Geek Corner

Super Bowl Sunday

Overall Super Bowl Sunday was a pretty good day for me!

Got to see Taken, an incredibly awesome action thriller with Liam Neeson (more on that later today), followed by a rousing game between the Cardinals and Stillers (congrats Pittsburgh) and an exciting (if slightly disappointing because Jack Black, Cloris Leachman and Jessica Alba didn't actually interact with the regular cast of) Office.

Throw in some new trailers of geeky movies and we're set!

Transformers 2:

G.I. Joe:

and Star Trek:

The Star Trek trailer looks pretty decent, coming from a non-original-series-Trekkie, while G.I. Joe was surprisingly exciting. That might be because of the short 30-second spot, but the slow-mo and CGI human figures actually look pretty decent....here's to hoping they pull it off well!

Transformers 2 looks downright amazing.....we have another instance of a beautiful transformation from giant robot to awesome car, some unbelievable seen where Megan Fox appears to be in love with "the Beef" (still hard to fathom, sorry), and what I believe is the appearance of Devastator, the sickeningly cool combination of Voltron and Transformers in the original show ;)

Season 3 of Heroes has begun!

As my young brother-in-law James would say, "Finally!"

The much less talked about third season of Heroes is indeed finally underway, and boy was it a good kickoff Monday night!

After my Chargers decimated the almighty stubbly QB and his Jets, we got back to back episodes of Heroes that point at a much more fast-paced year in comparison to season 2, which daudled along and had some of our heroes making choices that went against their characters established in the first season (such as a selfish Hiro or a disillusioned Peter).

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

My lovely wife totally called it when it came to Nathan's killer....I'd never have thunk Peter would do that! It has me excited as to what the future scarred-Peter comes from is like, for him to kill his own brother just to create a different future. Now, of course, I wonder what the current future is like after scarred-Peter essentially handed Sylar the gift of healing thanks to a simple phone call: we've already seen that this caused the death of at least two more Company agents and Bob, as well as the inadvertent release of Noah and the Level 5 uber-baddies. What's weird though is that Hiro gets a glimpse of the future that is now to come thanks to him letting half of some strange serum get stolen; but what does this destructive future have to do with the new one scarred-Peter has created?

My head hurts....I trust they'll have a flashback episode soon to explain all this, and more (like how are Nathan, Linderman and a Niki-look alike all alive, and where's West?)

All in all though, a great start to the year in my opinion =)

The Hobbit's Office

My fiancee and I have fallen in love with The Office!

One reason I love it so much:

In related news, the good folks at IGN have some interesting suggestions about what the two Hobbit movies could consist of, using Tolkien's entire library of Middle-Earth mythos...

Especially love the idea of Aragorn's backstory, fighting with the armies of Rohan and Gondor and protecting the Shire with Gandalf....also, seeing Balin and the dwarves (whose remains we see in The Fellowship of the Ring) unsuccessfully trying to "tame" Moria. Translation: lots of fighting, which is a must for my Middle-Earth experience ;)

A Real American Hero!

Casting for the live-action adaptation of another 80's cartoon and action figure franchise — G.I. Joe — has been fully underway for some time now, but we have word that the role of Duke, the perennial leader of the Joe's, has been given to Channing Tatum, otherwise known as, get this, Duke in She's the Man.
He's also the white guy from Coach Carter who inexplicably wears his beanie on the side of his head....

Anyway, one really geektastic entry to G.I. Joe is Ray Park, he of Darth Maul and Toad from X-Men fame, who will become Snake Eyes, which is a role perfectly suited for the British martial arts master who generally doesn't do a lot of dialogue in films anyway.
Marlon Wayans is set to be Ripcord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who starred in 10 Things I Hate About You with the late Heath Ledger) is in talks, but the cast is overall low on American actors, as the creators of the film are going for a more international assocation of good guys rather than "real American heroes", i.e. the cast already has a few European and Australian actors, including a British-born man with Nigerian parents and a French-born actor with Morrocan parents.

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until Aug. 7, 2009 to see the new Joe's in action...
But at least now you know, and knowing is half the battle!

Blue Harvest

Argh, Youtube has crappy quality, but at least you can enjoy a little laughter ;)

From Family Guy's "Blue Harvest" DVD, a complete retelling of Star Wars using Family Guy characters and brand of jokes....interesting side note, the creators of Family Guy are such GEEK CORNER entries that they titled the DVD Blue Harvest, after the fake title used while Return of the Jedi was filming.
Another interesting side note: Return of the Jedi was released a few months AFTER I was born....does this make me old?

Enjoy!

I almost sithed by pants laughing at that...

Actors

Entertainment newsgroup TMZ has released some more info on the death of Heath Ledger:

NYPD sources tell TMZ that nearly full pill bottles containing the anti-anxiety medications Alprazolam (Xanax), Diazepam (Valium) and Lorazepam (Ativan) were found in the apartment. The sleeping medication Zopiclone (Lunesta) and the sedative Temazepam (Restoril) — which is used by people with “debilitating insomnia” — were also found.
All of the drugs were prescribed to Ledger.

This brings to mind a question I have about actors and actresses. A lot of these professionals seem to have no trouble whatsoever in changing their physical appearance or even their emotions and psychology in preparing for certain roles. A few examples:
>> Renee Zellweger gained a reported 25 pounds for her title role in 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary
>> Vincent D'Onofrio (bad guy from Men in Black) gained a reported 90 pounds for his role as Private Pyle in 1987's Full Metal Jacket
>> Jack Nicholson appears to continue his Joker and Jack Torrance personas from Batman and The Shining in public

Okay, so that last one was a bit sketchy (Jackie boy was probably nuts to begin with before appearing as basket-cases in those two films) but there's undeniable proof that many actors and actresses sometimes go to extremes in preparing for their on-screen roles.

Now comes Heath Ledger, who went to such lengths to get into his The Dark Knight Joker character that he reportedly isolated himself in a hotel room for "days" and kept a diary in which he maintained the Joker persona. Also...
"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." Ledger told The New York Times."Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." Ledger told The New York Times.
That interview occurred a month or so ago.

My question is: did Heath Ledger push himself so hard into his Joker character that it caused him to lose sleep; in response to that, did he make a mistake by taking too many different types of pills — three different anti-anxiety pills, one sleeping aid and a sedative for people with insomnia — leading to his death?

HHHHHEEEEEERRRRROOOOOEEEEESSSS

Holy. Majoly.
This was THE BEST episode of Heroes this season by far....and ended up being my favorite episode of the show thus far in it's two (1 1/2?) seasons/volumes.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

If you haven't seen the season finale, "Powerless", yet, then read something else, otherwise I'll spoil it for you ;p
It's hard to pinpoint what my favorite moment was....
>> Maya becoming infuriated with Sylar once Molly told her that her brother Alejandro was dead (I love that she put 2 and 2 together to find out that Sylar killed her brother), thus solidifying her on the anti-Sylar side, which as we're all going to find out will be a VERY GOOD thing for the good guys in Season/Volume 3...
>> Elle showing us that she has a brand of innocence that could only come from somebody who never got to experience a normal childhood, and her "perking up" at Mohinder's mention of her being a hero...
>> Niki sacrificing herself to save Monica and Micah (although there are already rumors that she turned herself over to Jessica in a fit of desperation while in the burning building to save her life; THAT could become veeeeery interesting this next season)...
>> Claire finding out how powerful her very blood is when her dad returns, only to be heartbroken (again!) when he says he has to rejoin the Company...
>> The ENTIRE Peter/Adam/Hiro/Matt/Nathan showdown at Primatech in Odessa, TX, which saw Peter and Adam take out a handful of guards (with Adam presumably killing them with his katana, while Peter merely subdued them with telekinesis), Nathan and Matt show up to open Peter's eyes to Adam's nefarious plans, and Hiro teleporting Adam to "where he can't harm anybody anymore"----a coffin six feet under in the same Japanese cemetary where Hiro's father Kaito was buried after his death at Adam's hands...
>> Oh yeah, and Nathan getting capped as he was about to reveal his power of flight to show the world that people with powers existed in an attempt to right the wrongs done/planned by the older generation of "heroes"...

Now on to future matters....
—> Niki/Nathan may not be dead after all; Nathan could be healed by a sample of Claire's blood, which Mohinder may still have (Sylar took the case holding vials containing Mohinder's and Claire's blood, but they might have a stockpile of her blood somewhere else), and he might even be healed by Peter's blood, since Peter has permanently borrowed the power of spontaneous regeneration...
—> Sylar is going to find a group of villains he will use to gain more power; show creator Tim Kring has said as much in this interview with TV Guide. This is insanely interesting, because if Peter, Hiro, Matt, Mohinder, Monica, Micah, Molly, Maya, Claire and West get together (lots of M's there!), they would form a pretty solid "Good Guy/Gal" group: Mohinder being the scientist and caretaker of the kids; Mollie being the Cerebro that can find the powered individuals; Claire's blood being put in injectable vial form for field use in case of injuries; Peter, Hiro, Monica and Maya being the field agents, once Maya learns how to focus her poison-power on certain individuals (and can incapacitate rather than kill) and once Monica watches every Bruce Lee, WWE/WWF/WCW/ECW/TNA and UFC video made ;)

Whaddaya think?

HEROES...."4 months ago"

Soooooooo, we finally know what happened to Peter, Nathan, Niki, D.L., Maya and Alejandro....and I must say that this writers' strike better end NOW, because this show is really kicking into gear for the second season.....the scene with Peter's radiation melting Nathan's skin, before Peter blows up and IMMEDIATELY returns to save his brother was soooo powerful, as was D.L. getting capped and Niki getting splattered with his blood, AND Maya's first "use" of her power, which wipes out an entire Guatemalan village at a wedding ceremony....

To update: Now we know that Peter befriended Adam, but it wasn't quite what some thought; the two never really discussed "how to save the world", only how the Company was what they thought they were (wow, thank you Dennis Green! =P) The Haitian smacking around Peter while dampening his powers was awesome, as was that man's decision to try and give Peter a new life away from the Company and Peter's mother.......
But now we have several questions: with Peter's memory restored and Adam already having show kindness toward Nathan, will Adam's version of "saving the world" be in line with Peter's?

Also: Hiro tries to save his father....but who killed Kaito? If it's intend Adam/Takezo Kensei, then that would seemingly put Hiro and Peter at odds with each other....
Aaaaand: With two "healers" now out and about, wouldn't that give Sylar twice the chance to steal a power that would make him invincible, once his power is restored?

Tonight.....

HEROES baby! We find out the craziness that has plagued our homies throughout the 4 months between last season and this season, including Takezo Kensei assuming the role of Adam Monroe, how Peter and Nathan survived the former's metamorphosis into a nuclear detonation, and how the heck D.L. kicked the can.....

HEROES craziness

Wow, so Heroes really ramped it up with Monday's (Nov. 5) episode.....

Hiro blew up Takezo Kensei, but obviously only temporarily (if Peter and Nathan could survive a nuclear blast, I think the just-as-invincible-as-Peter Kensei could survive some powder kegs), as the latter is reintroduced at the end of the story as Adam, and insane plot development that should have some definite legs under it!

Finally, this coming episode will offer some much-needed answers by giving us a glance at the four months b/w last season and this one.

Oh, and obviously everything I say on here is completely my opinion, but if anyone objects to it, please add your own opinions for the sake of discussion....simply saying that I'm wrong doesn't really do anything other than make a person look demeaning ;) Thanks!