humor she brings to screen in terms of both of her writing and her acting. The combination of the two elements really help things along.

In a recent six-degrees style movie marathon, I started with an old movie and somehow ended up wanting to try out all the other major Nia Vardalos movies starting with that some would claim to be her big break in 2002 and the movies that followed from that point. I know she had movies prior to this one but let's face it, this was the truly big one that helped put her on the map for a greater majority of the movie watching world.

I know, I know, I'm not necessarily what some people might consider to be stereotypically one who would watch romantic comedies of this nature. But yeah, it's a sort of a guilty pleasure when you get down to it, one that is best indulged in with the company of the man you love.
Yes, I actually wrote that. Oh snap!

[TV] Stephen King's It (1990)

The fear of clowns is a rather odd quick of our society. Popular culture loves to tap into this dark little side of our nightmares - how such characters meant to make people laugh and be amused in one way or another eventually turned into such dark and scary things is a tad odd. But the fear is there and it's definitely hard to get over for some people. There's just something freakishly disturbing about the sight of a clown for some people.

Naturally the horror genre has taken full advantage of this fact. From evil Jack-in-the-boxes like in Demonic Toys, Clown in Spawn and of course Batman's Joker. Horror writers for various forms of media have tapped into this part of our shared history and made clowns even more menacing and evil than ever before.

When Stephen King first tackled this childhood image in the 1986 novel that this movie was based upon, it certainly struck a chord with many readers. Many call King one of the true masters of horror in our generation, and I'll always feel this book in particular makes for an excellent example of his unique creative skills and abilities. And the TV series that was eventually made based on this book was the stuff of nightmares for me as a child for many years.

[GeekyScrawl] My 2010 NaNoWriMo Attempt

I know, I know, it's already the third of November and it's only now that I'm starting to write about NaNoWriMo. So sue me - I had some killer work deadlines this week.

For the ignorant, November is not just the month before December but it's also National Novel Writing Month, although the National part probably isn't as accurate a descriptor as it used to be. The basic challenge is to write what could be termed to be a novel of at least 50,000 words within 30 days. Last year I managed to hit the 50,000 word count mark with my novel of sorts, The Interrogation, although I never officially finished the book as a whole. Boo on me, I know. I'll get around to it in time.

So despite the fact that I know I'm ridiculously busy this month with my workload, my first-ever trip to Boracay together with my partner and a bunch of other fun stuff, I'm still going to put in an attempt at writing a novel.

Last year I did a mixed genre piece that was predominantly science fiction in nature. This year I'm trying my hand at more of a fantasy piece with sort of a Magic: the Gathering feel to it. Sticking to familiar archetypes and pre-established universes does help speed the writing process along. I doubt it's going to be any good, but it's a fun exercise and I don't mind tossing my hat into the ring just for the hell of it. And who knows, I just might make the target, right?

So for the curious, you can follow my NaNoWriMo attempt this year at the creative section of the Geeky Guide, The Gossamer Tower, same as what I did last year. I kind of don't have a title for it just yet since I'm just starting, but that'll come along soon enough.

Or better yet, why don't you join in the fun, too?

[Books] Rath And Storm (Magic: The Gathering)

The Weatherlight Saga marked a major turning point in Magic: the Gathering history. Some argue that it's the most important story ever created for the series. Others contest that the sheer length and complexity of the story doesn't make it the greatest - it just makes it very long. It's hard to say really and the full impact of this storyline will probably be best understood many years from now.

The saga in itself eventually lasted for more than a dozen card expansion sets (depending on how you define which parts belong to the story or not) and a good number of books supporting it as well. Given I was already interested in the back story of the MTG universe to begin with, liking this series was a bit of a no-brainer when I really got down to it. Thus it's with some irony that I was pretty much off my MTG card collecting period by the time this story started gathering steam. And thus I only read the books now when I get the chance, even though I never played with the cards themselves.

I've already progressed past this book some time ago, but the joys of having a copy of a title that was once never returned to me was hard to ignore. And so I took a pause in my steady progress forward and read this book instead, just to make sure I covered all the bases, so to speak.

[Movies] The Social Network (2010)

Facebook is the biggest things since, well, I dunno. Social networks are always hit or miss when you get down to it - some succeed while others fail. Of course Facebook stands out compared to the others given how wildly successful it has gotten by making sure that the experience started in an exclusive, controlled setting and then grew from there.

Like any other tech giant, the story behind the origins of the company have piqued the curiosity of the world. One author or documentary filmmaker or another have tried to reveal more and more insights into the history of Facebook from different perspectives or angles. Some of them good, some of them bad - it's just the way that things go. Who knows what stories are actually the real ones - we tend to gravitate to the more interesting, controversial or probably exaggerated ones. Everyone loves a scandal after all.

It was pretty surprising how quickly this movie came into being, but then again Facebook is popular enough to get a priority budget and shooting schedule. The end results were pretty interesting and it does make for a rather entertaining movie.