Archive for July, 2012

The Week in Geek: July 20, 2012
by / on July 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Geekery

The Week in Geek: July 20, 2012

Early this morning, a gunman opened fire on a packed movie theater where people had gathered to see a midnight show of The Dark Knight Rises. No jokes on this one, folks, just thoughts for those affected. The third season of Game of Thrones will feature the storyline that George R.R. Martin is most dreading, and it has the initials R.W. I’m [...]

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Lasers in the Jungle Somewhere–the 25th Anniversary of Graceland
by / on July 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Movies & Entertainment

Lasers in the Jungle Somewhere–the 25th Anniversary of Graceland

In 1986, Paul Simon was already an established superstar in what seemed like a classic decline.  He had reunited with former bandmate Art Garfunkel for a hugely successful concert in Central Park.  That concert sparked a failure of a tour and led to the worst selling solo album of Simon’s career. A lot of people would have packed it in. [...]

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Halo is Pretty in the Morning Light
by / on July 20, 2012 at 10:00 am / in Gaming

Halo is Pretty in the Morning Light

Last week, the “Halo 4: Foward Unto Dawn” trailer came out, and Halo fans popped a collective bon…pumped their fists in the air. At last! This is another one of those videos that gives me the absolute shivers. When the Chief slow turned toward the camera, I think I wet myself a little bit. It looks amazing, and I can’t [...]

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Election Year Political Rant [Rocking the Boat]
by / on July 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm / in Politics & Society

Election Year Political Rant [Rocking the Boat]

It’s July during a presidential election year, and you know what that means: people are going nuts. Every constitutional scholar on Facebook (which amounts to everyone, even though I’m fairly sure that few of them have actually bothered to read the US Constitution) is filling their feed with memes, pictures, statistics, graphs, and other posts proving that this candidate or [...]

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Bloody Punishment
by / on July 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Geekery

Bloody Punishment

Frank Castle is the Punisher. And, to me, no one has ever played him better than Thomas Jane. Sorry, Dolph Lundgren and Ray Stevenson. It’s the truth. I haven’t even seen Punisher: War Zone. Although, I’ve heard I’m missing some seriously over-the-top violent hilarity. Meh. Recently, a love letter to the Punisher surfaced online in the form of a great [...]

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Gotham’s Greatest Hits: From Burton’s Baddies to Nolan’s Knight
by / on July 19, 2012 at 10:00 am / in Movies & Entertainment

Gotham’s Greatest Hits: From Burton’s Baddies to Nolan’s Knight

So, The Dark Knight Rises. Have you heard of it? It’s supposed to be amazing, flawless, brilliant, exciting, masterful, adjective infinitum. I cannot and wish not to argue with those claims. I am building up  movie ticket funds and an appetite for Milk Duds at this very moment. However, if you’re even the slightest bit invested in pop culture, you’re probably [...]

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What Is The Matrix?
by / on July 18, 2012 at 2:23 pm / in Geekery

What Is The Matrix?

So The Matrix: Reloaded was on television the other night, playing in the background while I watched YouTube videos and caught up on the news. For whatever reason, I stopped long enough to notice that the Merovingian was douching it up as the perfect French stereotype: promiscuous, pompous, rich, and slightly metrosexual. I was momentarily reminded that someone once told me he was [...]

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A Love Letter to Civilization [Area of Effect]
by / on July 17, 2012 at 2:00 pm / in Gaming

A Love Letter to Civilization [Area of Effect]

Dear Sid Meier’s Civilization, Remember back in Jr. High, when we had that brief fling? You were living at my friend’s house, but that didn’t stop our sordid affair from starting. You were beautiful, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. Back then, you were known as Civilization II, and the fun we had was near infinite. You [...]

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Fighting Beasties with CDowd, creator of Lilith Dark
by / on July 17, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Geekery

Fighting Beasties with CDowd, creator of Lilith Dark

Charles Dowd is an independent publisher on top of being writer and illustrator of the all-ages digital graphic novel Lilith Dark (as well as illustrating a lot of other stuff). Don’t let all those modifiers scare you, the comic is fun in a twisted sort of “If Calvin and the Goonies and the Monsters from Labyrinth Had a Baby Girl and [...]

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Movie & Music New Releases [07-17-12]
by / on July 17, 2012 at 5:38 am / in Movies & Entertainment

Movie & Music New Releases [07-17-12]

Hey, hey, hey! Who’s ready for another release week?! You? Is it you? Yeah, it’s you. DVD/Blu-ray New Releases for July 17th, 2012 The Three Stooges – The Movie. [Editor's Choice] Starring Will Sasso, Sean Hayes, and Chris Diamantopolous. Trailer Lockout. Starring Guy Pearce, Peter Stormare, and Maggie Grace. Trailer Get The Gringo. Starring Mel Gibson, Peter Stormare, and Dean [...]

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Beauty in Snow White and the Huntsman: Learning our Aesthetic
by / on July 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Movies & Entertainment

Beauty in Snow White and the Huntsman: Learning our Aesthetic

By: Lauren Mathues I saw Snow White and the Huntsman for the second time this past weekend. If the first viewing sent a soft, summer wind of ideas blowing around in my mind, the second viewing brought on a tornado. So, I’ve decided to do three posts about Beauty as I see it in Snow White and the Huntsman. And [...]

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Portable Gaming is Dead?
by / on July 16, 2012 at 10:00 am / in Gaming

Portable Gaming is Dead?

When Nintendo and Sony released plans for their new portables, the 3DS and the Playstation Vita, many reporters claimed that these systems were dead before they released..  They claimed that, with the advent of smart phones and tablets, and the fact that these came with app stores in which you could buy small, cheap games, that the market for a dedicated [...]

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unScene: Red Dawn
by / on July 13, 2012 at 2:00 pm / in Movies & Entertainment

unScene: Red Dawn

unScene is a reoccurring series on The Cool Ship dedicated to “classics” being watched for the first time.  The idea that a ragtag group of teenagers (with one adult-y Swayze) could cause so much trouble for a group of trained soldiers is absolutely ridiculous. There. I said it. I am 31 years old, and until last night, I had never [...]

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The Week in Geek: July 13, 2012
by / on July 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Geekery

The Week in Geek: July 13, 2012

Gather round, friends. It’s that time again – time to take your weekly dose of Vitamin G(eek). I don’t know if you’ve heard, but San Diego (A word that no one really knows the origin of) is holding Comic-Con this week. If this is your first time on the Internet, this means sa-weet costumes, awesome examples of geek grandeur for [...]

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Raising a Geekling: Obsessed with Spider-Man
by / on July 12, 2012 at 2:00 pm / in Geekery

Raising a Geekling: Obsessed with Spider-Man

In my house, we like to call him Jake Spiderman. The last name runs together. Say it in your head. “SpIderMun.” Actually, my husband doesn’t call Spider-Man that. Nor, really, does my son. I guess it’s just me. *shrug* My son does, however, really like Spider-Man right now. If I was able, I’d redo his room in an over-abundance of web-slingery. [...]

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Console Gaming. Mobile Gaming. Angry Birds. [Rocking the Boat]
by / on July 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Gaming

Console Gaming. Mobile Gaming. Angry Birds. [Rocking the Boat]

Video game publishers never fail to amaze me with their business decisions. For example, Activision announced their pricing for bringing Angry Birds Trilogy to consoles and the Nintendo 3DS…   $40 on consoles and $30 on the 3DS. That’s a 1000% plus markup, depending on the platform you are buying it on. Why would they do this? Because people will probably [...]

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The Dark Side of ‘Moonrise’: Coming to Terms with Anderson’s “Hipster Racism”
by / on July 12, 2012 at 10:00 am / in Movies & Entertainment

The Dark Side of ‘Moonrise’: Coming to Terms with Anderson’s “Hipster Racism”

Wes Anderson has been my favorite director for a number of years. His films are perhaps the most artistic and beautifully composed I have ever seen. His retro soundtracks, his trademark use of slow-mo, and his vintage color palettes are just some of the elements that delight me. What really bowls me over, however, is Anderson’s unparalleled devotion to the [...]

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Why The Dark Knight Doesn’t Fight Crime
by / on July 11, 2012 at 2:00 pm / in Movies & Entertainment

Why The Dark Knight Doesn’t Fight Crime

I was going to write some such about political dogma and the baggage we carry when falling on any side of an issue… and then I saw The Dark Knight Rises trailer and didn’t care. Insert whatever obligatory comments about this being the article you deserve, but not… yadda yadda yadda. This trailer allays some of my fears, chief among [...]

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Malware Monday and the Great Information Giveaway
by / on July 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm / in Politics & Society

Malware Monday and the Great Information Giveaway

If you are reading this chances are good your computer has survived Malware Monday.  For those of you that were unable to correct your visious malware issues in time, I will send a hard copy of this story to you.  As your mailing address is no doubt available on any number of public forums.   The virus in question, like many, was aimed at [...]

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Dredd, Robocop, and Mad Max: Futuristic Awesomeness Returns
by / on July 11, 2012 at 10:00 am / in Movies & Entertainment

Dredd, Robocop, and Mad Max: Futuristic Awesomeness Returns

I just want to start off by saying that I am completely stoked for all three of thee films in the title. Especially Robocop. You have no idea how hardcore I used to be about the first two films. Robocop was a hero of mine, coming in a distant second to Batman. Because let’s face it, no one is better [...]

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