Month: September 2014

  • Gratuitous Nerdity – “Gotham”

    What’s that you say? It’s been months since a “Hot Nerd Girl Podcast” and almost a year since a “Gratuitous Nerdity” post and you just can’t live without the glowing banter that is Tracy and Darcy? Well wait no longer! Tonight we had the opportunity to Instant Message about last nights Gotham premier. Premie? Premiere.

    Thanks for letting me write the intro, Trace. You most likely won’t regret it! – Darcy

     

    Darcy: Ugh… Gotham… pilot…. so bad… 80’s B-movie bad….

    Tracy: Really?? I liked it!

    Darcy: Ah, Tracy…. the eternal optimist… I’m going to keep watching, buuuutttt….

    Tracy: It’s gonna be great, I have faith 

    Darcy: You should do a blog post about new shows called “Keep the Faith”

    Tracy: Hahaha! I watch so few new shows though. Only got to watch Gotham because I had to make buttons for Long Beach Comic Con this weekend.

    Darcy: It’s a fast show too.

    Tracy: Yeah it is. seems like a lot of the focus will be on Cobblepot which is interesting. I wish that we had seen more of Selena.

    Darcy: They intro’d a loooot of main villains in an hour. Too many, in my book. And honestly, I don’t think they had to kick off the series with the Wayne’s deaths. That could have been a midseason thing. or like, episode 3. I don’t know, I’m just not seeing a ton of creativity with it yet.

    Tracy: Is Fish Mooney a new character? I’m a Marvel girl but I used to read some Batman and I don’t remember her from the comics. I thought they were introduced pretty organically though. We barely saw Riddler, for example.

    Darcy: Yeah, barely. And Ivy, barely. And Selena too. I just think they were rushed. And wanted to get enough hooks in because, I suppose, Gordon isn’t enough of a hook?

    Tracy: Well, I feel like it’s a cop show that just happens to be set in Gotham. The Boy Scout cop and the “is he or isn’t he crooked” cop partner. They don’t like each other but they start to grow on each other by the end. All cop shows start off with the case, this case just happens to be the Wayne’s murder.

    Darcy: Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be. I just think starting with the Wayne’s is too easy, I guess.

    Tracy: I think they did that because we all know what happens, why not get it out of the way?

    Darcy: To me, that’s midseason or finale time. After your attached to Bruce and can feel his loss.

    Tracy: Is it a requirement that we HAVE to see Martha’s pearls bouncing around?

    Darcy: Yeah, but that’s my point. That’s a short hand assumption. That we all know what happens to the Wayne’s. That’s not good story telling. It’s why Man of Steel sucked.

    Tracy: Who doesn’t though?? Cave dwellers?? Man of Steel is a whole other bag of worms lol. We never get to know the Wayne’s though, either in the movies or the comics, they need to maintain that air of mystery, that we’ll never know exactly what Bruce lost. We experience his relationship with them through his pain and his vengence. He basically becomes a psychopath, if we get to know his parents then we’ll have opinions of them and that’s counterproductive to the story.

    Darcy: Isn’t that a fresher take though? Otherwise, why are we bothering? Gordon is getting changed because we have, through this show and other comics, his past. When he first showed up, he’s the Commissioner. Why bother going back? ‘Cause it’s unexplored territory. And if they’re going to keep retreading the same ground again and again, they have to find new stories to explore. Batman Begins did. At least somewhat.

    Tracy: They are mixing it up though. We’ve never seen Bruce as a kid except in flashbacks and the brief murder scene. They are taking inspiration from the comics, but for the most part, everything is different.

    Darcy: That’s not enough of a reason NOT to show his parents though. They probably will flashback; I just disagree with how they’re handling it right now.

    Tracy: The Wayne’s aren’t the focus of the show though, the aftermath of their murder is – why drag that out?

    Darcy: Depends on how much time they’re going to spend with Bruce. I don’t think you have to spend a TON of time, but I think assuming we give a crap about Bruce because we all already know the backstory is lazy writing. This is long, but if you ever get a chance, you should check it out: http://badassdigest.com/2013/07/03/film-crit-hulk-man-of-steel/

    Tracy: See, I disagree. I think there were areas that were lazy writing (why does the mob ALWAYS have a meat locker, for example) but I don’t think starting the show off by killing the Wayne’s is lazy, I think it thrusts us right into the heart of the story and the whole reason why we’re there/watching it in the first place. I don’t need to see Martha be the perfect Mom and Thomas playing catch with his perfect son. I want to see the nitty gritty world of Gotham and see Alfred have to step up and be Bruce’s rock and Bruce have to grow up too quickly.

    Darcy: It’s all just choices. I’d like to see some slightly shady stuff on the Wayne’s part, perhaps, that he wasn’t the cleanest nicest guy in the world. Or at the very least, dialogue that doesn’t sound like it was written by a 10 year old in the 80’s.

    Tracy: Ok, well THAT sounds interesting to me. Like Bruce sees his parents as perfect, but there’s a reason why Thomas is the richest guy in town. The seedy side that we never know about and Bruce never knows about. The dialogue sounds very 1940’s gangster movie to me.

    Darcy: Yeah, it was pretty rough.

    Tracy: I think it was miles ahead of a CW show though. But this is FOX, so instead of 10 seasons of superhero origin story, it’ll probably get canceled halfway thru the first season.

    Darcy: Really? I like Arrow.

    Tracy: I like that not everyone is perfectly pretty. That differs from the CW.

    Darcy: Well, I didn’t like Arrow to start, but it’s gotten better.

    Tracy: I’ve been told I need to give Arrow another shot. I gave up after 2 episodes. I will say that DC is doing way better on TV than in the cinema ‘verse.

    Darcy: Yeah, I’m almost all the way through Arrow. I watch it while I run. Flash I’ve seen the pilot, which also moves at a break neck pace. I’m just a firm believer that most of the time you need two hours. Imagine if Star Trek: The Next Generation had a one hour pilot as opposed to a two hour pilot.

    Tracy: To establish the characters and the universe.

    Darcy: Yeah.

    Tracy: Well, the 2 hour pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation was God awful sooooo…. lol

    Darcy: Yeah, it might improve it actually.

    Tracy: You should watch Flash while you run, might motivate you to run faster 

    Darcy: Ha. Ha. Ha.

    Tracy: So do you have hope for Gotham or do you think that it’s all downhill from here?

    Darcy: I have hope. Arrow has improved. If Parks and Recreation can overcome what I thought was a fairly flawed, shit copy of The Office from the first 1.5 seasons, then any show can do it.

    Tracy: I know that I’m the eternal optimist (most of the time) but I have hope too. I think compared to many pilots, it’s a pretty strong start and now they can get into the meat of the story. And hopefully FOX gives it a good shot before they up and cancel it if it doesn’t immediately get great ratings, but I think it’ll be ok in that regard, at least in the beginning. As always, thanks for nerding harder with me 

    Darcy: Always 

  • C4: Central Coast Comic Con 2014

    C4: Central Coast Comic Con in Ventura is still in it’s infancy but it’s growing fast. This past weekend was only it’s 2nd year but it’s already twice as big as last year. Unfortunately, that made for several organizational issues and a lot of confusion in regards to panels, most of which were delayed, cancelled, or moved to another location with no warning, announcement, or signage.

    While frustrating at times, I’m eager to see C4 become the Con I know it can be. I love little local Cons, they are usually the best place to talk to all of the local comic vendors in one place. Which is why I was kind of bummed that I really didn’t see any comic book stands. If there were any, they were tucked away where I missed them. It didn’t seem like a particularly good Con for most of the vendors, with the exception of the guy making balloon characters for tips (more on that talented gentleman later).

    The highlight for me was definitely hanging out with my “ConFam” aka the artists and cosplayers and SoCal Con regulars that I see at every convention and love catching up with. So this wrap up will mostly be pictures of the cosplay and a few of the artists. I was planning to attend the Authors Panel but, alas, it was delayed, then moved, then cancelled altogether.

    But I like to focus on the positive so….PICTURES! 

    Since it’s a Comic Con, let’s start off with Comic Book Cosplay, shall we?

    Last year Lonstermash cosplayed as Rocky Balboa, complete with bloody boxing wounds and an American flag. This year he went with his classic movie Wolverine while representing at the Agents of COSPLAY table. He has several creative variations of the Wolverine costume and is probably the most famous Logan cosplayer out there.

    This female Deadpool really broke the fourth wall.

    Mini Silver Surfer!

    Cap, with and without background creeper.

    Author John Mulhall got in on the photobombing. Cyclops’ handler was not amused.

    You look like you could use some DC, how about we switch over to the other major comic universe.

    This is Smile-X Villain Co. They did the world’s best Batman/Rogue’s Gallery photo shoot ever a few months back. A photo shoot that I will post about at some point but the pictures keep slowly filtering in and I want to make sure I get them all before I post about it. Smile-X has several versions of their costumes, including Classic, PJ’s, and Punk Rock (pictured here).

    Most of the members of Smile-X Villain Co. met at C4 last year so this past weekend marked their one year anniversary as a cosplay troupe. Happy Anniversary, Smile-X!

    Dylan, the ringleader of Smile-X Villain Co. and a delightfully creepy Joker.

    My favorite Riddler is Ian aka Pieced Together Cosplay. I couldn’t choose between all of the awesome pictures I took of him this weekend, so here they all are:

    Spikes!

    Classic!

    With MEEEEEE!

    The Bat (The Bat Cosplay) debuting his new blue accessories and The Cat (Gotham Sirens Cosplay) in her classic Burton garb.

    Speaking of enemies….this Clark Kent seemed really surprised that I wanted to take his picture. You’re disguise doesn’t fool me, Superman!

    WONDAAAAH WOOOOMAAAAN!!! And a pirate thrown in just for kicks.

    I complemented this Two-Face on his makeup job and he pointed at his mother and proudly proclaimed that she’d done it. Well done, Mom, well done.

    The family that cosplays together, stays together. We’ll transition from Comics to Sci-Fi with this lovely Loki/Firefly loving family.

    Multi-pass!

    I am the law!

    I didn’t notice that the trooper on the right was a mannequin until after I got home and started going through my pictures. I thought he seemed a little tall for a Stormtrooper.

    This guy makes custom action figures, wears awesome t-shirts, and has some badass figure tats.

    The Star Trek Enterprise D Bridge Restoration project was there and took tons of pictures of various cosplayers (including these classic Treksters) in the Transporter Room. Check them out on their facebook page!

    These guys from the Umbrella Corporation couldn’t figure out how to get it to work.

    I found this Dalek wandering around and tricked it into getting on the Transporter pad so that I could beam it to another dimension and thus EXTERMINATE it!

    But it caught up with me just as I was exiting the TARDIS (btw, this picture was taken by Bulk of the Mighty Morphine Power Rangers while we were perusing the floor, more on that later).

    Luckily the War Doctor was there to help me out.

    After which we headed back to the TARDIS (Hello, Sexy!)

    And hung out with K-9 for awhile.

    I can’t decide what my next car should be. Put your vote in the comments!

    How about this one? It comes complete with Heroes in a half shell!

    Or, if you’d prefer, half-clothed.

    I asked this mini-Popeye if he was eating all of his spinach. His reaction? *shrug*

    This little lady was totes adorbs.

    These guys are so critical of EVERYTHING.

    What a nightmare these two were.

    Speaking of nightmares…I practically jumped behind John Mulhall’s Geddy’s Moon backdrop when this chick turned to stare at me.

    Luckily there was a Goblin King nearby.

    Did someone say Goblins?

    Don’t know. Don’t care. They’re perty.

    Alpha 6 and Zordon from Mighty Morphine Power Rangers.

    Speaking of Power Rangers, there were a TON of them there. I even ended up hanging out with a bunch of them at a bar one night. Turns out that my friend and Podthingy cohost, John Mulhall, is a friend of Jason Narvy who played “Skull” on the show. So I got to hang out with Bulk (Paul Schrier) and Skull for the weekend. I even helped Bulk pick out a souvenir for his girlfriend, hence why he took my picture in front of the TARDIS – which was hilarious because I could see people recognize him but they didn’t want to interrupt him while he was taking my picture. When they did finally get a chance to approach him, he was very gracious and welcoming. Both Jason and Paul are pretty much the complete opposite of their characters on the show. Nice guys through and through.

    Speaking of John Mulhall, he had a Geddy’s Moon booth there. If you haven’t read his book yet, you really should. It’s a fantastic supernatural thriller.

    Jason Beckwith’s graphic novel Taking Eden is a recent new fave of mine and I desperately need to write a review of it and his other books so that you’ll all realize just how awesome they are and buy them from him.

    B. Alex Thompson, writer of Hass. Love him!

    I mentioned before that the balloon guy probably had the best Con experience of all of the Vendors. Geek Outlaw and I first met Donald Tran and his girlfriend when they were walking thorugh the halls of San Diego Comic Con with these amazing balloon creations on their heads. We had to stop and check them out. Turns out that SDCC was his first Con and C4 was only his second! He got such a great response to his head gear that he decided to have a booth. He worked for tips and was crazy busy the entire weekend popping out all manner of comic book, fantasy, and sci-fi creations for kids and adults alike. Naturally, I had to get a Mjolnir, which I later gave to my 5-year-old neighbor 

    Seriously, I’m a big fan of Donald Tran. Here’s a video of him finishing up my Mjolnir.

    The most unexpected and wonderful person I met this past weekend, was legendary MAD Magazine (amongst other things) cartoonist Sergio Aragones. And it was his birthday! He’s 77 years young and the sweetest man you could ever hope to meet. I adore him.

    That wraps up my coverage of C4! Thanks for checking it out! Here’s hoping that 2015 C4 is bigger and better and a bit more organized  I truly appreciate the tremendous effort of everyone who tried to make the event as smooth as possible, it was obviously a labor of love for them.