Tag Archives: Star Wars
Lego + Geeks = True Love
A fully functional PC built out of Lego
I have a question that has been plaguing me recently: why is it that geeks love Lego? One of my earliest memories is of receiving a Lego space set. It set me on a multi-year journey to accumulate as many of those bricks as possible. To this day, I am still drawn to Lego sets but, much to my wife’s relief, finances keep me from filling my house with them. I honestly don’t get it though. Why do I love them so?
I have a few theories about why we as geeks are drawn to Lego sets. The first is that we love to build things. Whether it’s building a computer or a model of the USS Enterprise, we like the process of assembling. I’m not saying that geeks would all like to be working on construction sites, our hands are far too delicate from years of typing on a keyboard for that, but our desire to build seems pretty obvious. Since we aren’t out working construction, we need to somehow appease our inner engineer. Enter the Lego.
My second theory is somewhat tied to the first. Beginning in 1911, geeks were playing with Erector Sets. In 1949, the Denmarkians began production on a plastic interlocking brick. Although I have no proof, I’m sure that in the minds of children, this brick was far superior to the collection of small metal beams found in Erector Sets. When the company that manufactured the Erector Set went bankrupt in 1967, a giant void was left that opened the door for Lego to thrive. Without the Erector Set readily available, how else would geeks satisfy their urge to build if it wasn’t for Lego?
Today there are numerous websites dedicated to the interlocking brick that Lego created and people from all over the world assemble at conventions to show their creations and to find out what new sets Lego has in store. When you add geek-friendly franchises such as Star Wars and Harry Potter to the internet and convention aspects of this hobby, it appears to create the perfect storm that allows geeks to be sucked into its vortex. Maybe that’s part of why geeks love Lego?
I think that I have answered my question. I believe that this can all be summed up in one simple mathematical formula: Internet + Conventions + Geek Properties + Assembling = True Love
KOTOR MMO On The Way
For years we’ve heard rumors about a third installment in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series. After a while, these rumors evolved into rumors of a KOTOR MMO. Now it appears that there is starting to be some basis for these rumors. I present the following as evidence.
On July 3, 2008, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars: Sagas, and Star Wars: Legends were all registered by LucasFilm Licensing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Nothing too special in an of itself. These could relate to just about anything out there: books, comics, etc. But when combined with information that Portfolio.com is reporting, things get very intriguing.
N. Evan Van Zelfden in Los Angeles warns, watch out World of Warcraft. In an interview at E3 this week, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.
“We’ve got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,” said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. “And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it.”
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? “Yes,” he said.
Now if you take that information and add it to what the guys over at CVG are reporting, it looks like we’re in for some serious fun with lightsabers.
LucasArts and BioWare look set to lift the lid on a KOTOR MMO within the next 30 days.
While it’s not official yet, based on the rumors that are flying, this is a done deal. Hopefully it will be a good game.
Who Won The Battle Of Summer Blockbusters?
I love comic books and I love movies so naturally, I’m a big fan of movies based on comic books. There is no doubt that this summer was enough to make many a geek wet themselves with delight.
Talk to the hand
The summer started off with a giant crimson and gold bang as Iron Man dominated theaters to the tune of $318,219,154. Not too bad for a movie about a dysfunctional millionaire with a really cool suit. Despite the fact that I think that Tony Stark is a giant douche bag in the comics, especially after Marvel’s Civil War, there’s no doubt that Robert Downey Jr. was flat out amazing. Throw in a nice cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury that set up the upcoming Avengers project, and this provided much geek glee.
Next up we had Speed Racer, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and Indiana Jones and the Something About Aliens. I didn’t see Speed Racer because I fear having epileptic seizures. I don’t have epilepsy but the trailers were enough to keep me away. Plus, I’m not a big Speed Racer fan. Narnia was good, albeit a bit long and Indy was further proof that George Lucas is going insane. It should be noted though that I will be buying both Narnia and Indy because I am a geek and really enjoyed both movies.
Hulk contemplate the complexities of life.
Once the pre-summer blockbusters were out of the way, we were treated to Edward Norton getting all green and smashy in The Incredible Hulk which, surprisingly, did not suck. It even made a respectable $134,518,390 at the box office. I didn’t expect much from this film given the fact that Ang Lee’s The Hulk made me want to jump off of a bridge. That was a bad movie. The sequel, not so much. I may even end up buying it on DVD. Plus, there was a cameo by Robert Downey Jr. reprising his role as Tony Stark. In case you forgot, it set up the previously mentioned upcoming Avengers project. There is also some alleged footage that was cut at the last minute that showed Captain America. It’s purpose? To set up the upcoming Captain America movie.
Between The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight, which let’s face it, is probably one of the best movies in the history of movies, we saw the release of Wanted, Hancock, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I didn’t see Hancock but the other two were good movies. To be honest though, at this point in the summer, I was just waiting for Batman to beat the crap out of some bad guys.
"I've never felt this way towards a psychopath before"
July 18 will go down as the day that the best superhero movie of all time opened. Yes, I’m talking about The Dark Knight. I’ve already reviewed this so I won’t do it again here but this movie is two hours and thirty two minutes of pure awesome. When all was said and done, it brought in $521,890,027 making it one of the most successful movies in history. With a re-release planned for Oscar season, who knows how much this movie will end up making.
We were also treated to The X-Files 2: I Want to Believe and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I didn’t see X-Files. Not because I don’t want to, but because I was too busy. I’m sure I’ll eventually watch it though. For my thoughts on The Clone Wars, read my review. Needless to say, with a box office take of only $34,477,361, I don’t think I was the only one mildly disappointed by it.
This all got me to thinking, who came out on top this summer? Obviously DC Comics did well with The Dark Knight but Marvel had two offerings that were really good. OK, one that was really good, one that was awesome. However, Marvel set up future projects and actually did what the comics do in showing that these characters don’t live in a vacuum. With Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, an Iron Man sequel, and two Spiderman sequels all in the works, I think that Marvel is going to prove to be the big winner in this summer’s box office battles. With the cameos and the upcoming movies that they were able to set up, every geek should be jumping for joy. Now if only DC could pull of the same thing with the much rumored Justice League movie…
What To Watch With Your Kids
I know that some of our readers and contributors are parents. Obviously we’re all geeks of one form or another and so our children are doomed to have inherited some of our geeky genes. Is knowing that they’ll likely be geeks, causing them to be tortured by the “cool” kids, a bad thing? Would you prefer your child to know that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42 or would you like to see them run a 4.4 40 and hit a baseball 500 feet?
These are questions that I’ve debated for a while and I’ve determined that my kids can choose their own path. My eight-year-old daughter thinks I’m the coolest guy in the world and wants to be just like me. Lately she’d rather play video games or watch a movie than play outside. My wife hates it but what can I do? I turned out OK.
Anyways, I told you that so that I can tell you this. I came across an article over on Wired where they list the ten geeky movies that we should raise our kids on. I disagree with some of their choices but some of them are extremely obvious. Here are their choices.
- Star Wars
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
- The Last Starfighter
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Time Bandits
- The Dark Crystal
- WarGames
- Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang
- The Goonies
- Back to the Future
I agree with most of these choices; however, there are some glaring omissions. I’m going to have to give a strong “second” to Star Wars and The Goonies. I would also add The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Granted this is a bit scary for the smaller kids but it’s such a staple in the geek world that it has to be included. The Indiana Jones trilogy, UHF, and The Princess Bride are also a must. Finally, Ghostbusters has got to make the list of geeky movies to raise your kids on.
Because of the age of my kids, there are certain movies that I won’t let them watch now that I can’t hardly wait to sit down and watch with them when they’re older. My daughter loves to watch Ghostbusters but it gives the younger kids bad dreams so we can’t watch it very often. She’s also been begging me to watch Gremlins with her but, again, bad dreams for the younger kids.
Are there any other movies that you think should be on this list? What do you watch with your geeks in training, or if you prefer, your younglings?
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A Geek And His Money Are Soon Parted
You knew this was going to happen. If you say that you didn’t, then you’re either a fool or a liar. I just found this on StarWars.com:
Returning to store shelves on November 4th are the six episodes of the Star Wars saga on DVD bundled in convenient trilogy sets. Perfect for gift-giving as the holidays approach, the Prequel Trilogy set includes Episodes I-III, while the Star Wars Trilogy includes Episodes IV-VI.
Fans who already own the prequel trilogy double-disc releases (released from 2001-2005) and the Star Wars trilogy double-disc releases (released in 2006) already have all the content that’s available in this set. There’s nothing new in this set you don’t already have. But for friends and family still looking to fill in these gaps in their DVD collections, these sets make it easy and affordable to complete the saga.
Own the saga on DVD November 4th.
Thankfully, there is no new content. I know that there’s no way that my wife would let me try to justify buying the saga again because of a new 45 minute documentary on how Jar Jar Binks is the best character in any movie throughout history or why I should be happy that we got Ewoks in Return of the Jedi instead of Wookiees.
The Clone Wars Reviewed
The Clone Wars
Thanks to TardisCaptain, this morning I was able to attend an advanced screening of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. For those who know me, you know that I’m a big Star Wars geek so being able to see the movie a whole week before it’s released was awesome. (I think that it should help my geek cred. Maybe +5?)
I’m too lazy to write a plot synopsis so here is one from allmovie.com.
George Lucas continues his most popular franchise’s legacy with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a computer-animated 3-D film that takes place between Star Wars: Episode II and III. The first-ever animated feature from Lucasfilm Animation, this action-packed space adventure follows the heroic Jedi Knights as they attempt to maintain order and restore peace during a time of monumental galactic strife. The Clone Wars have engulfed the galaxy in chaos, and as the dreaded droid army of the Separatists wipes out everything in its path, the future of the Galactic Republic becomes increasingly uncertain. Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano embark on a pivotal mission that pits them directly against the dreaded Jabba the Hutt and his criminal minions while Count Dooku enlists the aid of Asajj Ventress and the rest of his sinister agents in ensuring that the young Jedi fails in his noble mission. Back on the front lines of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda attempt to fend off the forces of the dark side with the assistance of a massive clone army.
Anakin has a padawan? What? Since when? Oh yeah. I almost forgot that George Lucas has gone insane.
The animation in this movie surprised me. I’ve watched all of the footage that Lucasfilm has released and to be honest, I wasn’t very excited to see it based solely on the fact that I thought it looked bad visually. Even once the movie started, I wasn’t digging it too much. Then I realized that I was starting to actually like the look of the movie. The buildings, scenery, and ships all worked really well with the animation style. I even started liking the look of the characters with the exception of the Hutts. (They looked horrible.) One thing noteworthy about the animation is that it actually looks like it was painted with a brush and paint. I liked that.
I enjoyed seeing Asajj Ventress on the big screen but she seems a bit like the angry goth girl from high school. I also liked the new characters that they introduced, the clone, Rex and Anakin’s padawan, Ahsoka. It was pretty obvious that Ahsoka was there mainly for kids but she was still fun to watch.
As for the movie itself, it was fun. It felt like Star Wars. There was a lot of action and the plot wasn’t as horrible as some would have you believe. They did mess with the Star Wars theme in the beginning but made up for it at the end. There were a lot of problems with continuity however.
As I was sitting in the theater, I couldn’t help but wonder where this fit into the Star Wars time line. Sure, they say it’s between Episode II and Episode III but what about The Clone Wars cartoon from Cartoon Network? I thought that that was supposedly canon. The second season of that show portrayed the events that led up to Episode III, including the kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine. And let’s not forget all of the comic books. There’s nine volumes of The Clone Wars comic books in trade paperback form. What about all of that history? Oh right, the “Lucas is insane thing”. Honestly though, I’m sure that it will all be explained in the TV series.
If you’re a big Star Wars geek, you may have a tough time watching this movie because of the continuity issues. Even twelve hours after seeing it, I’m still perplexed beyond reason as to how what I saw fits into that special galaxy far, far away. Just try to enjoy it as a stand-alone story and you’ll probably be fine. If you’re just a causal Star Wars fan though, you should enjoy yourself while watching this movie.
Despite my complaints, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is still a good movie. Go see it.
Lego Indiana Jones
I may be weird, but I have just played one of the funniest games since Lego Star Wars and that is Lego Indiana Jones. The game play in this is great. You have to find shovels to dig things up and wrenches to repair certain vehicles before you can use them. The controls handle just as smoothly as the previous Lego games. You can unlock a playable character from the Star Wars game, Han Solo. The game follows all 3 of the original movies. With how much I am loving this game, I am even more thrilled about their next Lego game: Lego Batman.
Check out this trailer:
Where Are You On The Geek Foodchain?
A few years ago, Zuke and I got into a discussion regarding who was a bigger geek, me or one of our fellow contributors, Carl. It was determined that even though Carl has “con cred” and has huge geekish tendencies, I was the bigger geek because “Carl has Star Trek, you’re just kind of a sad geek.” To that I say “I have Star Wars! I will break you Kazuki!”
It was about this time in my life that I discovered the Geek Hierarchy. It’s a flowchart showing what geeks are better than other geeks. Even though Carl may be less geeky than me, I take comfort in knowing that I’m better than all furries.
I’ve Discovered Something New
I know a lot about technology. I’m a geek so it’s sort of in my job description. Add to that the fact that I work as a beta test coordinator, and you would think that I’m pretty much up on things. Well, I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’ve never really gotten into podcasts. That is, until now.
Yesterday while we were trying out something that we’ll be testing for one of our clients at the office, my boss came across a podcast regarding Star Wars collecting. Those who know me will know that I have a lot of Star Wars crap. Actually, it’s my wife that calls it crap; I call it my collection. There was a bit of mocking going on about all of the toys on my desk but I vowed to find that podcast again. I am pleased to inform you that I was successful.
