I was just the other day reading my 10th anniversary review of Star Wars: Episode I.  Hard to believe that was nearly 3 years ago.  While I think the movie runs a little long, there are scenes and moments in it that are awesome.  Darth Maul, obviously, is a BAD ASS.  Darth Sidious/Palpatine is great.  Qui Gon Jinn is awesome.  Ewan as Obi-Wan, podracing, the final 3-way lightsaber battle and John Williams’ score (and most notably Duel of the Fates).  All awesome.  Not awesome?  Jake Lloyd.  This kid has been vilified for this movie, and I feel bad for him.  I do.  But his performance is terrible.  And Jar Jar.  What can you say about f**king Jar Jar other than he sucks ass?

Regardless, I am excited to see this again in theaters and in 3D.  Plus I’m almost positive they’ve replaced that fugly looking Yoda puppet with full CGI.  I saw clips of the scenes at that Star Wars Concert that toured the country two years ago.  That is exciting.

So, in preparation, I’ve been reading up on some of the Episode I ancillary material to round out my experience with this movie.  I know Episode I has been a bit maligned, but honestly, I think it’s better than Episode II: Attack of the Clones which is mostly terrible (except for, again, the final 3-way lightsaber battle).

Here are some of the things I’ve been reading to enhance my readiness for Episode I in 3D.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno – This book was released in January.  I borrowed it from my friend Dr Mike and read it this past week.  I just finished it on Tuesday.  It’s amazing.  Epic and sprawling, the plot of this book spans many years beginning 30+ years before The Phantom Menace and ending just after the events of the movie.  It’s a “behind the scenes” book.  The book is obstensibly about Darth Plagueis (Palpatine’s Sith Master), but it’s every bit Palpatine/Darth Sideous’ book as well.  You see Plagueis come up as an apprentice, kill his master, obtain Palpatine as an apprentice, then begin the Grand Plan to bring down the Republic and decimate the Jedi Order.  This book is mostly, like I said, behind the scenes, but it’s amazing how it tries to reconcile plot lines from the movies, TV shows, comics and other novels.  Truly worth the read.  This book makes the convoluted Trade Federation subplot in Episode I almost make sense.  I have a feeling this book is going on my year end “best books” list and it’s only February.

Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul by Jude Watson – This came out the year after Episode I. It was during the early days when we knew nothing about Darth Maul. This was the first time he was revealed to be a Zabrak from Iridonia.  I loved Maul so back in the day I bought up everything I could about him.  This is a light, fluff read.  Less than 100 pages.  It’s essentially written as Maul’s journal during the events of The Phantom Menace.  It’s a behind the scenes book similar to Plagueis but you don’t get as much information.  It’s mainly Maul waiting around to do stuff.  Cool but a bit light in detail.

Star Wars: Darth Maul – This was a comic series from 2000.  It’s a fantastic story that takes place a few months before The Phantom Menace.  It depicts Maul’s first real assignment from Darth Sidious.  Essentially Darth Maul vs Black Sun.  And it’s awesome.

Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter – This was released in 2001. It was the first standalone full length novel for Maul (and still the only). It’s a pretty good story. Maul is only part of the story, the other part is about a smuggler guy named Lorn.  It takes place right after the above graphic novel.  Maul is used and characterized well which makes it a fun read.  It’s got a cool ending and this story is touched upon by the Darth Plagueis book. In the new 2011 printing of this book, there are two short stories. One is Darth Maul: Sabateur and the other is Darth Maul: Restraint.  I’ve read Sabateur and it’s only okay.  Restraint is actually brand new and only available in the new printing of this book.  Unlike Sabateur, you can’t buy it separately on your Nook.  So, that means I have to go to Barnes & Noble with my Nook and use the 1 hour I can read anything for free to finish it.  I’m not buying another copy of this book.

Star Wars: Cloak of Deception by James Luceno – This was the official “prequel” to The Phantom Menace. It’s honestly not that good. Mostly political maneuvering. You see how Chancellor Valorum got to where he is by the beginning of the movie. However, Darth Plagueis again gives a lot more back story and touches on this book which makes it a bit more interesting after you’ve read it.

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace – And lastly, we come to the novelization of the movie.  I’ve read this exactly twice.  Once when the hardback was released right before the movie in early May 1999.  The second time was when the paperback was released in 2000 or 2001.  I’m holding off on reading this again until the movie comes out.  So I’ll be reading it after Feb 10.   I remember it being pretty good.  Brooks was able to add several scenes to expand on the action in the movie.   I’m actually really looking forward to delving back into this book.

This week, the Nerd Lunch crew welcomes Aaron Nix to the fourth chair. In this episode we are all tasked with creating a team of Expendables.

However, unlike the movie, we aren’t creating a super team of action heroes, we are creating a super team of Western stars and a super team of Romantic Comedy stars.  I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it’s podcasting gold.  Yes, we’ve done it AGAIN.

To your ears:  You’re welcome.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, still rocking the Zune Marketplace.

So, I’m a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz.  I’ve been watching the movie since I was a kid. I’ve seen it countless times and I even own the soundtrack release from 1995 which included extended versions of many of the songs as well as a missing song (The Jitterbug) recorded but not included in the movie.

Around 2001 I checked out from the library the original Oz novel (above) by L Frank Baum and read it. And loved it. I even watched Dreamer of Oz, the TV movie starring John Ritter as L Frank Baum. Then, sometime around 2005-2006 I received the annotated edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (see below).  It’s a gorgeous hardbound book with all the original illustrations as well as a 100 page biography of L Frank Baum as well as very meticulous notations throughout the text of the story bringing into focus the impact this book had on society.

A year later I made the resolution that I was going to read all of the original Baum Oz novels. There are 14 of them. I even acquired the first three books from Paperbackswap.com in a bundled collection by Books of Wonder (also in the photo above).  However, that goal was somewhat forgotten and I haven’t done anything about it.  Until now.

I mentioned on the Nerd Lunch podcast recently (twice already) that in 2012, I’m picking this resolution back up and I’m going to finish the Oz novels.  And to keep myself accountable, I’m going to blog about it.  So a new feature is being created called Following the Yellow Brick Road which will chart my progress with each book.  I’ll do reviews of each book as well as any ancillary material appropriate to that book.  For instance, for the first three books there are Marvel comic adaptations as well as the original 1939 movie and the 1985 sequel, Return to Oz (which is an amalgam of books 2 and 3).  I may throw in quick mini-reviews of that stuff as well.

So, in 2012, join the Cavalcade of Awesome through the Kansas twister into the enchanted land of Oz.  I’m thoroughly looking forward to it.

Well, the academy released the Oscar nominations for this year’s Academy Awards.  Again, some surprises, some not so surprising.  I usually like to take a look at the most popular categories and give you some of my thoughts on the decisions.  Looking back, I see I’ve done this recap since 2007 (for the 2006 movie year).  Here are those articles:

2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

Normally, by now, I’ve posted my Movie Board articles telling you guys what my favorite/least favorite movies of the year are.  However, I’m still catching up on Oscar eligible movies, so I’ll have those up in a few weeks.  I have my preliminary list, but there are some good ones I need to see just to be sure.

Anyway, back to the Oscar nominees for this year.  You can find the full list of nominees at Oscars.org.  Now, let’s take a look at the “money” categories and judge how the Academy did this year.

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” – What?  Who?
George Clooney in “The Descendants” – Man, Clooney no longer does the “one for you, one for me” formula.  He pretty much just does whatever the hell he wants to do.  How else do you explain The American or Men Who Stare At Goats?  I miss the Clooney from Ocean’s 11, Goodnight and Good Luck and Intolerable Cruelty.  I’m not having as much fun with the current version.
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” – This movie actually doesn’t sound that bad, but I have yet to see it.
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” – Looks amazing.  Really want to see this movie.  Oldman is great in pretty much everything.
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” – Again, I really want to see this but have not yet had the opportunity.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” – This movie doesn’t look great.
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” – Props to Jonah for dipping his toes into the dramatic pool.
Nick Nolte in “Warrior” – I hear this movie is great, but I can’t support a Nolte nomination.  For anything.
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” – Meh.
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – This movie looks amazing.  But I’m reluctant to see it because as a new dad, I feel the heavy father-son relationship at the center of this plot will completely undo the macho-man hold on my emotions and cause me to bawl like my wife at cheesy cell phone commercials.

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” – Close may be fantastic in this, but it just “feels” tailor made for the Oscars.  Like they were trying to get Close a nomination.  Julie Andrews did gender bending first in Victor/Victoria.  Close’s makeup in this just looks like posturing for an Oscar. See also Nicole Kidman’s makeup in The Hours and Charlize Theron’s in Monster.
Viola Davis in “The Help” – Better movie than I expected and Viola was great in it.
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – Really, really good movie.  Hard to watch, but very good.  Rooney Mara is also great in it.
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady” – I imagine this is good.  I want to see it.
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn” – Not a fan of Michelle Williams.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist” – Looks good. I will see it when I get the chance.
Jessica Chastain in “The Help” – Jessica is deliciously bad in this movie. The perfect antagonist.
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” – Wow. I’m very surprised by this. Don’t get me wrong, Melissa completely deserves this nomination, but the Academy rarely recognizes these types of movies (ie, straight up comedies). Mark this down.
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs” – No.
Octavia Spencer in “The Help” – I love Octavia. She is hilarious and was great in The Help.

Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius – Okay, I’ll see it.
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne – Meh.
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese – I really want to see this movie. I love Scorcese and I love that this is such a departure for him. I’ve been surprised how many “end of the year” lists this tops.
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen – Ditto for this. This movie has topped many year end lists. So much so that I actually finally watched it this past weekend. I’m not a fan of Woody Allen, at all, but this movie is really good. It’s sweet, funny and charming. I really liked it. I especially like that Allen no longer puts himself in the middle of his movies.
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick – I don’t get Malick. At all.

Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer – I’m becoming more and more interested in this the more awards it gets.
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers – I continue to say, “Meh”.
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer – Crying or not, I’ll eventually have to watch this.
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers – Really good. But best of the year?
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers – I really must see this ASAP.
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers – Really good. I can support this nom.
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers – Watching this very soon.
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined – *shakes head*
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers – I’m baffled by this movie. War Horse? Seriously? Why wasn’t Spielberg nominated for Directing?

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – No.
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan – Yes.
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon – This looks good.  I’m surprised it got no other noms.
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin – No wonder the movie looks good it was written by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.  More proof that I need to see it.
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan – Yes, this looks good as well.

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius – This looks good. I can’t argue.
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig – Wow. Kristen Wiig is now Oscar nominated Kristen Wiig. I’m really surprised the Academy put this here. It’s just not traditionally a movie that gets nominated for its screenplay.
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor – Wow, really? I saw the trailer for this, and there’s a ton of well known actors, but it looked like a showier version of Boiler Room.  Or a more serious The Informant!
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen – By all means. This was a very clever script that I enjoyed.
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi – Never heard of this.

Episode 21 has gone LIVE, my friends. This week we are down a man as Jeeg has flown off to Europe to find himself. In the meantime, we invited Vanessa and Erika from Girls Gone Geek to join us for a lively discussion about comic books.

Specifically we are talking about comic book scenarios. What sidekick would we like to have? What would we do if we ever got super powers? What character would we kill and make sure stays dead? These are the nerdy questions we ask ourselves and sometimes answer with very little geeky rambling.  Well, some rambling.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.