Mexican Wrestlers, Runaway Minecarts and Gore! Oh My!

In my various posts with the Eerie Horror Film Festival (I was head of judging back in '08, been a board member for several years and now do double duty as webmaster), I've had the opportunity to view a lot of independent genre films. What's cool about this is that occasionally, amongst the onslaught of no-budget-filmed-on-vhs fare, we find an up and coming filmmaker who has a natural talent for the medium.

Why am I explaining all this background? Well. Not to put too fine a point on it, I've just found several guys who I'm sure you'll hear a lot more from in the future working on the short film The Ballad of Angel Face.

Written and Directed by Brian Thomas Barnhart, the film (Barnhart's 2nd) follows the tale of a small town sheriff who makes a decision during an arrest that comes back to haunt him. At the start of the film, the sheriff gets his comeuppance and is left for dead. From here, it becomes a revenge flick (a la Kill Bill) as the Sheriff hunts down and kills those responsible for his predicament.

That Kill Bill reference was no mistake. The film is very reminiscent of Tarantino even down to the out-of-order chapters (complete with text chapter headings) and the added 70's grindhouse film grain (but alas, it's missing the great Tarantino dialog).

Formulaic. Yes. But the direction, cinematography and score make this a brilliant little piece of filmmaking. With beautiful spaghetti western cinematography from Parker Tolifson (who's resume is about as short as the director's) and a musical score to match from dark classical composer Le'rue Delashay, the film transcends the weaknesses in the script and makes for a fun little grindhouse romp that satisfied that dirty little part of me that loves that type of flick.

If you get a chance to see this film (and you may get the chance at this year's EHFF), be sure not to miss it. I can't wait to see what this crew does in the future, especially given a better script to work from.

Pull List Reviews - July 29

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #3
The companion to Blackest Night concludes here with issue #3 and what an issue it is. With the origin of Green Lanterns Kilowog and Arisia, this one finally got to a point where I like the issue on its own merits and not just as a side story to the main Blackest Night series. In addition to the great Green Lantern origin tales, we get a "director's commentary" on the entire issue of Blackest Night #0. It's a cool spin through the issue with some amazing b&w pencil art but the last line from Geoff John's commentary hints at something truly amazing on the way with Blackest Night.
Score: 5 out of 5


Detective Comics #855
The tales of Batwoman continue here with a beatiful battle with new villain Alice and her minions. As with the previous issue, the art is simply stunning. However, the storyline just hasn't caught my attention enough to go all in with this one especially with this issue setting up Alice as a Joker-like nemesis to the Batwoman. I'm hoping that 'Tec is just in the process of picking up steam since the storylines in Batman & Robin and the main Batman books are so great.
Score: 3.5 out of 5



Justice League of America #35
After the obviously misleading image on the cover with a bit of text reading "The Return (but not who you think)", I was dying to find out who was back and I will say that I wasn't let down in the least! The JLA may be without its heavy hitters but I'm liking these tales with the backup crew.
Score: 4 out of 5





Superman #690
I've been enjoying the tales of Mon-El, The Guardian and Steel standing in for Big Blue in his flagship title while he's away battling for New Krypton...until this issue that is. It's made up of 4 mini-issues featuring The Guardian, Steel, Zatara and Ion. But other than a few cool scenes with The Guardian and Steel it just falls flat for me. I'm hoping it's just a small misstep in what's been a cool storyline thus far.
Score: 2.5 out of 5

Pull List Reviews - July 22

Green Lantern #44
As Blackest Night continues to rip through the DC Universe, it's Hal Jordan and Barry vs an undead Martian Manhunter. Apparently, it's hard to beat a telepath who can change shape, make his body intangible and has the strength of Superman. Who knew? We also get a very cool look at how the Black Lanterns view the rest of the universe (You'll get no spoilers here! Go read it!) And there's a short ending with John Stewart and his first look at the black power rings which ends in one awesome cliffhanger.
Score: 5 out of 5



Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2
The origins of prominent corps members continues here with the origins of Beez (Red Lantern), Carol Ferris (Star Sapphire) and Blume (Orange Lantern). The origin of Beez is the most interesting with the other two being fairly predictable (and the origin of Blume coming to an amusing end). A good read but, as I said last week, this one only stands up as a companion to Blackest Night.
Score: 3.5 out of 5




Dethklok vs The Goon #1
Being a huge fan of Eric Powell's The Goon and Adult-Swim's Metalocalypse, I had to get this one shot from Dark Horse. I expected a lame story going in but what I got was worse than that. I found out two things. One: Eric Powell can't draw the simplistic Dethklok. And two: Dethklok is funnier on screen than in a comic. Powell's art is amazing (as usual) when the Goon's world is on the page. His renditions of Dethklok on the other hand look like bad fan art. And reading the dialog for Dethklok without the brilliant voice acting from the show just seems sort of flat. Sure, the story is cheesy and pointless but that I expected so I don't knock it for that. But I think I'll stick to reading The Goon on his own while watching Metalocalypse on the telly.
Score: 1.5 out of 5

Pull List Reviews - July 15

Alright folks! I promised it on Twitter and now I deliver. This is the first of my (hopefully) weekly column here to review the comics on my pull list. And don't worry, fanboys (and girls). I'll try to do so as spoiler-free as possible. So without further ado...

Blackest Night #1
This is the book that DC fans (and in particular Green Lantern fans) have been waiting on since it's been teased in all the GL books for nearly a year. The Blackest Night has begun! (See Twitpic here.) This week we are hit with a double shot blast. The first is the main book in the new 8 issue mini-series. The basic premise for those of you living under a rock or who didn't pick up Blackest Night #0 back on Free Comic Book Day: A prophecy from the Book of Oa that holds the laws of the Green Lantern Corps foretells a "Blackest Night" when the dead will rise. These past few weeks in the GL books has shown that a black energy lantern has formed around the body of the Anti-Monitor who died back during the Sinestro Corps War and a the Black Hand has been sulking around graves and being generally creepy. Now with the start of the first issue of the series, the black energy lantern unleashes an army of black power rings in search of dead flesh to revive and join the ranks of the Black Lanterns. We're teased a bit with the actual number of heroes, villains and families dead in the DC universe before we get to the harsh first appearance of the first two Black Lanterns (besides the Black Hand of course) and it's a doozy who they are! I can't wait to see where this one goes! There are so many heroes in the DC world who are about to really hit a "blackest night".
Score: 5 out of 5

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1
The 2nd Blackest Night book of the week, the weekly Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, is just what the title implies. It's a handful of short origins of prominent members in the upcoming Blackest Night series. In this issue, we get a look at the origin of Bro'Dee Walker (Saint Walker) of the Blue Lanterns and Mongul of the Sinestro Corps along with the 1st appearance of the enigmatic Indigo of the Indigo Tribe. (Technically it's the 2nd appearance as she was first seen in Blackest Night #0 as a teaser). It's a great companion piece to the main Blackest Night storyline but not doesn't really hold up on its own.
Score: 3.5 out of 5

Superman/Batman #62
In this issue we get a one shot story with a flashback to the 1st team-up between Robin and Supergirl. It's a filler piece to be sure but not bad. It's actually gets pretty gruesome as Supergirl gets a few shocks on her tour around Arkham Asylum. I just wish this series would catch up with continuity somehow what with Bats being dead and Supes being on New Krypton.
Score: 4 out of 5




Action Comics #879
The "World Without Superman" is actually shaping up pretty well. This issue continues with the near capture of Nightwing and Flamebird by the U.S. military as they, in turn, try to capture renegade Kryptonians. All in all, it's a lot of fighting but we start to get hints (one of 'em pretty big) into what's really behind the new stars of Action Comics. There's also a backup story featuring Captain Atom. It's nice to look at with some great art but I have no idea what's happening yet.
Score 3.5 out of 5

100 Essential Geek Skills (My Results)

I loved the 100 Essential Geek Skills post over at GeekDad so much that I decided to count up and test myself on how geeky I am by their standard.

These are things that every geek should know or be able to do.

Below are my results. I got 85 out of the 100 skills. Not to shabby if I do say so myself.

Now be sure to reply with your own scores!

GeekDad's 100 Essential Geek Skills

[X] 1. Properly secure a wireless router.
[X] 2. Crack the WEP key on a wireless router.
[X] 3. Leech Wifi from your neighbor.
[X] 4. Screw with Wifi leeches.
[X] 5. Setup and use a VPN.
[X] 6. Work from home or a coffee shop as effectively as you do at the office.
[X] 7. Wire your own home with Ethernet cable.
[X] 8. Turn a web camera into security camera.
[X] 9. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point.
[X] 10. Understand what “There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1” means.
[X] 11. Identify key-loggers.
[X] 12. Properly connect a TV, Tivo, XBox, Wii, and Apple TV so they all work together with the one remote.
[X] 13. Program a universal remote.
[X] 14. Swap out the battery on your iPod/iPhone.
[X] 15. Benchmark Your Computer
[X] 16. Identify all computer components on sight.
[X] 17. Know which parts to order from NewEgg.com, and how to assemble them into a working PC.
[X] 18. Troubleshoot any computer/gadget problem, over the phone.
[X] 19. Use any piece of technology intuitively, without instruction or prior knowledge.
[X] 20. How to irrecoverably protect data.
[X] 21. Recover data from a dead hard drive.
[X] 22. Share a printer between a Mac and a PC on a network.
[X] 23. Install a Linux distribution. (Hint: Ubuntu 9.04 is easier than installing Windows)
[X] 24. Remove a virus from a computer.
[X] 25. Dual (or more) boot a computer.
[X] 26. Boot a computer off a thumb drive.
[X] 27. Boot a computer off a network drive.
[X] 28. Replace or repair a laptop keyboard.
[X] 29. Run more than two monitors on a single computer.
[X] 30. Successfully disassemble and reassemble a laptop.
[X] 31. Know at least 10 software easter eggs off the top of your head.
[X] 32. Bypass a computer password on all major operating systems. Windows, Mac, Linux
[X] 33. Carrying a computer cleaning arsenal on your USB drive.
[X] 34. Bypass content filters on public computers.
[X] 35. Protect your privacy when using a public computer.
[X] 36. Surf the web anonymously from home.
[ ] 37. Buy a domain, configure bind, apache, MySQL, php, and Wordpress without Googling a how-to.
[ ] 38. Basic *nix command shell knowledge with the ability to edit and save a file with vi.
[ ] 39. Create a web site using vi.
[X] 40. Transcode a DVD to play on a portable device.
[ ] 41. Hide a file in an image using steganography.
[X] 42. Knowing the answer to life, the universe and everything.
[X] 43. Share a single keyboard and mouse between multiple computers without a KVM switch.
[X] 44. Google obscure facts in under 3 searches. Bonus point if you can use I Feel Lucky.
[X] 45. Build amazing structures with LEGO and invent a compelling back story for the creation.
[X] 46. Understand that it is LEGO, not Lego, Legos, or Lego’s.
[X] 47. Build a two story house out of LEGO, in monochrome, with a balcony.
[X] 48. Construct a costume for you or your kid out of scraps, duct tape, paper mâché, and imagination.
[X] 49. Be able to pick a lock.
[ ] 50. Determine the combination of a Master combination padlock in under 10 minutes.
[X] 51. Assemble IKEA furniture without looking at the instructions. Bonus point if you don’t have to backtrack.
[X] 52. Use a digital SLR in full manual mode.
[X] 53. Do cool things to Altoids tins.
[X] 54. Be able to construct paper craft versions of space ships.
[X] 55. Origami! Bonus point for duct tape origami. (Ductigami)
[X] 56. Fix anything with duct tape, chewing gum and wire.
[X] 57. Knowing how to avoid being eaten by a grue.
[X] 58. Know what a grue is.
[X] 59. Understand where XYZZY came from, and have used it.
[X] 60. Play any SNES game on your computer through an emulator.
[X] 61. Burn the rope.
[X] 62. Know the Konami code, and where to use it.
[X] 63. Whistle, hum, or play on an iPhone, the Cantina song.
[X] 64. Learning to play the theme songs to the kids favorite TV shows.
[X] 65. Solve a Rubik’s Cube.
[X] 66. Calculate THAC0.
[X] 67. Know the difference between skills and traits.
[X] 68. Explain special relativity in terms an eight-year-old can grasp.
[ ] 69. Recite pi to 10 places or more.
[X] 70. Be able to calculate tip and split the check, all in your head.
[X] 71. Explain that the colours in a rainbow are roygbiv.
[X] 72. Understand the electromagnetic spectrum - xray, uv, visible, infrared, microwave, radio.
[X] 73. Know the difference between radiation and radioactive contamination.
[X] 74. Understand basic electronics components like resistors, capacitors, inductors and transistors.
[ ] 75. Solder a circuit while bottle feeding an infant. (lead free solder please.)
[X] 76. The meaning of technical acronyms.
[ ] 77. The coffee dash, blindfolded (or blurry eyed). Coffee [cream] [sugar]. In under a minute.
[ ] 78. Build a fighting robot.
[ ] 79. Program a fighting robot.
[ ] 80. Build a failsafe into a fighting robot so it doesn’t kill you.
[X] 81. Be able to trace the Fellowship’s journey on a map of Middle Earth.
[ ] 82. Know all the names of the Dwarves in The Hobbit.
[X] 83. Understand the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel.
[X] 84. Know where your towel is and why it is important.
[X] 85. Re-enact the parrot sketch.
[X] 86. Know the words to The Lumberjack Song.
[X] 87. Reciting key scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
[X] 88. Be able to recite at least one Geek Movie word for word.
[ ] 89. Know what the 8th Chevron does on a Stargate and how much power is required to get a lock.
[X] 90. Be able to explain why it’s important that Han shot first.
[X] 91. Know why it is just wrong for Luke and Leia to kiss.
[X] 92. Stop talking Star Wars long enough to get laid.
[X] 93. The ability to name actors, characters and plotlines from the majority of sci-fi movies produced since 1968.
[X] 94. Cite Mythbusters when debunking a myth or urban legend.
[ ] 95. Sleep with a Cricket bat next to your bed.
[X] 96. Have a documented plan on what to do during a zombie or robot uprising.
[X] 97. Identify evil alternate universe versions of friends, family, co-workers or self.
[ ] 98. Be able to convince TSA that the electronic parts you are carrying are really not a threat to passengers.
[X] 99. Talk about things that aren’t tech related.
[X] 100. Get something on the front page of Digg.

Blogs I Read Regularly and (More Importantly) Why You Should Too!

See that little box down on the right hand side of this page?

Not that one. Look further down.

The one that says "Blogs I follow". There you go!

Those are all cool blogs. But rather than just trusting in my personal tastes, I'm going to give you my reasons that you should be reading these too. So, in no particular order...

• GeekDad:
  One of a series of blogs hosted at Wired.com, the GeekDad blog is aimed at, well... geek dads (and moms). It covers toys, science, cool books, video games, movies, robots and many other cool things that you, as a geek, will likely enjoy. What's better? Many of the posts tell you how you can relate these things to your little geeklings. As a GeekDad myself, I really love this site.
  
  A couple of great posts:
  Descent: Dungeon-Crawling, Pure and Simple
  Treasure Hunting with Kids
  

• DC Universe: The Source:
  Still fairly new as blogs go (it's younger than mine), DC Universe is the official blog of DC Comics. There's not many articles yet as it seems they're still finding their footing. Most blog posts tend to be of prerelease art and pages from upcoming comics. Still, as DC Comics fan, this is the ultimate fodder for comic geek debate.
  
  A couple of cool example posts:
  A Little Batman and Robin Treat for You
  Get a First Look at Batman: Streets of Gotham #1
  

• Squees of a Geek Girl Diva:
  As an avid lover of all things toy-related, it only seems natural that one of the first folks I met via Twitter was a user called GeekGirlDiva. Her blog, the very aptly titled Squees of a... is a hit combination of toys and irreverent fun. It never fails to being a snigger to my day. (And as a bonus, if you dig around a bit, you may find a post or two from someone you might recognize. Ooo! Ooo! It's me!)
  
  A few fun posts:
  I Kissed a Girl...
  I Wanna Be Like Ashton and Oprah! Don't I?
  

• Frankensteinia:
  Readers of my blog will already know of my affinity (read: obsession) with all things Frankenstein. With that in mind, it should be no shock that the Frankensteinia blog is one of the first blogs I ever started reading regularly. As the title suggests, Frankensteinia covers Frankenstein in all forms: movies, books, tv, artwork, comics, toys...the list is endless. If you have even a passing interest in this classic monster, you have to visit Frankensteinia!
  
  A couple o' creepy posts:
  Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein
  The Bride Unwrapped (NSFW)
  

• WWnD: In Exile:
  If you're reading my blog, odds are you're already aware of the musings of Wil Wheaton, geek extraordinare. In case you've been living under a rock, Wheaton's the unrivaled guru of geekdom. Sure. He played on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stand By Me but that's not what makes him the go-to guy in the geek universe. Wheaton plays RPGs, video games, collects toys, codes and... the list could go on. I won't go into massive specifics here since Wil's covered any questions you might have here. He will tell you that he's Just a Geek, but you don't get elected of Secretary of Geek Affairs above luminaries like Steve Wozniak and Joss Whedon without some serious geek cred. It doesn't hurt that Wheaton's also a GeekDad.
  
  A couple of geeky posts:
  this is for uncle warren
  Phoenix Comicon Rock Band Video Roundup
  

• Felicia Day's Blog:
  Felicia Day is probably most recognizable as Penny from Joss Whedon's web sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and her own web series The Guild. (She's also cameos in the hilarious Legend of Neil). She's also become the cute pixie-like face of Twitter. So much so that she was the spokesperson for Microsoft's E3 announcement of the integration of Facebook and Twitter into Xbox Live later this year. Her blog tends to be a mix of updates from her professional side and a good bit about fantasy novels. (If you skip over Felicia's obsession with hunky romance fantasy and the related covers, there's quite a few good recommendations here.)
  
  A few twitterific posts:
  #feliciadayrumors
  Interview with Patrick Rothfuss: Author of "Name of the Wind"
  

Now that you know my reasons for reading this fine selection of blogs, you can feel safe adding them to your bookmarks. You're welcome!