Saturday, January 12, 2013

NERD CULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKEMONS OF THE WEEK #1

POKEMONS OF THE WEEK #1
ELECTIVIRE & MAGMORTAR

That's right, kiddies. You didn't really ask for it, but I demanded it, so here is our very first randomly generated Pokemons of the Week. I ran a number generator and got #467 Magmortar and thought I'd get #466 out of the way while I was at it with Electivire. I'm glad we're starting on a high note as these two Pokemon are, in my opinion, two of the best designs of the 4th Generation. I thought the evolutions of older Pokemon that they introduced in 4th Gen were awesome (Pokemon fans love our third evolutions) and Magmar & Electabuzz were due for an evolution to elevate them to a new state of awesomeness.

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/12/13.

O.P. [oh-pee]
adjective
1. Acronym. "Over-Powered".

EX. A lot of people accuse Superman of being overpowered and that O.P. heroes are not as interesting as say characters like Batman. I would actually argue Batman is quite O.P. because he has the power of billions of dollars and the fact that half of the people who write and read comics think Batman could beat anyone and therefore he usually does so by "outsmarting" them in the same way that they use technobabble on Star Trek to overcome every problem.

As for telling stories with O.P. characters, I think that the stories about Superman mean a lot more to me than stories about Batman. I think that latter character tends to be overshadowed by his villains in many stories, but I feel Superman holds his own as a character in his stories. I also find Superman, despite the fact that he has godly power, to be more relateable.

I think Quentin Tarantino's speech, performed by Bill (David Carradine), about Superman in Kill Bill  2 is incorrect. Superman isn't Superman, he is Clark Kent. Batman isn't Bruce Wayne, he is Batman. And Clark Kent represents the paragon of morality . He believes in "Truth, Justice, and The American Way". Before I sound jingoistic, I'll explain that "The American Way" is hope. You have to have hope to believe that there is truth and justice in the universe. That is what Clark Kent believes in.

If you wanna understand Superman better, I recommend reading All-Star Superman or the Superman story "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, & The American Way?". You can actually watch the animated films about both on Netflix, under All-Star Superman and Superman Vs. The Elite. The latter story is the perfect reply to every anti-hero character written to point out the "hypocrisy" of characters of Superman.

P.S. I have high hopes about the new Superman film, Man of Steel.

Friday, January 11, 2013

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/11/13.

chainsaw [cheyn-saw]
noun
1. A portable power saw with teeth on a chain wrapping around a blade.

EX. Ladies and Gentleman, I present from Japan (presumably) a Giant Nazi Robot with a Flaming Chainsaw. You're welcome.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/10/13.

pizza [peet-suh]
noun
1. A flat, open-faced baked pie of Italian origin, consisting of a thin layer of bread dough topped with spiced tomato sauce and cheese, often garnished with anchovies, sausage slices, mushrooms, etc.

EX. I always knew that Splinter was no good- raising his turtles in the sewers on pizza and fortune cookie wisdom.

P.S. I always see people complain about how Naruto is not a real ninja... tell me, honestly, with a straight face, that the Teenage Mutant "Ninja" Turtles are legit? They can be stealthy but about 90% of the time they just crash into a room and start raising "shell". And this is coming from a fan of the franchise.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

WTF WED! TRUNKS & CHARLIE THE UNICORN GO TO TOKYO JONGLE!

WTF WEDNESDAY PRESENTS

First up in our triple feature of awfulness and amusement is a short about one of my least favorite DBZ characters-- don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Trunks, I just dislike a lot about him. My biggest pet peeve about the character is his stupid sword. It it never really explained what makes the sword so special in a world of super powered aliens. Also, his creator forgot half Saiyans were supposed to have tails. *rubs temple* I don't even. Also, he was one of the protagonist of DBGT. I have nerd rage that fermented for years over this guy...


Charlie the Unicorn is a great example of a premise that I don't think can be so easily exhausted by its progress. Heck, with only four adventures of our three unicorns, it can hardly be said they've been over exploited. If you like non-sequitor humor, check out the rest of Secret Agent Bob's work ASAP.


The more Tokyo Jungle I see, the more I wish I had Gamefly to rent it! Built on the strange concept of a roleplaying strategy game where you play as packs of wild animals in a post apocalyptic (?) Tokyo and fight for territory and resources with the other animals. In this video, videogamedunkey, won me over and I had to subscribe!

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/9/13.

coincidence [co-ihn-suh-dins]
noun
1. A surprising or striking occurrence where two or more events are apparently related by time, place, or detail by mere chance.

EX. This coincidence of color coordination, between the Belcher kids and the 6th Gen Pokemon starters, demands that I share with you my feelings about a fairly underrated animated TV show on Fox. P.S. Make sure to check out the artist's tumblr.

Fox's Bob's Burgers, created by Loren Bouchard (Home Movies), is an animated sitcom about Bob Belcher (played by H. John Benjamin), his wife Linda (John Roberts), and their three kids (from left to right) Louise (Kristen Schaal), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Tina (Dan Mintz) who run a family-owned burger restaurant. It a plot-run family show in the vein of King of the Hill (also underrated) that has slowly climbed up the ladder to receive critical praise. The off-beat and often deadpan humor is a mix of workplace and awkward family humor that works thanks to the sincerity given to each character's motivations (even when they're doing things cynically).

I highly recommend it to fans of Home Movies & King of The Hill, as well as animation fans in general, who want to check out one of the smartest animated TV shows that you probably overlooked. I even thought the show was gonna flop after watching a couple episodes but, after watching the first season on Netflix, did a 360. Check it out on Netflix, Hulu, and of course Fox Sundays.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 12/31/12-1/4/13.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS
ASH KETCHUM SUCKS WEEK!

5. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/1/13. Posterior.

 I've been spending a lot of time sitting on my keester over the last week (between being sick and playing lots of board games). Luckily, I don't have to worry about ghost butt because I regularly schedule visits from the Ghost Busters.


4. MUSICAL MON: END OF THE YEAR QUARTET!

I decided that since my Birthday and the last day of 2012 fell on a Monday last week that you guy's deserved a quadruple heaping of Music for Music Monday. I think my favorite of the four songs is prolly...um, well, as much as I love brentalfloss it wasn't Baby Mario & Yoshi. But it did have the best video!

3. WTF WED! DON CHEADLE CAPTAIN PLANET SAGA!

I'm so happy that I got to share the incredible Captain Planet Saga from Funny or Die. It took us back to looking at the very first WTF Wed (back when I numbered articles) and allowed us to take a look at the darker side of old "green-top".

2. WORD OF THE DAY! 1/1/13. Generation.

Who would think my Poke-Prediction about us hearing about the 6th Generation of Pokemon soon would come true in a week? Even more interest is that, in the comments for the Pokemon X & Y trailer, people were asking them to remove EV/IVs. I don't see how removing them would make things...better?

1. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/31/12. Bumble.

I was happy to share a glimpse of the Chronicles of Bumble Bootsbane (whom I plan to write a full novel about) on my bday. I've been doing a lot of table topping and xcited to be starting a couple of pathfinder games, hopefully getting into my friend's Dad's new campaign, and continuing my Call of Cthulhu game and my current Pathfinder game.

Thank you guys for a fantastic 2012 and here's to a better 2013.

NERD CULTURE SMACKDOWN: NEW POKEMON X & Y VERSIONS ANNOUNCED ON THE 3DS!

NERD CULTURE SMACKDOWN PRESENTS

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE FOR THE LOVE OF ARCEUS! Alright, exhale, inhale, and relax- NEW POKEMON! Okay, so I knew there was gonna be a big Pokemon announcement from Nintendo and I figured it was either going to be a Ruby and Sapphire remake for the 3DS (although I'd prefer they skip and just make Emerald cuz its superior) OR it would be about a new generation of Pokemon rather than a new spin-off series. I didn't expect the amount of information we got and, I must admit, I am as excited as I get with each announcement of a new gen of Pokemon. And so, after not doing a Nerd Culture Smackdown in weeks I am going to give you my initial feelings on the trailer and the revealed Pokemon. Heck, this might be what kicks of me doing Pokemon of the Week articles! WARNING: Nerd Culture Smackdown reflects my opinion on the moment I write the article and may not reflect reality.

First up, I wanna say that I will lose my crap if the music if the amazing theme from the trailer is used in the game; one of the most overlooked elements of the Pokemon games is the music and this new iteration of a classic theme pumped me up. Now, that I've got that out of the way, lets talk about the graphics, which you can see in the trailer and the picture above; I'm satisfied to see that they took Pokemon B & W II's graphics up a solid notch and, although the human's heads are as big as their bodies, it is a nice step toward the right direction. The environments look pretty interesting and make me think we're getting a Europe theme (look at the Eiffel-like tower above). The last thing I gotta say is that I hope that the protagonists are customizable this time around.

I also like the use of cell-shading for the Pokemon rather than Polygon-style I had expected. Just look at those pinchable cheeks!

Now let's take a look at the three  starters and the two legendaries:

Our first Pokemon revealed was Chespin, a grass starter (look at the green text and grass sprouting out of his head) and I have mixed feelings about its design: on one hand, we've never had a mammalian grass starter so the design could lead to a really cool evolved form with, since I'm seeing a mole or chipmunk, I'm seeing a Grass-Ground type in its final evolution. But, on the other hand, the design is a little wonky with a lot of little details that just feel sort of random and remind me a little too much of Patrat. I'm optimistic though.

I find Fennekin, the fire starter, to be too easy of a design and in fact, in my opinion, its the least interesting of the three-- I always start with the Fire starter in my first play-through of a generation of Pokemon games but Fennekin is making me hesitate in a way that Tepig never did (I love Tepig!). We've had lots of fox pokemon- between Vulpix, Ninetails, all of the Evee Pokemon and more- and the combination of a fire fox is just, well, boring. Its a cute design, but I wish it wasn't a starter. Then again, its final form could be insanely cool, so we'll have to see...

Believe it or not, Froakie, the water starter, is my favorite design of the three. We've had frog Pokemon, but his design looks fairly intriguing with the bubbles around the neck and on the nose (that's what I assume they are). I don't have a ton more to say about it, but I can foresee some neat stuff for this Pokemon's evolutionary design.

The legendaries look really cool and unique; the Y-legendary (I assume) appears to be some sort of dragon, dark, or flying type bird pokemon combo and the way he has three wings with claws (check out the "tail") makes him look pretty cool and I can see some interesting Pokemon designs are ahead.

Like the X-legendary (I also assume) with these awesome Christmas antlers and long legs that give him this really impressive look; I'm not really sure what type he'll be yet.

And that's all folks. Please leave some comments and argue with my opinions (cuz they're probably wrong!).

Do we get to go to Space? 0.0

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/8/12.

water temple [waw-ter-tem-puhl]
noun
1. The Legend of Zelda. Although there were such temples before it and such temples after it, the Water Temple from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64) is widely considered to be one of the most frustrating and/or broken levels in the history of the series. The level's unpopularity has reached such a wide audience that, amongst games, the term "water temple" has become synonymous with a broken or frustrating level.

EX. I decided to go a little awry today and give you guys a meme that is a little bit obscure with a joke that's a little hard core nerdy. I've never played Ocarina of Time long enough to actually get to the Water Temple-- in fact, having tried to play it on the 3DS, I had trouble getting into it. I would like to try it again sometime...or just watch Hook for the thirtieth time. SCHMEE!

Monday, January 7, 2013

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/7/13.

tardy [tahr-dee]
adjective
1. Late; behind time; not on time.
2. Moving or acting slowly; slow; sluggish.
3. Delaying through reluctance. 

EX. Sorry for the tardy updates, but there is something you should know: Blog updates are never late. Nor are they early. The articles are finished precisely when they're meant to be. 
Also, dapper Ian McKellen.

MUSICAL MONDAY! GAME GRUMPS- SONIC '06!

MUSICAL MONDAY PRESENTS

The Game Grumps have been playing through a rather obnoxious and broken Sonic the Hedgehog title that the fans have nicknamed "Sonic '06". Make sure to check out the series, perhaps starting with Sonic '06 Episode 1, and following it through. Several moments of the series mark some of the best jokes in game grumps history. For example, there was the incredible Scene Where Knuckles Glitches to the Ceiling. For more Sonic related Game Grumps fun, also check out their beautiful rendition of Follow Me!