Greetings, Quintessons!

We’re all geeks, right?  I mean, that’s why we’re here…

*tumbleweeds*

But, I mean… we all like geeky things – toys, games, television shows, movies, food… it’s our bread and butter and it’s the reason why sites like Spwug exist.

*crickets*

Okay, staying on topic.  I find that as a fellow geek I’m always seeking out other outlets and communities for my passions and interests.  For the movie and TV geek in me, I visit (and blog for) CHUD.  For the comic book geek in me, I read Wizard.  For the action figure geek in me, I read Toyfare.  And for the disposal of nosy neighbors, I always pick up the latest issue of Chump Dumper Weekly.

Recently, I discovered the perfect magazine for a very specific geek niche – 1980s cartoons.  Created by English Renaissance man (he’s English and a Renaissance man, not an English Renaissance man… or maybe that’s true too…) James Eatock and launched in 2007, cereal:geek is a one hundred page magazine completely devoted to all things animated that came from that golden decade of DeLoreans and synthesizers.  Though the not-very periodic (there have only been five issues since 2007, with a sixth due out in June) is a bit pricey ($15, but you can find it for $12), it is completely ad-free.  That one hundred pages I mentioned?  All content!  That plus the fact that each issue doesn’t come out that frequently makes the higher price tag worthwhile.

Speaking of content, let’s dive into that.  The issue I picked up back in March (though it says second quarter, 2008 on the front) caught my eye for two reasons – one, it had The Real Ghostbusters on the cover; and two, the issue was dedicated to how horror themes were often used in a lot of the cartoons that came out of the 1980s.  Horror and animated series from my youth?  Sold!

But that’s not all!  The articles themselves were not only written by Eatock himself, but also by an incredible array of writing talent.  There are also contributions from folks in the biz, like Larry DiTillio and Robert Lamb, both of whom wrote episodes of the original He-Man cartoon.  And the articles themselves are like nothing I’ve ever read before.  Each one doesn’t really read like the type of piece you would find in a typical magazine.  Instead, the entire mag reads like you were sitting down and having a geeky conversation with your friends, discussing the merits and faults of the cel-drawn properties you grew up with and loved.  Every entry was a geekgasm in print form – from an in-depth analysis of the opening to the original Transformers cartoon to the usage of Cthulhu in The Real Ghostbusters to what an Indiana Jones cartoon might look like, the articles presented in cereal:geek are of the things real geeks talk about.  Throw in some stunning, original artwork of different cartoon characters every couple of pages, some interviews with people like Frank Welker, and you truly have a mega-magazine well-worth the quarterly cost of twelve to fifteen dollars.  And though it’s published in the UK, there are two ways to get it here: through the Previews catalogue at your local comic shop, or from the grahamcrackers.com website.

Final thoughts?  There has literally never been a magazine that I have ever read cover to cover… until now.  And this one-hundred-page, ad-free slice of gold is the exception.  It’s such an incredible celebration of a an extremely popular slice of geek culture that after reading it I was inspired to think that this is exactly the kind of spirit I would like to see the halls of Spwug become imbued with.

That’s a vision I plan on making a reality.

The Don remembers when Cookie Crisp had a wizard for a mascot.  That’s right – a wizard.

Greetings, Boglins!

I have to admit that I’m a wee bit off this week.  I feel a little disjointed, so to that end my thoughts are kind of a jumble.  I have ideas, but not enough to flesh them out to carry full articles on their own.

But never fear, my fellow Spwugnerians!  I can actually make this work for me.  In fact, it allows me to do the kind of articles I’ve found myself rather enjoying as of late.  So I bring you another installment of random bits that I affectionately refer to this week as “Bleeps, Sweeps, and Creeps”:

Iron Man 2

Got to see this over the weekend with DKM Marlink and a few other friends.  First, we watched the first film at my house, all the while making snide remarks about how Terrence Howard was going to be replaced later that evening when we got to the theater.  First film still holds up remarkably well.  It has to be one of my favorites, despite the weak third act.  As for the sequel?  Wow.  More of the same, and I mean that in a good way.  Downey Jr. proves once again that the talent is actually his and not from the drugs he lived in for years.  Cheadle was a great substitute for Howard in the role of James Rhodes.  Just a fun flick all over.  My only complaints were that the middle started to feel like it was plodding along (same complaint I had for The Dark Knight).  Plus, Mickey Rourke’s character kinda shows up in a blazing show-down, then takes a back seat for most of the film until the end.  Despite both flaws, the movie got back on its feet by the third act, which was a vast improvement over the first film.  Those who haven’t seen it – stay until after the end credits.  Just like Nick Fury’s spoiled surprise cameo at the end of the first Iron Man, there’s a cool little surprise at the end of this one (SPOILER ALERT: It’s Batroc the Leaper!*)

Farscape

I picked up the complete box set to the hit Sci-Fi (not SyFy) series Farscape about a month ago, and I’ve been pouring myself into it furiously.  I’m almost finished with the first season, and I’m impressed with just how well this show still holds up.  There’s definitely a reason why it was my favorite TV show during its run.  I’m falling in love with these characters all over again (I plan to ask them to marry me next week).  One of the things I like so much about the show is how much it captures the essence of what made the original Star Trek so great – a perfect mixture of straight-up action with episodes of weird crap happening to our main cast with a dash of some light sexiness.  Best feature on the DVD set so far?  Commentary by the creators and the two main cast members on an episode where they spend the entire running time explaining just why the episode is so abysmal.

Super Mario Bros. Galaxy 2

It’s almost here!  Are you ready?  Did you play the first one?  Weren’t the frikkin’ purple coin challenges hard?  How long has it been since you last played the first one?  Do you even remember whether or not you own a Wii?

Corkscrewed Over

Busch Gardens in Virginia, also known as Busch Gardens Europe, also known as The Belgians Were Bored With Just Being Known For Waffles So They Bought the Largest Brewery in America and This Park Got Thrown In For Free, also known as The Park That Had a Really Cool 3-D Ride in Ireland When Not Compared to Anything in Florida but Decided to Ditch it For a Non-3-D Borefest That Could Double as an Extended Promo for British Airways.

That’s a Reynolds Wrap!

Burt Reynolds has been cast as an ex-spy in the incredibly awesome TV series Burn Notice.  My greatest hope is that his cover name is Turd Fergeson.  And he wears a big cowboy hat.  ‘Cuz it’s funny.

Speaking of wrapping up…

The Don’s RADAR appears to be jammed.  Halle Berry.

*It’s totally not Batroc the Leaper!

Greetings, Luxan warriors!

One of the things that always makes my uber-geeky self squee like a simpleton on a merry-go-round are crossovers.  Take two or more characters from different properties and toss them into a playground together to let them have at it and I’m an extremely happy camper.

I’ve been a fan of the crossover ever since my first Kenner Stormtrooper (no, not yesterday).  Name the medium and I can give you an example of a crossover that just blew my mind.  Even if it was something I wasn’t an avid follower of, if characters from two separate universes were banging heads I was there to see it:

TV: From “Simon & Simon” and “Magnum PI” crossing over to “Ally MacBeal” and “The Practice” to “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood” (it counts), I’ve been all over the boob tube and have enjoyed the geekgasms that were served by the normally stuffy networks.

Movies: Despite how awful Alien vs. Predator was, I still appreciated the gesture.  And with Nick Fury’s cameo in Iron Man and Stark’s cameo in The Incredible Hulk, my appetite has been whetted for what’s to come with the rest of the Marvel pantheon’s transition to film.

Comics: Probably where it all began for me.  From the humble beginnings where Hulk threw down against the Fantastic Four or Daredevil and Spidey would team up to full company crossovers like Supes and Spidey or Spawn and Batman, comic book continue to be the top dog when it comes to crossover events.  And I continue to go broke feeding the addiction.

Video Games:  Another medium that has been doing crossovers for most of its life.  Recently the crossover phenomenon has had a major resurgence, with Sonic and Solid Snake showing up in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Disney and Square characters teaming up against shadowy baddies in the Kingdom Hearts games, or the ever popular Marvel vs. Capcom series, which is finally getting a new installment after a ten year hiatus.  I’m just as much a sucker for these crossovers as I am for any of the others mentioned above.

This leads me to the latest entry to the concept.  It’s funny that I list video games last, as it provides the perfect segue way to my latest obsession.  Created by a new game and movie developer called Exploding Rabbit, this game could be the crossover to end all 8-bit crossovers.

At the very least, it will make a lot of fanboys (including me) extremely happy.

So, what do you get when you take what is widely considered one of the greatest NES games of all time and add a few characters from other series that proved to be just as popular in the 8-bit universe?

You get Super Mario Bros. Crossover.

This game is frikkin’ awesome!  A completely flash-based recreation of the original Super Mario Bros., this game kicks it up several notches by allowing you to play, not only as Mario, but as Megaman, Simon Belmont, Link, Samus, or Bill from Contra.  Each character pretty much operates just like they would in their home game, but modified to work within the mechanics of the Super Mario Bros. universe.  For example, Link starts off with the weakest sword, tunic and boomerang.  Mushroom him up?  He now has his red tunic and medium attack sword.  Give him a slice of fire flower pie?  He now has his blue tunic, most powerful sword (and it shoots!), and the extended boomerang.  All of the characters work based on the same mechanic, which turns out to be quite genius in conception.

I don’t want to give too much away, as you really need to play this thing.  One note: the game as is works only with the keyboard.  But, since playing with a keyboard sucks, there is a FAQ that tell you where to find a program you can download that will allow you to map a controller to the appropriate keys.

That said, I think I’ve imparted enough wisdom for today.  You can play the game for yourself by going to the Exploding Rabbit website.

Go, and see the wonders I have shown you…

The Don’s princess is in another castle.  There’s a restraining order…

Greetings, Cosby Kids!

It’s incredible whenever new advancements are made in science.  The little kid in me who grew up thinking we would be going to Mars and beyond, or have flying cars, or have perfected artificial intelligence always gets a little excited whenever I actually see something that was previously science fiction become science fact.

But at the same time, that little kid’s heart always dies a little inside when those same discoveries are made.  Maybe it’s because in the grand scheme of things even our biggest advancements still fall under the shadow of the reality that we still have a long way to go to achieve the things the child in me thought he would get to see in his lifetime.  For every successfully cloned sheep, dark matter discovery, or sub-atomic particle that travels backward in time, there’s still the realization that we have yet to travel outside our own solar system, effectively slow the aging process, or even cure the common cold.

But this week?  This week the Saturday morning cartoon-watching, cereal-eating, pajama-wearing me from yesteryear is looking on wide-eyed and in wonder – a Japanese/US research team has created a molecular computer that can handle complex computations like a computer, yet functions more like a real brain. It can even heal and repair itself when it has a problem.

Even more astounding is that the computer is only two molecules thick.

This is pretty mind-blowing stuff.  I mean, just around thirty years ago we were still in our computer infancy.  Atari was the big console of the time.  Arcades still existed to give gamers young and old a chance to play the latest creations (with ash trays!).  William Shatner was shilling for the Commodore Vic-20, the “wonder computer of the 1980s” while any system that was designed for heavy computations still took up quite a bit of room space and most likely involved reel-to-reel tape for data recording.

Yet, only thirty years later we’ve achieved something that by 1980s standards would still be a dream in the distance.  Only it’s not quite that distant.  It’s here.  Now.

Immediate images of Skynet rising to smite us all aside, this is one of those major steps forward in science that has me hopeful and excited for what’s to come in our immediate future, despite the fact that it sometimes seems like our society’s progress seems a little uneven at times.  Achievements like this help to remind me that though it sometimes seems like the fantastical science we see in our favorite fiction may not become a reality within our lifetimes, occasionally we get to see the extraordinary the very next day.  We may not have a colony on the moon yet or mastered teleportation, but right now we are one step closer to creating Data.

Let’s hope it isn’t Lore.

The Don blinded himself with science, then got the hiccups.

…this week has hit me with its best shot.  And won.  I was already coming out of the weekend exhausted, but then I got Jodie Fostered on the pinball machine table by a couple other things this week.  Long story short (too late), no major article this week.

But as always I feel guilty if I leave you all with nothing, so I will at least share with you the reason why I came out of the weekend exhausted.  One of my director friends had a movie premiere this past Saturday for a “white trash” horror flick he made called The Creightonville Terror.  And for those of you who have read my previous articles on the site (thanks for the support, Brock!), you’ll remember that I got my wish fulfilled of becoming a horror show host by the name of Dr. Ghoulie:

The premiere was a huge success, Dr. Ghoulie was a hit with the crowd, and the after-party was three shades of incredible.  The premiere itself even ended with an announcement: Dr. Ghoulie is getting his own movie.  Yes – in the tradition of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, I get to headline my own low budget scare flick as a horror show host character.

It doesn’t get any better than this.  It certainly helps take the edge off of how this week has been so far.

And now, I leave you with one of the sponsors of the premiere:

Don’t you hate it when something you love just…stops with no resolution? Webcomic fans know this pain all too well. Your favourite webcomic is chugging along, picking up fans right and left, in the middle of an epically epic storyline, when suddenly…a month goes by with no updates. Then two months. Then six. The artist puts up a brief blog post that says, “Being swamped by work/school/family, but we’ll be back soon!”

A year later, the site is inhabited only by crickets. It sits there, unchanging, for many more years, or until the server deletes the page. The webcomic is only ever again mentioned in forum discussions where people ask, “Whatever happened to such-and-such comic?”

In the spring, a young geek’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of loss. Let’s look at a few of the fallen, and sometimes missing, friends that I would have loved to see get a proper ending. We’ll be doing this again later, by the way. I have a pretty long list of comics I used to read that stopped without ending, and they make for great nostalgia columns, eh? Plus, there are other unfortunate webcomics being abandoned all the time….

5ideways by K. Sandra Fuhr – This supernatural apocalyptic thriller started off with a strong story and intriguing characters in 2005, only to taper off with updates as Real Life continued to eat away at the artist’s free time. By 2008, the comic was officially on hiatus, and the site sat largely untouched until November 18, 2008, when a “5ideways will return soon” graphic was tossed up on the front page. “Soon” was a bit of a stretch, sadly, as there have been no updates since then. However, the extremely talented creator didn’t just up and abandon webcomics completely. If her name sounds familiar, that’s because you may already have read/be reading her other works: Boy Meets Boy (completed), Friendly Hostility (completed, and reviewed here), and Other People’s Business (ongoing, and blurbed about at the bottom of this page).

Absurd Notions/Why the Long Face, both by Kevin Pease – The first, running from 1999 to 2007, focused on the work and play misadventures of a group of young-adult friends with varied hobbies (though they all seemed to enjoy tabletop gaming) and the occasional bout of mad science. You know, what has since become a staple of webcomics. The second ran from 2003 to 2007 and focused on the creator’s musings about life in general. Both trickled to a halt around the same time (with Absurd Notions in the middle of a story). Sometime in 2008 or 2009, I asked Pease about further updates. He mentioned that he didn’t intend to drop his comics completely, but it looks like if that’s still true, we’ll be waiting a while longer for updates. A certain Spwug webcomic writer can keep hoping!

Chrono Trigger Rip-Off (at least they’re honest!) by Mark and Tom (and possibly someone else; it’s not too clear) – Sprite comics are reviled by art elitists for not using original art, but I LIKE sprite strips. LOVE them, even. I love sprite art and everything you can do with it. I love sprites being used for tributes and parodies of the games they come from. This webcomic did all that. Sprite comics are all over now, and the whole “Video game sprites cause mayhem while behaving in naughty ways that are totally out of character with how they behave in their canon” thing is done and overdone, and often done wrong. Chrono Trigger Rip-Off isn’t exactly a unique entity now, but back when I found it (likely pre-2001, but the archives only go back to January of that year), sprite comics were a fairly shiny new concept for me. I got a lot of good laughs out of this comic and enjoyed the fact that it even had a plot. And while there’s nothing unique about the strip by today’s standards, I still regret that it died out in 2004 with its story unfinished.

RPG World by Ian Jones-Quartey – You just can’t talk about unfinished business in webcomics without invoking the granddaddy of them all. RPG World went from a superstar of webcomics to a lesson in how NOT to end a story during its final battle. (The lesson is: DON’T STOP UPDATING DURING THE FINAL BATTLE.) Remember that? This webcomic started off strong in 2000. It updated regularly, the story kept getting better and better, Cherry’s butt kept getting bigger and bigger, the audience grew steadily–even friends who otherwise never read webcomics read RPG World. Every breath was bated as the story blazed into its climax. Beloved characters were killed. World-altering secrets were revealed. The final boss was confronted. The heroes geared up for the greatest fight in history. And then…nothing. In 2005, the comic ground to a halt. It tried to defibrillate itself with fillers and side stories on very sporadic occasions until June 2007. Finally, the artist admitted what the audience already knew; he had no intention of completing the story. He was too busy, he’d lost interest, didn’t like seeing his old art, etc., etc….

Recently, he put out the word that he felt bad for leaving the audience in the lurch and wanted to find a new artist to take his scripts and finish the story. I’d dearly love to see that, but since then, there’s been no word on finding a new artist. The site has been dead for so long that I don’t know if anyone who could help even saw his request for a new artist. But if you’re interested, please contact him at his site. I selfishly want to see RPG World finally completed! And if you want to know what eventually helped take Ian’s time away from the comic, watch this show called The Venture Bros. that he’s worked on for a few years. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it. I think it’s about siblings who become business entrepreneurs. Also, something about butterflies. Maybe they fund a living butterfly museum together or something. I don’t know. (And if you think I’m being serious here, let’s talk bridges.)

Well, that’s enough out of me for now. I still hope to someday see these old loves of mine completed, before being shoved back in the shoeboxes of the Internet. If there’s a webcomic you enjoyed that ended prematurely, let me know. I’m seeking more stalled comics for future installments!

Greetings, Lollipop Guild!

This week is a busy week for me.  This weekend I’ve got hosting duties as horror show host Dr. Ghoulie for the premiere of a “white trash” horror flick made by a friend of mine called The Creightonville Terror in Luray, Virginia.

All of my focus this week has been on prepping for that, so I haven’t really had the ability to direct my attention to much else.  Heck, even my article on CHUD this week was a reprint of one of my earlier efforts here (since I’m horror show hosting this weekend, my “Creature Feature” article was perfect).

But, you know me (maybe).  I feel guilty if I don’t at least offer you all something to tide you over until I can return full force (has that actually happened yet?).  And since I’ve been able to squeeze some time in here and there to play the new game I bought this past weekend, I figured I would offer you my thoughts (my apologies).

I managed to pick up the latest racing game efforts by Sega this past Saturday – Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.  After playing the demo, I was having enough fun to justify the purchase.  After putting in a few couch-hours on this sucker, I’m convinced that decision was a good one.

Of course, one of the first questions to pop up is most likely “How does this compare to Mario Kart?  The second question to follow that one is generally “Why are you such a tool?”  In the interest of time and my attempt to choke back tears, I’ll only be covering the first question.

Upon first playing the game, it’s completely obvious that All-Stars rips of Mario Kart almost completely.  In fact, you may almost feel like you’re playing some alternate universe version of the popular Nintendo series that just happens to include Sega characters (hey, it’s not out of the realm of possibility – look at Super Smash Bros. Brawl).  I mean, you have different-themed “cup” races and timed trial races, different characters from across Sega’s library of games in different vehicles with various capabilities, drift and start boosts, battle modes, and the coup de grace – question-marked item boxes spread out throughout the track that allow you to gain items for use on yourself or against other players.  It’s like someone did a cut-and-paste and just swapped out characters.

The thing is, despite the cloned aspects of All-Stars, the game still manages to stand out on its own.  Instead of having to accomplish certain feats and tricks to unlock characters and karts, Sega based their game on a “Sega Miles” system.  The more you race in the different events, the more miles you can earn.  These can then be used to purchase characters, tracks, and music.  This makes things a little less frustrating for purists who want to unlock everything in the game but feel repeatedly defeated by some unlockables that are irritatingly difficult to achieve.

Another difference is that Sega has included “missions” – a series of single races where the player has an objective that they need to complete in each race.  After playing a couple of these, I kind of like the idea.  It adds a little more variety to the standard “three laps to the goal” tracks.

I think the best feature All-Stars has over Mario Kart is a difficulty setting.  One thing that had me cursing to the point of making sailors blush was that the latest Nintendo offering seemed to have amped up the challenge factor to almost eleven.  There were times when I swear there was no way I could win a race, as every other NPC had agreed off-screen to target me and me alone with every item they could get their hands on.  As soon as that light turned green I was bombarded with turtle shells and banana peels galore.  How I ever made it to the finish line is still a mystery to me to this day.  But, with All-Stars, if the racing seems a little too cut-throat for your tastes, simply switch to “Beginner” mode.  Now you’re playing with power (oops!).

One of the downsides to this game in comparison to its Nintendo cousin is that each character only has one vehicle that they come with.  Not really a deal-breaker, per se, but when you’ve been spoiled rotten by the fact that each character in Mario Kart has multiple karts or motor cycles that they can tool around in, being stuck with one option for Sonic or Alex Kidd is a slight disappointment.  I guess the nice balance to that is the fact that All-Stars will be offering character DLCs to keep the variety appeal.

Finally, I want to mention the icing on the cake for me, something that elevates this game slightly above Mario Kart – zombie areas.  Yes, race fans, there are three tracks in the game that come out of The House of the Dead series.  That means there are zombies walking around while you race.  Sure – you can hit them, but they’ll cause you to spin out (unless you do a speed boost through them – fun!).  And to add the cherry on top, there is a zombie couple you can select to race as, rocking the engine revs in a monster hot rod that looks like something out of “The Munsters”.  I mean, come on.  Zombies.  You had me at “Braaaaains…”

All of these elements combined make for a well crafted and fun racing game.  In fact, despite the fact that I generally favor the plumber to the hedgehog, the more I play All-Stars (my favorite racer is Shadow the Hedgehog on his gnarly Harley), the more I’m inclined to say “Mario who?”

Please don’t tell him I said that.

The Don’s idea of Super Sonic is upscaling his meal at the fast food place.

Greetings, Pumpkinheads!!

Just when you thought I was finished talking about new television shows until fall (actually, I thought I was too), two more brilliant programs re-emerged on the RGB (RGBY if you’re George Takei) landscape this past week.  And since I love both of them, I had to share them with you.

It’s like an Easter miracle!

“Ashes to Ashes”

Anyone familiar with the British hit series “Life on Mars” (as opposed to the less-than-stellar US version that came out in 2008) also knows about the spin-off series “Ashes to Ashes”.  Where “Mars” was about a present day UK detective (Sam Tyler) who falls into a coma and wakes up in the 1970s, “Ashes” is about the police therapist assigned to Sam’s case who also falls into a coma when she is shot in the head by a criminal.  She, however, wakes up in the 1980s.  Both shows play up their combo sci-fi/period cop show elements well.  But whereas “Mars” had a more dour and subdued tone, “Ashes” plays more bright and flashy.  Of course both make total sense since they are each reflections of the decade they are set in.  Though “Ashes” doesn’t quite have the gravitas that “Mars” had, I still find myself enjoying the hell out of this show.  The premise fascinates me, and with the exception of the main protagonist – Alex Drake – a couple of the characters from the previous show carry over.  And one in particular makes it all worthwhile:

DCI Gene Hunt.

Philip Glenister is just so much fun to watch playing this tough-as-nails blowhard who has no problems playing things off-book.  His is a character that sets off a million whistles in a politically correct environment, but you can’t help but root for him.

“Ashes to Ashes” is in its third series (seasons are called series over there, like fries are called chips, chips are called crisps, and Americans are called confused), which will also be its last.  I actually don’t mind that.  I admire the Brits for being able to pull together serials that have a definite beginning, middle, and end.  It makes for less filler episodes.  Though I will be sad when this series reaches its final conclusion, I really hope it ends with a reappearance by Sam Tyler.

“Doctor Who”

I shouldn’t have to tell you about “Doctor Who”.  The only way you could possibly be unaware of the existence of “Doctor Who” is if you were grown in a clone farm and released yesterday (sorry, Gary821).

I was first hooked onto this show back when I was a kid.  It aired on our local PBS station.  Unfortunately, PBS only aired the Tom Baker run (fourth Doctor), which was already out of date by the time I was watching in the early 80s.  Still, I found the show to be ripe with low-budget charms, and the Doctor was nothing short of charismatic.  In fact, as a prime example of the well-known side-effect of becoming a “Doctor Who” fan, my first Doctor became my favorite.  I would eventually get to see episodes from all the different Doctors, but Baker was always my fave.

Until a couple of years ago.  When “Doctor Who” came back to televisions in 2005 after a sixteen year absence (with a brief pit stop over here in the US in 1996 for a horribly-done movie that is considered canon), Christopher Eccleston ushered in a new era of Doctors.  I liked his portrayal a lot, but after only doing one series there was just no way to see just how well he could have made the role his own.

Bring in his replacement – David Tennant – regenerating in as the tenth incarnation (I love the fact that David’s nickname of Tennie works on two levels).  I had a hard time warming up to him at first, but once he managed to get comfy in his skin he was quite a brilliant Doctor, quickly replacing Baker as my favorite (and that wasn’t as easy a feat to accomplish as you might think).  Combining wide-eyed wonder with a manic streak, a cheeky sense of humor and a smidge of darkness underneath, Tennant gave us a well-rounded and fun, yet dramatic take on the Time Lord.

Sadly, Tennant finally stepped down at the end of last year with the last of his 2009 specials.  As I’ve reported before, his replacement was a relatively unknown bloke by the name of Matt Smith.  The youngest actor to date to ever slip on the Time Lord’s footwear, Matt’s Doctor debuted this past weekend in the UK.  Despite my love for Tennie, I was curious and intrigued by the new guy.  I was definitely looking forward to what he would bring to the character.

I was not disappointed.  At all.  Bringing a little bit of Troughton’s Doctor into his personality, Smith plays the “odd Doctor” to the hilt, more so than either Tennant or Eccleston did.  He’s quirky, he’s cheeky, and his complete demeanor just seems to run off-kilter to the world(s) around him.

And I like it.  I don’t know that he’ll have the same impact on me that the tenth incarnation had, but never say never.  I mean, I never expected any Doctor to dethrone my affection for Tom Baker’s.  Am I excited to see what else he’s got up his sleeve?  Oh, abso-flogging-lutely.  He’s going to be a fun Doctor to have adventures with.  And with Steven Moffat (arguably the best writer the new serials have had) now the head writer of the show, “Doctor Who” has the potential to be the best it’s ever been.  I eagerly anticipate each episode.  And though I’m looking forward to where the show goes from here, I still miss Tennant.  It will take quite a bit to make me say “David who?”

On the other hand, the Doctor’s new companion does have me asking “Rose whatnow?”  Red-headed, strong-willed, smartly-written, Scottish cuties for the win!

The Don is only on his third regeneration.  He leads a boring life, and the last two regens were due to stupid accidents.

Greetings, Facehuggers!

As I mentioned to you all last week, I have turned another year older.  Though my physical age may continue to run ahead of me, my essence remains ensconced within a youthful visage, and my interests continue to dwell within a timeless epoch.

Simply put – I’m getting older, but I still love things from my youth.

Case in point, as much as I love modern day video gaming (and I do love me some modern day video gaming), I’m still very much a fan of the old school – Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Mr. Do…  Those are games that, no matter what the new hotness is that I am currently playing on my PS3, I can go back to and play anytime and still get just as much enjoyment out of them now as I did when I first put a quarter in the coin slot back when arcades were still all the rage (I miss arcades).  The classics never get old to me.  And when emulators first became available many moons ago, I went giddy with glee at the thought of being able to play my favorite arcade classics on my PC at home.

Now, here we are in the Year of Our Monolith, and one of the things that has always been a minor obstacle in my enjoyment of classic arcadia has been the inability to play them wherever I go.  Arcades have all but dried up, and the ones that still exist only fill a certain quota – some fighting games, some shooter games, some racing games, a DDR game or two, and some silly, little ticket-spewers.  I have a laptop, and that’s portable… but only to an extent.  Sure, I can play them in my hotel room or at a friend’s house if I bring lappy with me, but I couldn’t just fire up the ol’ MAME while waiting to be seated at an Olive Garden.

Until now.

One of the coolest gifts I got for my birthday was a handy-dandy little portable device called the GP2X WIZ.  This sucker is like a portable slice of love, as it can play any emulator from Atari to Commodore 64 all the way up to PS1.  In short – this thing rocks!

And that isn’t even half of it.  It does tons more!  Not only can it play all those different emulators, but it can also function as an e-book reader, a music player, a picture viewer, a movie viewer, a planner, and a digital recording device.  With all that I’m rather surpised that it doesn’t also grant wishes.  Trust me, it doesn’t.  I tried rubbing it, but to no avail.

Now, it’s a wee bit pricey, but it’s really worth it if you want to save up for it.  It includes a gig of drive space, but you can also throw games and emulators on any size SD card and toss that in there as well.  This thing is truly a remarkable device.  I’ve already slapped three different emulators on a two gig card and have been spending a lot of time playing all my favorite classics writing articles for you fine folk.

That said, I should probably get back to playing Pac-Man writing more writings for the readers of said writings.  In the meantime, I leave you with the other, cool, geeky item I got for my latest trip around Sol:

I certainly won’t freeze before I reach the first marker.

The Don thought they smelled bad on every side.

This is a bragging post, guys. I make no apologies. I’m too darn excited! On Sunday, by way of an overgenerous better half, I found myself cradling the new Nintendo DSi XL mere hours after it was released in the States. Finally, I could play the copy of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks that I got for Christmas! (Yes, I get Zelda games even if I don’t own the console for them yet. First-edition games usually have the best bugs to exploit. Though I did slack off on acquiring all the other portable Zelda titles aside from the original version of Link’s Awakening.)

This was only the second time I’d played a DS in my life, and I’m still stunned at how intuitive everything is. After a lifetime spent mashing buttons, I didn’t expect dragging pointers and tapping things to feel so natural. Of course, this is a Zelda game I’m playing, so it’s fine-tuned and full of all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a title in the series (some of which bells ‘n’ whistles I imagine you activate by blowing in the mic, ba-dum-pssh).

The sound is very good. So far I’ve only been able to play in a noisy room (housemate playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 a few feet away), but everything comes through the speakers clearly. I can’t wait to stick a good pair of headphones in the jack and see what it sounds like to be immersed in the music and mutterings of a DS game.

I wanted a DSi XL mainly for the larger screen size, and it does not disappoint. Here’s where I break out the photos to let the device speak for itself. A few notes before we continue:

1: The images on the screen are incredibly clear and crisp. Compressing the pictures for the Web means a bit of quality is lost, sadly.

2: The bottom screen is slightly faded due to an external light source reflecting. There wasn’t anywhere else decent to take the picture, nor any better position for the DS to be in. The touch screen is just as gorgeous as the display screen!

3: These photos were taken from about three feet away with no zoom. One of the DSi XL’s selling points is that its bigger screen means a larger player/audience viewing area, and it delivers!

Our resident hand model “Miss Thing” shows off the new larger stylus, as well as the relative size of the DSi XL itself. The original smaller stylus, also included with the DSi XL, is on the right of the unit.

So far, I couldn’t be happier with my new combo of DSi XL + Zelda. I foresee the beginnings of a long, beautiful friendship!