Saturday, October 29, 2011

Word of the Day! 10/29/11

spurn [spurn]
verb (used with object)
1. to reject with disdain; to scorn
2. to treat with contempt; to despise
3. to kick or trample underfoot.
verb (used without object)
4. to show disdain or contempt.

EX. Despite the fact that Lady Polly Pennyweather spurned the advances of Gordon the Elephant Seal, the rejected lover stalked her through the balmy streets of Winchestershiresauce and plotted to ruin the life of her most recent suitor, a mister Starch Waltley.

MIXED BAG. POKEMON CAROUSEL RIDES ARE WEIRD.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Word of the Day! 10/28/11

THINGS COULD BE WORSE- THE TRAGEDY SERIES BLOG!

uncouth [uhn-kooth]
adjective
1. awkward, clumsy or unmannerly. 
2. strange and ungraceful in appearance or form.
3. unusual or strange.

faux pas [foh-pah]
noun
1. a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners or conduct.
2. an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion.

EX. Windsor regretted taking his pet koala, Percival, to the funeral of his late aunt, Madame Kristine Pifferby. The uncouth koala had committed a foul faux pas when it spit into the open grave his dearly departed aunt.

Daily Round-Up! 10/27/11


Ghosts 'n' Goblins WITH LYRICS

Just in time for Halloween weekend, brentalfloss released his newest music video celebrating one of the most classic and hardcore games from our childhoods.

DR. SEUSS's THE LORAX (2012) TRAILER!

I dunno, something about this one seems even more charming yet worrying than Horton Hears A Who. This is definitely trying to sell to kids and tweens (blech) but it also has Danny Devito as a furry little maniac. How can that go wrong?

SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA- TROLL TOLL maybe NSFW

COULD YOU OUTRUN A T-REX?
Short answer? No. Medium answer? Probably. Long answer? You can drive, a T-Rex cannot. 


FIRST OF IMAGE OF PHOENIX WRIGHT, THE HANDSOME JAPANESE MOVIE STAR?!

No objections....so far?
 
THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH TURNS 50- DOCUMENTARY TRAILER! 
ANNIVERSARY TIME! 




 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

OSB, TSF. POETRY JAM #4 Mariposa Amarilla


Mariposa Amarilla
A balmy day at the dog end of August,
and a summer's breeze brought about unease.
The wind, robust, shook the trees with a gust,
and hummed, making it's way down the street.

Down the street was a lone office building,
and on the fifth floor was Sam Harper and Son.
An ad company, its office was schilling,
and killing, a sensitive, young woman.

A yellow butterfly flew through the window
and landed onto Mary Posada's desk.
She received this rare and random rendezvous.
She was a welcome visitor and guest.

She held her breath as she watched her flutter
her wings, like the flirting eyes of a lover.
Her wings were so pretty and soft like butter
as they spread like a smile, over and over.

She wanted to protect her paper wings
and to defend her aerial friend.
She knew in her heart that such fragile things
that are innocent, always, meet a quick end.

A clerk ended it's life with a single hit.
He swung his plastic flyswatter. Smack.
A yellow smudge, was all that remained of it.
"Got it." He laughed.

To him it was a small life, a small act.
And so, Mary quit and never came back.
2011

MIXED BAG. VAMPIRE TYPES.


Word of the Day! 10/27/11



lummox [luhm-uhks]
noun
1. a clumsy, stupid person.
2. an inconsiderate lout.


oaf [ohf]
noun
1. a clumsy, stupid person; lout
2. a simpleton; dunce; blockhead

galoot [guh-loot]
noun
1. an awkward, eccentric, or foolish person.


EX. Ren and Stimpy taught me a plethora of wonderful terms for big, fat, stupid, lazy jerks from the common oaf, to the Western galoot, and to the most indignant lummox.

Daily Round-Up! 10/26/11

This is cat-melon-hat series, peoples!

GRAND THEFT AUTO V INFO COMING NEXT WEEK

Information and possibly even a trailer for Grand Theft Auto V are going to be revealed next week. Considering Rockstar only numbers really important GTA titles, this means this title is going to be a big change from GTA IV.

GO AWAY WOOPER!

This video was made by good friend Matt; its a sweet little animation about one of the derpiest of pokemon, Wooper. Seriously, look at that face!
STUDIO GHIBLI'S THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY OFFICIAL ENGLISH DUB TRAILER!

Mary Norton's The Borrowers + Studio Ghibli = something to look for this February at a cinema near you.
THE AVENGERS TRAILER! SWEDED, PARODY, REMAKE!
Who knew Joss Whedon was going to go so low-budget and wild with the biggest movie crossover of all time?



LEGEND OF LULZ!
LEGEND OF SOME MORE LULZ!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

WTF WEDNESDAY! 6 Japan? No France. NSFW


Seriously, before you click the links on this page, be warned that it may be a little disturbing for viewers not already hardened by the internet. If you watch it and are offended, I am sorry.


This gorgeous and grotesque music video for French artist DyE's single, Fantasy, is directed by the ever-bold Jeremie Perin. His use of  horror and fantasy, and the fantastically horrific, are in top form in this video. The music ain't half bad either. 

Check out another one of his music videos, also NSFW, below:

Word of the Day! 10/26/11


apex predator [ey-peks-prehd-uh-ter]
noun
1. predators that have no predators of their own, residing at the top of the food chain.


EX. Humans are apex predators. If nature did not want us to eat other animals, it would not have given us big meaty predatory brains and large canine teeth. Lesson? Eat all the animals.

Brought to you by hunger.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

MIXED BAG. WEBCOMIC SHOUT-OUT #2



REUSED: Hark, a Vagraint is a wonderful webcomic by Kate Beaton. She covers a range of subjects from history to literature and, as seen above, occasionally draws a dandy strip satirizing our favorite super heroes. I have been reading her strips for a couple of years and they are an absolute treat. They range from silly comics about the "Sexy Tudors" to the tragic but amusing life of a chimney sweep. Her comics are usually done in black and white, a style I prefer, but occasionally she does colored comics like the one above. Check out her website and if your really dig here, consider picking up one of her wonderful books.

P.S. She is so cool she even got an homage on Adventure Time dedicated to her Shetland Pony character in the episode "The Eyes".

P.P.S. Her comic is so awesome that I decided to link it twice in a row. Deal with it.


Word of the Day! 10/25/11


submersible [suhb-mer-suh-buhl]
adjective
1. capable of being submerged.
2. capable of functioning while submerged.
noun
1. a ship capable of submerging and operating under water; a submarine.
2. a device designed for underwater work or exploration.

EX. I stole their honey, they stole my submersible.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Daily Round-Up! 10/24/11


THE 10 GEEKIEST MOMENTS OF COMMUNITY
I dunno why I haven't checked out NBC's comedy Community. It has a lot of awesome actors and comedians. After reading this articles, I kinda want to watch every single episode cuz they all look so f'ing incredible and full of geeky goodness. You ever wanted to see Chevy Chase play D & D or Joel McHale and Ken Jeong renact the end of The Predator? Than this is for you!

ALTERNATE ENDING TO BACK TO THE FUTURE

Did you ever think of what would happen if Doc Brown and Marty McFly ended up in "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."
WALT DISNEY'S SIN CITY A Trailer Mash-Up

Gotta love a great trailer mash-up. This one mix's Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's Sin City with a plethora of Disney footage.
HOW GHOSTBUSTERS SHOULD HAVE ENDED!

Ghostbusters III just needs to show up so we can get more awesome ghost busting action. Seriously. What is keeping them?


COMING 11/11/11


MUSICAL MONDAY! DISNEY FANATIC! #1 Hellfire

MUSICAL MONDAY PRESENTS:
DISNEY FANATIC #1
Click the link below to watch it.


Walt Disney Productions became the first American studio to produce an animated full-length feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), and made its mark by recreating classical Western fairy tales. Despite stumbling clumsily through the late 70s and 80s, they regained their composure and became bigger than ever in the 90s. 

I had the privilege of my childhood being right alongside the "Disney Renaissance", a period of incredible films made by Disney during the 90s, beginning with The Little Mermaid (1993) and fizzling out by the end of the decade with mediocre movies like Tarzan (1999). It is unfortunate that Walt himself did not get to see this period.

This decade gave Disney the opportunity to mix darker themes with their fantasy but sometimes things did not work out. A perfect example is The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). The film suffers from several Disney cliches, that post-Pocahontas (1996) had invaded the films. From the annoying sidekicks that immediately eject the audience from a grim scene to goofy and obnoxious farce to musical numbers that were just plain bad.

On the flipside, there were characters with extremely deep and controversial conflicts like the Hunchbacks's villain, Judge Claude Frollo, performed incredibly by veteran voice actor Tony Jay. The song that drags Hunchback from the brink of forgotten nostalgia is Hellfire.
Undeniably, Hellfire is the best of the Disney Villain Songs. I was never much of a Hunchback fan but, after rediscovering this song last year, Hellfire won me over to giving the movie some more consideration. 
The villain of the film, Frollo, struggles with incredibly complex motivations. In this song, we see damning religious and dogmatic imagery set against sexual tension and desire. Frollo is torn between his attraction for Esmerelda and her refusal to submit to him. He vents this frustration between lust and hate, deciding that if he cannot have her, the fires of hell should instead. It is so incredible powerful and it is scenes like this that show the purely impressive and adult story telling that Disney is capable of.
I hope that there is a second Disney Renaissance in my lifetime, and that this one explores the potential of tackling more adult stories through their incredible 2D animation.

Word of the Day. 10/24/11

dank [dangk]
adjective
1. unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and often chilly.
2. slang. very good.
3. slang. very bad.
4. potent; as in potent marijuana.

EX. Cheetah is probably the dankest of all hard core drugs.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 10/16- 10/22 2011

WEEKLY ROUND-UP:
Tanuki Week
A special thanks to Zach Stanifer.

How much do I enjoy this song? I am listening to it right now. Castlevania is one of the most iconic and classic video game series for three reasons:
1. Gameplay.
2. Story.
3. THE MUSIC!





山八山

This week's theme started with an A D & D game on Sunday led by my buddy Zach. I'm a huge tabletop gamer and I really enjoyed sharing this very short story about character creation.

Anything that gives me an opportunity to talk up Geoff Johns's revival of the Green Lantern Corps and the establishment of the Emotional Spectrum (and their relates corps) is a great thing.


Got to stir up some Harry Potter fan discussion with this article and really enjoyed some of the conversations about the possible effects of time travel in the HP universe to just discussing fantasy time travel in general.



I really have been enjoying the theme of Doctor Who for this Halloween and if anyone has any suggestions for other great seasonal or monthly themes, feel free to suggest away. Last week we got to take a look at arguably the most terrifying Doctor Who monsters of all time.


This chapter was a bit of a challenge as it involved portraying action, in this case a rather intense battle with a fearsome many legged monster, with all 5 of the protagonists of Rise of the White Spider. I hope the action doesn't come off as too confused and that readers enjoy their first foray into the Underwold.

I have a feeling it always going to be a bit of a duke-out between WTF WEDNESDAY articles and SCI-FI FANTASY FRIDAY articles because both force me to express myself creatively into very diametrically opposed ways. On one hand, there is the silly humor and on the other more serious fantasy fiction. Regardless, this weeks article covered something I am particularly interested in, Japanese mythology and folklore. Enjoy.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

NERD CULTURE SMACKDOWN #7 WHO-LLOWEEN Pt.3

NERD SMACKDOWN PRESENTS
WHO-LLOWEEN

There is something special about Halloween. It could be the soursweet smell of candy corn or the ring of your doorbell with an inevitable, "Trick or Treat!" I believe it is the spirit of embracing the horrific with a laugh. Children, young and old, dress up as the ghastliest of ghouls from poltergeists to politicians or as their favorite characters from Disney Princesses to Doctor Who.

Doctor Who's greatest strength is that, because its a show about an alien and his human companions traveling through time and space, there is no limit to the kind of story that can be told. The best Doctor Who stories involve the strange and terrible monsters that combine the best elements of horror. British parents tell their children how they used to hide behind the couch when the Daleks came on TV but  they lack the same punch. Sure, Daleks are a great match for the Doctor, but it is hard to be scared of them. They're basically a mix between Marvin the Martian, R2 D2 and wasps (What? If wasps could they would "exterminate" every living thing on Earth). The scariest Doctor Who villains are the ones who hold the mystery.

So, to celebrate Halloween I will talk about the scariest monsters of the 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors. Starting this week, we have:

 VASHTA NERADA

Appearances: Series 4 (2008): Silence in the Library TRAILER /Forest of the Dead TRAILER

Powers: Microscopic swarm creatures, their name literally translates to "the shadow that melts the flesh", and the live up that name. Like "piranhas of the air" they can pick a body clean down to the bones in seconds. In large enough concentrations, they can form a singular swarm mind that can communicate on a human-level. The disguise themselves as shadows.

Weaknesses: Bright-light can destroy them.

Motive: To survive, to get revenge on the humans that cut down their homes in the forests of their planet and to return to their planet.

Catchphrase: "These are our forests. They are our meat." Vashta Nerada, Forest of Death
BONUS: "Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave, Forest of Death