Geek Stuff

Two nerds with beer (one of them me) beat the Kirk vs. Picard horse

Hours in the Attic debuts a new segment this week called “Nerd Fight,” which is … well, you can guess what it is. And what better way to kick it off than with a playful take on the debate nerds have been gnashing their teeth about since The Next Generation debuted? Yep, Kirk vs. Picard, with a dash of Kirk vs. Han Solo thrown in for good measure. Watch, and when you’re done check out my Star Trek marathon:

Marvel’s villain problem (and why it may not be a problem at all)

It’s hard to complain about Marvel’s cinematic efforts. Since coming out of the gate with 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel has been firing on all cylinders in a way few studios ever do. Their best films are fantastic (cough Winter Soldier cough), and even their worst still manage to be decent popcorn entertainment. (Seriously, if The Dark World is the worst a studio has to offer, they are doing something right.) After a shaky start even their network TV offering, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has finally come into its own, and their Netflix shows are uniformly superb to the point of making me wet myself with anticipation every time a new one is announced. Basically, Marvel has been making me feel like a 12-year-old fan again, eager…
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I just watched six of the original Godzilla movies, and they were (mostly) awesome

As a kid, if I wasn’t watching Harryhausen movies or Behind The Green Door, I was watching giant monster movies from Japan. I did this because they had giant monsters smashing stuff. Duh. I liked Gamera more than Godzilla because Gamera was a turtle and turtles are awesome, especially when they can fly and shoot fire and save children, but Godzilla was pretty rad, too. So why not revisit some of the originals? Aside from the very first, which I like to revisit every few years because it’s way more amazing than people realize, I haven’t seen most of these in many, many years. That’s reason enough to blast through the first five or so (and maybe throw in a bonus while I’m at it)….
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Revisiting Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 classic, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

Ray Harryhausen was a mainstay of my childhood. His movies were regular features on the Saturday matinees — on television, not in theaters; I’m not THAT old! — and they sucked me in every time. How could they not? No sane young boy would be anything but engrossed by giant creatures slugging it out with heroes in sandals, and Harryhausen’s creatures were AWESOME. So not too long ago, I decided to revisit a handful of his movies, among them The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. As a kid I had no real affection for the Arabian myths, so Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films never quite connected with me despite my huge love for his work and Harryhausen liberally mixing in monsters and myths from others cultures. I…
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