[Geeky Guide] The End Of Another Geeky Year

Well, it's the last day of the calendar year. And what a wonderfully geeky year it has been.

For the Geeky Guide, I'm glad that my partner has been supportive enough to help me find the time to update a lot more regularly. I fleshed out a more systematic schedule of posting topics and theme days. I have no idea if you guys like it, but it has made my life a lot easier from a pseudo-OCD frame of reference.

I felt this was a big year for geeky movies. Beyond just the superhero stuff we've steadily seen in the past years, 2010 had us enjoying Kick-Ass, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, James Cameron's Avatar, Red and the quirky Zombieland. Even the remakes and reimaginations weren't too bad given the old school franchises they celebrated such as Tron: Legacy and maybe The Last Airbender if you want to at least include the effort. And of course you have landmark movies like Inception, that totally changed the landscape for a lot of us.

My area of the geeky book and comic book worlds weren't too fun. Blackest Night ended with a whimper. The Thanos Imperative was a bit of a genetic eunuch. Doomwar was the only one that made me feel a bit better. I didn't really get into any new series of books this year for some reason - I guess nothing really caught my eye. I wanted to join the whole steampunk genre but it's a heck of a challenge to get books like The Windup Girl here in the Philippines.

On a more personal note, I totally got suckered by Hasbro and their Transformers: Generations line of toys. I have almost all of them in my possession together with a whole host of other re-releases and figures inspired by the original G1 line. I've acquired over 50 new Transformers in this year alone and I'm totally running out of space to hold all the toys. Not that it's a problem - it just means they all have to be friendly with one another.

So here's to another geeky year for everyone and hoping that 2011 is going to be even geekier for all of us!

[rOckY]
The Geeky Guide to Nearly Everything

[TV] Best of 2010

This was another weird year for geek television. While not quite as traumatic as when Firefly was cancelled in 2003, it still wasn't particularly great either.

Image via WikipediaIn terms of shows that disappointed me the most, I definitely feel that award has to go to FlashForward. It had a pretty good premise at its core and had a strong story to tell, but it got totally lost in terms of how it wanted to tell it. Thus the end result was pretty pathetic when you get around to it. A very close second to this category is The Event, which again had very strong pre-release buzz but totally failed to deliver. I can't believe that it's still alive.

Most tragic cancellation for the year has to be Caprica. Sure, the story was a really slow burn and it was taking the writers forever to get anywhere. But come on, the story in itself was pretty gripping towards the end. Plus once the linkages to the core BSG series were there, I was definitely excited to see where all this was headed.

The series that surprised me the most this year is definitely Misfits. The superhero drama was edgy, hard core and with some pretty compelling characters. These are not your run-of-the-mill super power teens who had a lot going for them. Their juvenile delinquents who have a nasty habit of killing people in order to protect their secrets.

The animated series that I liked the most this year was definitely Ugly Americans. The disturbing dark comedy from Comedy Central is a nice take on the whole supernatural sub-culture with some pretty compelling writing.

And the best TV show of the year without a doubt is Fringe. The current J.J. Abams creation is absolutely brilliant and gripping in ways that are distinct from but equivalent to what made Lost such a great series.

What did you like the most about 2010?

[Technology] Best of 2010

In this on-going series of holiday schedule friendly series of entries (briefly) talking about the best stuff of 2010. Wednesdays tend to be about computers, technology and all things internet related. So let's think about the year.

Image via WikipediaOf course on a personal note, saddest web series closing down was Google Wave. I'm a huge fan of the concept and my partner and I are still regular users of the site. And we'll probably stick around until the service finally shutters sometime early next year. A close second would have been Xmarks until it got saved by LastPass.

Most amazing progress for the year definitely has to be Google Chrome. Whether or not you're already a fan of the increasingly popular web browser, you have to admit it's become a major contender in the browser wars this year. They've resolved a lot of the stability issues of the site and with the launch of extensions, the Google Web Store and other goodies, you have to admit Chrome is going places. And once you get around to Google Chrome OS, well, the sky's sort of the limit on changing the way we think about things.

Despite my not being a fan of the whole Apple universe, I have to admit that the one piece of technology that's made the most impact this year was the Apple iPad. Suddenly everyone is coming up with new rival tablet designs (or dredging up old ones) in an effort to compete in the market. And it's not even that great a tablet mind you - it's just because of how well it's packaged that has made it the driving technological force this year. It seems EVERYONE is determined to have one this year or is trying to find creative ways of using it.

Website of the year is definitely still Facebook. While you can argue that the movie alone didn't change things, the fact is that it has risen to the top of the heap. Facebook is the most-visited site in most countries around the world and a lot of social media marketing is increasingly built around the service. Plus their efforts to compete in the location market with Facebook Places and in the email market with Facebook Messaging, it's getting harder and harder to avoid the tech giant

And computer game of the year (for me at least) remains to be StarCraft II. Sure, it hasn't evolved all that much from the original game but the little tweaks, the addition of a stronger story and improved graphics have resulted in this being one of the most anticipated and celebrated games of the year. Plus it's a reminder to everyone that the real time strategy market isn't quite dead and not everyone is ready to jump on the MMORPG band-wagon.

[Books] Best of 2010

Tuesdays are when I review either books or comic books, and this year didn't feel all that amazing for either. Most of my book reviews for the year were for titles that I had read long ago that had not been reviewed on the site. My trips to bookstores have been increasingly frustrating because of the dearth of new things to read (and therefore buy).

Image via WikipediaI did read a lot of comic books as well and that didn't give me much hope either. The big comic book events like Blackest Night and The Thanos Imperative weren't all that impressive either. I guess in terms of new comic book arcs, I most enjoyed the 6-issue Doomwar limited series, and I know that I haven't posted a review for that yet. I know, it wasn't a perfect story and the ending was kind of hokey. However on the whole it was a fun read and an almost campy celebration of why Doctor Doom is so kick-ass, it takes several superhero teams working together just to take him down.

As for actual books that I read this year, I think the new series that I enjoyed the most were the Idlewild books written by Nick Sagan. The trilogy of Idlewild, Edenborn and Everfree. Their unique dystopian society and alternative world view presented a fresh take on the post-apocalyptic society and some really long-term planning.

[Movies] Best of 2010

Mondays are the days I review newer movies and 2010 was definitely a great year for movies. Even better, I felt this was also a great year for very geeky movies that celebrate the joys of geek culture and all that good stuff.

For geekiest movie of the year, I feel it's a close fight between two different comic book adaptations. On the one hand you have the ultra violent and gory Kick-Ass. On the other we have the retro video game centric Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Both have their good points and bad points, but I think Kick-Ass was still the geekier movie. Plus it managed to come out with a story that really worked despite differences from the source material, which isn't easy to do.

The movie that I watched this year that surprised me the most was The Brothers Bloom. I mean seriously, this movie worked for me on so many levels! It's a smart, witty comedy with strong characters, fun dialog and of course the joys of Bang Bang. Three cheers for more Bang Bang!

Image via WikipediaAs for what I think is the best movie of the year, two titles immediately come to mind. On the one hand you have the intense psychological thriller Inception. On the other we have the tech-focused drama The Social Network. I enjoyed both movies a lot and they definitely helped define the movie climate for me but I still have to hand it to Christopher Nolan's Inception for REALLY blowing me away. That was a movie that knocked me senseless after seeing it and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. Few movies have bee so fulfilling visually and cerebrally that I doubt one can really question what makes it good or bad or whatever.

[Technicolor Musings] Best of 2010

It's the last week of 2010 and I thought it might be fun to run a series of entries discussing what I liked most about the year, depending on the usual schedule of topics that I follow. Sundays is meant for Technicolor Musings and my LGBT-focused reviews, so let's try our hand at that, shall we?




Bar móvil en orgullo gay by Turismo Madrid Consorcio Turístico / Turismo Madrid via Flickr.

2010 was a year with a lot of news related to the LGBT sphere of influence. Locally we had the Reproductive Health Bill being fairly important tangentially. sure, it's meant to be more for those you actually breed (on their own that is), but it also plays a key role in AIDS prevention, which is always an LGBT issue.

This year also saw the first time in a while that the annual Pride March was supported by the local government, in this case Quezon City. It did meant an alternate venue but at least we got that.

In the international scene, we finally got to witness the signing of the repeal of the controversial US military policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell. While the actual implementation will take a heck of a lot longer, it's better than nothing right?

In entertainment, this year things really took off for gay characters in mainstream shows. While we don't have a Will & Grace kind of show on the airwaves, we did get Emmy nods for the gay couple on Modern Family (yay Eric Stonestreet!) We get a gay couple on the now defunct Caprica, and we even have gay characters on stupid shows like Shit My Dad Says. Sure, they're mostly in comic relief roles, but it's better than nothing.

I didn't see enough LGBT movies this year, but the one that I did watch this year that I enjoyed the most was the 2007 release Shelter, which is quite the well-made movie. Gayest musical that I got to watch this year was definitely Xanadu - my thanks to Atlantis Productions for continuing to support musical theater in the country.

What did you like the most about 2010 from an LGBT perspective? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

[Movies] Tron (1982)

It's funny how there are those movies that get totally panned by critics, fail at the box office and quickly fade from memory. Well, at least that's the case initially - and then something happens when it hits home video market. Suddenly new fans are created and amidst viewing nights probably filled with alcohol and maybe even Jell-O shots, the movie stops being a failure and instead transforms into a cult classic.

And then twenty years later, Hollywood executives decide to revisit these almost campy classics and try to figure out how to milk more money out of them. Thus we get remakes and sequels to movies made almost a lifetime ago just because the fan base is that strong.

Given the release of Tron: Legacy, it's only fitting that I also post a review for this earlier incarnation of the franchise. I could also post a review of Kingdom Hearts II from a Space Paranoids perspective, but that might be going a bit over the top right there.

[Daily Geekery] December 23, 2010

The holiday is in full swing for me, so you can imagine I'm spending less and less time at the computer and more time for last minute shopping, different Christmas parties and all that good stuff.

This is going to be a short one, hehe.

Links:

• New York Times: Death Comes to Riverdale - It's sad when comic book characters die, but even more so when they're time-honored characters who lived in a seemingly eternal paradise. While Riverdale may not exactly be heaven, it has been a seemingly timeless institution. Now the Archie crew have to deal with Ms. Grundy's death...but will they graduate?
  
• io9: 10 Signs You Could Be The Chosen Savior - Yes, a very timely list for the holiday season. How many of these apply to Jesus in terms of the stories in the Bible? LOL
  
• Lifehacker: In Defense of Commercial Software: Sometimes It's Worth It to Pry Open Your Wallet - I'm so guilty of advocating a freeware model for software. Lifehacker decides to play Devil's Advocate and argue for the other side in terms of why there are still things you need to shell out money for.
  
• Techland: Techland's The Ten Best Comic Books of 2010 - In my continuing year-end habit of sharing various Top 10 lists, here's a list from the TIME crew about some of the best comics of the year.
  
• The Consumerist: Diners Ask Restaurant For 47 Separate Checks... And That's Before They Pulled Out Their Groupons - The pages of The Consumerist tend to be filled with stories of customer woes and their fights with big bad corporations. But they also have a few horror stories of why customers aren't that great either like this incident at a restaurant.

Images:

Geekosystem: X-Files Intersection


And that's your Daily Geekery for today!

[TV] Ben 10: Season 1

Geeks tend to like cartoons. It's just a thing that seems to happen and I can't quite explain it. And this isn't just limited to TV geeks or comic book geeks. It tends to cross a lot of geek genres, although the geeky archetype tends to determine the types of cartoons or children's programming that they're into. Let's face it - there's a lot of good creative storytelling that goes into creating cartoons including some classic science fiction concepts or fantasy battles.

I'm majorly into cartoons - as many of you must have figured out by now given the frequency of my cartoon reviews. While the bulk of my animated obsessions tend to be classic shows from the 80's like ThunderCats, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and of course The Transformers, I do try my best to examine new shows to test their mettle.

Cartoon Network has been a good source of decent animated content in the world at large. Their various Star Wars shows based around the Clone Wars have been decent (although aren't getting any better) and I also enjoyed Samurai Jack a lot. But this show marks a departure from the safety of Genndy Tartakovsky creations (my safe haven in recent years) but definitely still within similar spheres of influence and inspiration.

[Daily Geekery] December 22, 2010

I don't know why I kept thinking today was the last banking day of the year. I mean seriously, what's up with that? Oh well, at least I got all my bills paid early, queued a few stock orders on Citisec Online that successfully completed while I was sleeping and pretty much put my house into order.

Now I just need to finish wrapping my Christmas gifts for my family (since I already completed the ones for my officemates) and then it's on to the holidays in earnest!

Oh yeah, but first geeky stuff!

Links:

• Gawker: Ambulances Called, Show Stopped After 'Big Accident' in Spider-Man Musical - Major accident during one of the performances of the new Spider-Man Musical. This show is so cursed - I don't see how it's going to survive as a Broadway show for so many reasons!
  
• Geekosystem: Packaging Minimalism - Some really cool concept designs for minimalist versions of popular products.
  
• io9: Visions of the Dark Knight in unreleased Arkham Asylum concept art - Batman: Arkham Asylum was a really kick ass game that redefined what a Batman game should be like. And it turns out the concept art behind the game is even more awesome!
  
• Gizmodo: Giz Explains: Where Dust Bunnies Come From - An interesting, informative yet rather gross piece of the nature of dust.
  
• io9: 5 things you can do to save Fringe right now - Don't let Fox kill another great science fiction TV series! Do your part! Fringe needs YOU!
  
• CNN: FCC approves controversial 'net neutrality' rules - The FCC approval of its first set of official rules regarding Net Neutrality should have been celebrated as a great day for internet freedom. Except the FCC agreed with Google and Verizon about mobile internet being okay for varying speeds controlled by ISPs. Or the fact that even regular broadband can still have "fast lanes", but only to the "benefit" of users. How is this good news again?
  
• ABS-CBN News: No more holiday economics, says PNoy - FINALLY, an end to our country's ridiculous habit of having more than 20 holidays falling on week days. Now weekend workers get a fair shot at holidays too! And if you're so pissed about it, then get your local congressman to file a bill to change how the holiday is determined!
  
• Deal News: Seasons Repeatings: How to Regift and Not Get Caught - Yes, an essential guide for all you people who receive a lot of unwanted gifts during the holiday season!

Videos:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Roast of Mario

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Undercover Videogame Bosses

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

ConquistaDora The Explorer




And that's today's Daily Geekery!

[Philippines] President Noynoy Aquino's Communication Issues

I was initially thinking about commenting on the just-passed FCC Rules regarding Net Neutrality, but I haven't found a copy of the actual decision at this point. It feels a tad too early to jump on this particular issue, although clearly net neutrality advocates are up in arms about the lack of substance in the official rules voted on by the FCC.

Instead, it seemed like a more timely notion to talk about our current President Nonoy "PNoy" Aquino and his many "successful" media gaffes in the past few months.



chardinet_noynoy by The POC News / thepocnews via Flickr.

Oh yes, ever since he was sworn in as the 15th President of the Philippines, he's had a mix of good and bad moments in the eyes of the media - something that brings odd memories of his sister, Kris Aquino. You'd think that a family that has lived in the public eye for most of their lives such as the Aquinos would be better equipped to handle this sort of thing, but clearly this is not the case. And this especially applies to PNoy.

[Daily Geekery] December 21, 2010

Christmas is just around the corner and the end of the year just a little beyond that. It's interesting how a lot of the geeky stuff that I'm sharing tend to be summary lists, top 10 lists and all other kinds of lists of things and articles that start with "The Best Of..." and all those kinds of things.

I wonder if I should be compiling similar lists for the Geeky Guide. Hmmm...

Links:

• TIME Tuned In Blog: Vacation Robo-Post: The 10 Worst TV Shows of 2010 - If there are the best of things, then there are the worst of them too. See some of your favorites on this list? You may need to think about that now.
  
• io9: The 10 most regrettable Eighties scifi and fantasy villains on film - The 80's are such a sacred time filled with many amazing geeky icons that live on until today. But the 80's was also full of a heck of a lot of crap. But it's fun crap that's still worth celebrating!
  
• Gizmodo: The Secret Soviet Laser Tank - Soviet Laser Tank. Let's read that line one more time just for the heck of it. Soviet. LASER. Tank. What more need be said?
  
• Techland: The 10 Nerdiest (Read: Most Glorious) Movie Moments of 2010 - Techland - This was a pretty great year for geekdom, especially at the movies. Man, this sounds like something worth discussing in an entry of my own.
  
• io9: 15 Easter eggs to watch out for in Tron Legacy - Easter Eggs are always fun. Easter Eggs in a movie that is clearly trying to tap into the 80's sub-culture built around a flop of a movie? Totally awesome!
  
• Lifehacker: Most Popular Repurposing Tricks of 2010 - Man I'm such a sucker for these Lifehacker lists. Time to get the soldering iron out of storage!

Images:

Sinfest: December 20, 2010



Photoshop Disasters: December 19, 2010



Geekosystem: Batwoman on DADT


 Gizmodo: Retro Thor By Olly Moss


And that's today's Daily Geekery!

[Books] Apocalypse (Magic: the Gathering Invasion Cycle - Book 3)

Ending a long-running story arc is no laughing matter. What more a multi-title epic tale that spans not just books written by many authors but also a game that involves many card sets designed by a whole host of game developers and card designers and as brought to life by various artists and other creative people. Yeah, that can be pretty intimidating and it's a wonder people are able to live up to such daunting challenges.

Such massive stories are horribly unwieldy given the number of people involved. You can't just expect a group of people in such different environments to come up with a stellar masterpiece. You're lucky to end up with a story that doesn't suffer for glaring continuity problems or something like that. Thus you have to give the folks over at Wizards of the Coast a heck of a lot of credit for staying the course of the years when they developed this particular story. I don't care if the concept wasn't an overwhelming success with the fans. At the very least they managed to finish what they started despite what I can only imagine were a heck of a lot of challenges and fears that they had to deal with along the way.

And the end result wasn't that bad at all.

[Daily Geekery] December 20, 2010

The holiday season is a very busy one and you end up struggling to find time to get things done. between Christmas parties, the need to shop for gifts for your loved ones and the inevitable build-up of traffic because of these same activities, there's not as much time to explore the worlds of geekery made accessible via the internet.

Although I do have a few choice items that still managed to catch my attention despite the hustle and bustle of the season.

Links:

• Kotaku: Magic The Gathering Tactics Adds Depth To Classic Strategy Game - Horrible memories of the Magic: the Gathering Battlemage gaming experience came to mind when I first read this. But the fact that this is going to be a turn-based strategy game does give me some sense of promise about this being actually good.
  
• Geekosystem: FarmVille for Dummies Is a Book That Is Real - Yes my fellow geeks, this sad piece of literature actually exists. Damm you Zynga!
  
• Blogger in Draft: New mobile templates for reading on the go - Finally, mobile templates for Blogger blogs - the Geeky Guide included!
  
• Techland's Top 10 Arcade Games of All Time - Yes, another Tron-inspired post, but a pretty decent one. Are your favorite arcade games on the list?
  
• Geekosystem: Trollquotes: Or, 32 Ways to Make Geeks Rage - Yes, reading this list totally got my blood pressure rising and my head throbbing. Make the agony stop!
  
• Lifehacker: Most Popular Hive Fives of 2010 - Because geeks loves things in lists, here are some of Lifehacker's finest Hive Five lists for the year.
  
• CNN: Senate votes to repeal ban on gays openly serving in military - Score one for the home team! While I doubt this will mean gay men and women in the US Armed Forces are going to come out en masse, at the very least they can't get removed from service just because they're homosexual. Take that conservative bigotry!
  
• io9: Superheroes photographed through the ages - Just a fun collection of very silly Photoshopped superheroes.

Images:
 Gizmodo: Traffic Sign In Plain English


And that's the Daily Geekery for today!

[Movies] Tron: Legacy (2010)

When Tron first came out in 1982, it was a pretty landmark film in its own right. The kind of computer graphics that we saw in that movie were far beyond what was considered the standard at the time. Regardless, the movie was quite the flop and through the years this movie has instead become a cult classic in the home video market. But beyond that, we didn't hear much from the franchise apart from a comical appearance in the Kingdom Hearts II video game.

And yes, I totally loved the fact that Tron was in that game, given it is a Disney product. But let's get back to business, shall we?

When news of a sequel start to circulate, I have to admit I had mixed feelings about it. I've been pretty consistent in my regular complaints about the remake culture we often see in Hollywood these days. And for items that are so close to our geek history like Tron, I was worried they were totally going to screw it up.

But despite all the press, the various teaser trailers and all that, I still knew that the only way to determine the worth of this movie was by actually going out to see it. And thankfully, geek connections helped us get into the premiere screening hosted at the SM Mall of Asia IMAX cinema.

[Movies] Fruit Fly (2009)

I tend to download a lot of LGBT movies only because they focus on gay content. I know, that's a lousy criteria for searching for new movies to watch and I end up with a large repository of movies that I have yet to get around to seeing. It's so hard to pick one to watch since I have no idea what they're really about beyond what the title implies and whatever I happen to remember from the synopsis that's publicly available out there.

So that makes every venture into my LGBT collection an interesting experience no matter how one looks at things. And LGBT-focused movie are a highly mixed bag of tricks. You have the very good, the very, very bad and all the infinite levels of possibility in-between.

Now for this movie I only knew two things. One was the fact that the lead character was written as a Filipino. The other was the fact that it was generally of LGBT focus given the lead was meant to be a fag hag. And you can't have a fag hag with a healthy number of queers around her at almost all times. Well, I did get all that, but also a heck of a lot more than I expected. Yay for random chance!

[Daily Geekery] December 17, 2010

Well, it's finally the weekend! While the rest of you are probably making stellar weekend plans, I still have one more work shift this Friday night. Ah, the joys of the call center life.

In the meantime, a few links to satisfy your geek cravings.

Links:

• Geekosystem: 9 Great Interpretations of the Internet as Physical Space - Yeah, things always seem better as a list. And with TRON: Legacy finally in theaters, leave it to these geeks to find an appropriate topic. Now I want to re-watch Reboot!
  
• The 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - The awards season continues and still no nominations for Fringe. What gives?
  
• Techland: TRON: Legacy Review: Virtual Reality Odyssey? Or Takedown of Cyberculture? - A TIME piece on why the TRON: Legacy works, but not necessarily for everyone.
  
• Mashable: 10 Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile - As much as I'm not a big fan of the profile myself, it does present for some creative applications. And some really silly ones, too!
  
• Syfy cancels Stargate Universe: Is this the end of the Stargate Franchise? - I feel guilty for not taking the time to watch more of the Stargate shows and yet having downloaded a lot of the episodes in preparation for that time I'll get around to it. And now the show is being canned - say it ain't so, SyFy!
  
• 15 sites and services that shuttered in 2010 image - 15 sites and services that shuttered in 2010 - While the Oscars normally marks the passing of members of their industry during the annual awards ceremony, here's our version for the tech world of the internet.

Images:
 Geekosystem: The End of Delicious?
 Gizmodo: Sex and the City 2 as an Inception-style map


And that's today's Daily Geekery!

[Movies] Silent Hill (2006)

You all know I'm bad with horror movies. By the same virtue, I'm bad with survival horror games. And yes, I admit that I was terrified even by the old games like the original Alone in the Dark with its polygonal gargoyles. Hell, I'd get stressed out playing The 7th Guest and Myst and those aren't even horror games, haha! I'm just tightly wound up in that manner.

My partner is a major horror movie fan and he's big on survival horror games. Before any of you can attempt to quip that this is evidence that "opposites attract" or something like that, let's get back to topic.

So my partner has been doing his part in introducing me to things that he loves, including all the horror stuff. I can only really watch these kinds of movies with him around and as for games, well, I'm content watching him play. And he's a major Silent Hill fan, so the chances of me being introduced to this movie were inevitable.

[Daily Geekery] December 16, 2010

Well, my being sick forced me to stay home instead of going to work today. That's always a mixed blessing since it sucks to be home sick and unable to make the most of things. At the same time, it means my work duties will pile up a bit more, leaving me with roughly the same amount of work but with less time to get things done. You know how it is.

And by some strange coincidence, not as much stuff seemed interesting enough for me to share online. Go figure.

Links:

• Gizmodo: Court Rules That the Government Needs a Warrant Before Secretly Reading Your Email - Given the recent successes on the side of various governments to just seize ISP or web email data at will, this is an important and interesting US ruling.
  
• TIME: Runner-Up: Julian Assange - Person of the Year 2010 - Seriously speaking, I felt Assange contributed a heck of a lot more within the year of 2010 compared to Zuckerberg. Did Facebook do anything particular significant this year?
  
• Chrome Web Store: Chrome For A Cause - I know, this seems like it's fake or something, but it's still an official Google Chrome app, so that has to mean something right? It's only for four days, so I'm still game for it.
  
• Gizmodo: Why TIME's 2010 Person of the Year Means Nothing in 2010 - See, even Gizmodo's guys agree with me!
  
• CNN: House passes 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal - Sure, this is yet another baby step forward, but step forwards are always good! The bigger question is whether or not it will get through the Senate this time around given how the last bill was rushed to vote and failed.

Images:
 Graphjam: Harry Potter Logic
Videos:  OK Go GPS Parade (Back From Kathmandu)


And that's today's Daily Geekery!

[TV] Misfits: Season 1

Heroes traumatized a lot of us comic book geeks. After years of waiting for a good superhero TV series (sorry, Mutant X doesn't count in my book) we ended up with a show of significant potential but eventually flubbed it. And man did that show crash and burn. No Heroics was a much better homage to the superhero world, even though it was a odd sort of comedy that didn't get a second season (which it should have!)

And this is why American network television continually fails us geeks and I wonder why we pin our hopes on them. These are the same people who axed great geeky shows like Pushing Daisies, Legend of the Seeker, Dollhouse and of course Firefly. So what else is new, right?

And this is why I find myself turning to British television more and more since they seem to (1) respect science fiction more, (2) make some great shows and (3) actually give shows a decent chance. Except maybe for No Heroics, but no one is perfect.

And this particular show really surprised me.

[Daily Geekery] December 15, 2010

Well, I'm definitely sick and it's making life so much fun. I even got sent home from work mid-shift, which is a rarity given my role and my department. Go figure.

But I still have some geeky stuff to share with you all, should you have the time. I bet a lot of you are stuck at home sick as well given the colder-than-normal weather the Philippines is experiencing.

Links:

• Geekosystem: 50 Funny Amazon Reviews - Nothing amazing or revolutionary, but certainly entertaining.
  
• Lifehacker: Six Days Working Entirely from Chrome OS - A first-hand account of living the Google Chrome OS life - and it's not that bad!
  
• io9: The 1980s was when science fiction franchises got big - A nice look at why the 80's is great for science fiction and not just for big hair and shoulder pads.
  
• LinkedIn Blog: Did you use one of these 10 most overused buzzwords in your LinkedIn profile this year? - Buzzwords are always a problem in the working world and they litter resumes like pepper in Cajun cooking. This is a fun look to see which ones are used the most - and the ones that you're guilty of using!
  
• TIME Tuned In Blog: 2010 Golden Globe Nominations Announced: The TV Awards - James Poniewozik weighs in on the strange list of Golden Globe nominees for the year.
  
• Lifehacker: Most Popular Free Windows Downloads of 2010 - Lifehacker is a great source for all things geekily techie and this is a great list of free Windows software to make your geeky life better.

Images:
Gizmodo: Rockets Of The World
 Geekosystem: Lucasfilm Christmas Card


And that's the Daily Geekery for today!

[Blogosphere] Revisiting The Coconuter

More than four years ago I wrote a piece on the Coconuter, which is sort of a travel blog written by Filipino-American David Poarch. At the time his goal of finding his proverbial "golden coconut" seemed nicely idealistic and reminded me a lot about other internet successes such as The Million Dollar Homepage and One Red Paperclip.




I recently received an email from him - yes, I actually wrote to him back then - and it was a quick note about him being back in the country and all. I wasn't expecting it and thus I ended revisiting his site to see what's what.

This whole things has me wondering if I should try to get back in the habit of featuring and reviewing blogs again. I used to do a lot of them while writing for Pinoy Gay Blogs back in the day. It was an interesting experience and I got to meet a couple of new blogging friends although in hindsight I'm probably only really in touch with just one of them.

[Daily Geekery] December 14, 2010

Most of the local news about the final decision on the Visconde Massacre case came out while I was asleep, so I don't have any articles about that in today's geeky share list. That's the consequence of working in the Philippine call center scene - you miss all the local stuff but you end up being more updated about stuff that happens over in the US or something. Go figure.

Plus I'm not feeling well and I've resorted to watching the gay musical Fruit Fly to make me feel better...and I'm actually enjoying it. Whee!

Links:

• Lifehacker: How to Take Great Portrait Photos - This is an essential article to read for any would-be portrait photographer.
  
• How-to-Geek: How to Use Breaks in Microsoft Word to Better Format Your Documents - More people at work need to remember stuff like this when working on documents. Read up people!
  
• Digital Photography School:
  Epic Cosplay Shoot – Behind the Scenes - Okay, this was pretty awesome. Plus Kingdom Hearts - way coolness!
  
• Topless Robot: 5 Good Things and 5 Exceedingly Bad Things about the Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Musical - I had been reading a lot of bad press about this musical, but this definitely takes the cake. So sad!
  
• Gizmodo: The Loneliest Spacecraft in the Universe - Now it's time to review what Soyuz is given we're reaching the end of the shuttle era.
  
• How-to-Geek: Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? - An interesting method for determining if it's really worth it to have a printer at home.
  
• Gizmodo: These Samurai Toothpick Holders Bring Great Honor To Your Appetizers - Yeah, almost anything with a samurai katana handle becomes pretty cool.

Images:
Geekosystem: R2-D2 Headphones
 Geekosystem: 8-Bit Angry Birds
Graphjam: Pig Butchering Guide
Videos:  Teach Parents Tech
 We Are the Hag


Okay, the last one was just totally campy. I wanted to share the strange joy that is this movie Fruit Fly.

And that's the Daily Geekery for today!

[Books] Planeshift (Magic The Gathering Invasion Cycle - Book 2)

When you spend potentially thousands and thousands of development dollars into creating Magic: the Gathering card expansion sets including all the back story and marketing and all that jazz, you build up a LOT of anticipation. After years of waiting, you have your entire fan base wondering how things will end regardless of how much they loved or hated the journey thus far.

This means that no matter what you do or how creative your development team is, some people are going to hate the end result. People will always have problems with this aspect or that and who knows what else might be wrong with your opus. After, it's hard to determine when the story ends and the marketing drive begins. Card development is not exactly the same as story development and the two processes can happen in isolation from one another. And thus you get card concepts that need to be worked into the story somehow or plot points that need to be adjusted to fit the cards. It's a vicious cycle.

While the Invasion that was meant to end the long-running story of the Weatherlight and her crew certainly kicked off with a bang, I'm not sure if this second act really made any sense.

[Daily Geekery] December 13, 2010

Okay, these Monday Daily Geekery posts are really heavy ones - I may need to consider some sort of a "Weekend Edition" for these posts or maybe just kill the Daily Geekery experiment entirely. They're fun and all and they aren't too complicated to write although they do take time given all the link copying and pasting and all that stuff.

Let's get over this one - huzzah!

Links:

• Lifehacker: Cut Out the Fake Work and Focus on Projects that Really Matter - Are you days filled with "fake work"? This Lifehacker post is a great wake-up call and a challenge to re-examine your daily work routine.
  
• Gizmodo: Why Most Hardware Specs Are Total Bullshit - A Gizmodo rant about why the listed specs may not matter as much.
  
• Lifehacker: Browser Speed Tests: IE 9, Firefox 4 Beta, Chrome's Crankshaft, and Opera 11 Beta - While the folks at Lifehacker / Gizmodo do this every now and then, the latest tests seem to indicate the new version of Chrome holds a lot of promise.
  
• Gawker: The Top Three Myths About Anonymous - You know, they're not exactly the anti-thesis of Big Brother.
  
• io9: Completely crowd financed film The Tunnel could be better than The Descent - This movie is cool since (1) all financing was crowd-sourced and (2) it promises to be freakishly scary!
  
• io9: Geeky Gifts For Kids - A quick guide to geeky gifts for kids...or those who think they're still young enough for them.
  
• Geekosystem: Blizzard’s Rumored 5-Year Plan Leak Looking Less Rumor-y Now That People Are Resigning - Well, now isn't this interesting? A schedule for how Blizzard is going to milk us!
  
• The Oatmeal: Cat vs Internet - Okay, this strip was ridiculously funny. But you need to be a geeky cat owner to get a full appreciation for things.
  
• io9: Your Favorite Science Fiction Yarns, Reinvented as Kids' Books - I would so pay for a kiddie version of Dune.
  
• Lifehacker: The Main Reason Why You Suck at Interviews: Lack of Preparation - As someone who has conducted a LOT of job interviews, I totally agree with this article. Prepare people!
  
• Inquirer.net: ‘Tell truth about GMA’ campaign launched - First the Truth Commission. Then now it's a Truth Campaign. Can't people try, I dunno, gathering evidence and trying to file an air-tight case against the former president instead of just whining about it?
  
• IDW: Classics Mutilated - I so want this - so cool!
  
• Geekosystem: The Punk Justice League of America - Yeah, we geeks are a sucker for reimagination concept art like this.
  
• Playstation.com: The Sly Collection - I will get this. Just sharing.

Images:
Geekosystem: Real Life Hello Kitty
 Hand-crafted Plants vs Zombies car accessories!
 Geekosystem: Marvel Dinos
 Gizmodo: Facebook Artwork


And that's today's Daily Geekery. Here's to a good week ahead for all of us!

[Movie] Monsters (2010)

Monster movies are in the same neighborhood of horror movies for me. And by that I mean that they're not exactly movies that I go out of my way to see since (1) I scare rather easily, (2) movies within these genres tend stress me out to no end. I'm kind of tightly wound that way, I suppose.

I think I only enjoy huge monster movies that involve equally powerful forces challenging them, especially of a mechanical nature. You know me - robots > horror and thus the presence of robotic protagonists tends to be a draw for me. Blame my love of Transformers for that, I suppose. I've been hooked on all things robotic ever since I can remember.

But I'm wandering - so sorry.

With monster movies, a lot of the focus is always on the organized response versus the hulking beasts that are terrorizing this city or that. The only time this got turned around was in the movie Cloverfield, when J.J. Abrams tried to follow the story from the perspective of the average person on the ground. This movie takes a similar tack, but still the writers were able to come up with a new spin on the concept.

[Technicolor Musings] Gayness And Geekery Are Not Mutually Exclusive

I am a gay geek, and quite proud of it! And please remember that the term "gay" is really meant as an adjective around the noun "geek", which for me stresses that I'm a geek first before anything else. And yes, gay geeks really do exist - I'm happily in a relationship with one and I have the benefit of knowing a couple of others.



DSC00632 by Ryan / deliriousfish via Flickr.

Of course I have to admit that gay geeks are somewhat rare - or maybe it would be more accurate to say that they're hard to find. It doesn't mean they aren't out there - it just means that they're a tad more elusive. Besides, it's hard to determine a person's geekiness based on appearance alone.