July | 2012 | Cavalcade of Awesome

Archive for July, 2012

Nerd Lunch and Atomic Geek crossover episodes!

Posted in nostalgia, podcast, pop culture, TV shows with tags Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture, The Atomic Geeks, TV shows on July 31, 2012 by Paxton

This is week #2 of the HUGE Nerd Lunch/Atomic Geeks Summer Crossover series. This week, the casts of both shows get all mixed up and swap members.

First up is Nerd Lunch Episode 48. Digio and Downs join CT and Kristen from the Geek Girls Network for an in-depth, expletive-laden discussion of Doctor Who.

Since Jeeg and I weren’t on this episode, I literally have no idea what they talked about…well, other than Dr Who. And maybe the Tardis. And Daleks. But that is the sum total of my Dr Who knowledge.

While Nerd Lunch yells at each other about the “easy fix button” that is the Sonic Screwdriver (I guess I knew that term, too) Jeeg and I traveled over to the Atomic Geeks for Episode 172 in which we discuss “Mash Ups” with Christian and Bloom.

I can tell you we talked about mashing up such things as board games and 80s-90s sitcoms, Super heroes and the AFI 100 greatest movies list and Pac-Man and horror movies. It’s all mixed up and confusing, much like this Summer Crossover series, but it’s a lot of fun.

To get Nerd Lunch Episode 48:
Download the episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. Or, listen to the show on NerdLunch.net.

To get The Atomic Geeks Episode 172:
Download the episode from iTunes or listen to it on The Internet Machine at the Atomic Geeks’ website.

Review of Oz Book 6: The Emerald City of Oz (1910)

Posted in books, Wizard of Oz with tags Book Report, books, Oz books readthru, reviews, Wizard of Oz on July 30, 2012 by Paxton

Moving right along in my quest to read all of the original Frank Baum Oz novels. Here we are at Book 6. To see my reviews of the first 5 books in this series, click the banner above. Otherwise, keep on reading…

Like the last book, I picked up the illustrated eBook of this from the B&N Nook Store for .99 from Eltanin Publishing. They have rendered a beautifully edited and formatted text and kept all the original Neill illustrations intact. I have been supremely happy with Eltanin’s work thus far on the Oz eBooks I’ve read (Books 4, 5 and 6). They are well worth purchasing and you can’t beat the price. Eltanin is slowly working their way through this series. I also picked up book 7 from them. Unfortunately they haven’t released anything further than book 7 but my hopes are high that the rest will come soon. Check out Eltanin Publishing for some really nice eBooks.

So, the last Oz book, The Road to Oz, was released in 1909 and this book was released the following summer in 1910. As I mentioned, John Neill would once again contribute wonderfully detailed illustrations for the book’s interiors. As a side note, John Neill would go on to write and illustrate several Oz books after Frank Baum died.

With this book, Baum had every intention of ending the Oz series. While reading the book, you can easily see that Baum was closing the door on Oz. We had seen him, in Book 5, parade around characters from his other non-Oz books to drum up interest in those with the hopes of sending his fans to his other stories.

With this being “the last Oz book” as Baum originally envisioned, Baum pulled out all the storytelling stops. Instead of telling one story where we follow a group of characters through a fairly land all the way until the end of the book, in this book Baum tells two different story threads and shifts between them. The first story thread involves the Nome King who first appeared back in Book 3. He’s extremely pissed at being defeated by a little girl and her pet chicken. Plus, they stole his magic belt. So, he gathers his army, convinces several more evil and sinister characters in Oz to take up his cause and storm the Emerald City to take it by force. While the Nome King builds this army and plans his attack, the second story thread involves Dorothy returning to Oz to ask Ozma to allow her and her Aunt and Uncle to live there permanently. The cyclone from Book 1 has destroyed their Kansas farm and the land is about to be taken over by the bank. Ozma agrees and sends Dorothy and her Aunt and Uncle on a carriage tour throughout the countryside of Oz. Along the way, Dorothy learns of the impending attack on the Emerald City and tries to return in time to warn Ozma.

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A counterpoint review of The Garbage Pail Kids retrospective book

Posted in 80s, books, Garbage Pail Kids, pop culture, reviews with tags Book Report, books, Garbage Pail Kids, nostalgia, pop culture, reviews on July 26, 2012 by Paxton

Back in April, over on Nerd Lunch, CT wrote an extremely honest review of that Garbage Pail Kids retrospective book that was released earlier this year. He admitted that he didn’t have the nostalgia tied in with the cards to make him really love that book.

I, on the other hand, do have that nostalgia and CT had me write a counterpoint to his book review. That review was just posted today over on Nerd Lunch.

As a previous collector of the cards when they were originally released, click on over and see what I thought of the book.

Going to make you GREEN with envy

Posted in Mountain Dew, Pepsi, soda with tags Kool Aid, LEB, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, soda, toys on July 25, 2012 by Paxton

Brian’s new assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers this week is to photograph something green. Well, I have a Flickr stream chock full of green items. So, instead of showing you just one, I’m going to showcase an entire collection of green from my Flickr stream. Soda, candy, milk. It’s all represented. Enjoy.

You can click any of these images to see them on my Flickr stream.

Other green entries from around The League:
1. ShezCrafti takes a look at her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection
2. Lair of the Dork Horde looks at some tiny, green Z.O.M.B.I.E. figures
3. Brian himself over at Cool and Collected shows us a collection of Hulk stuff

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Nerd Lunch Episode 47: Pop Culture Expanded Universes

Posted in books, comic books, movies, podcast, pop culture, TV shows with tags books, comic books, movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture, TV shows on July 24, 2012 by Paxton

Welcome to Episode 47. This week I am hosting the show and Jeeg has gone off on a solo adventure. We replace Jeeg with Shawn from Branded in the 80s and our rotating guest chair goes unfilled. But we actually have a guest. Unfortunately the guest doesn’t use chairs, so that’s why the rotating chair is unfilled. This week we are also joined by regular Atomic Geeks guest, Mark Dury. Our topic this week is Pop Culture Expanded Universes.

You know, the novels, TV shows, comics and cartoons based on already popular pop culture properties that “expand” the “universe” of that property. We discuss the granddaddys of Expanded Universes with Star Wars and Star Trek. However we also cover The Matrix, ET, Farscape, Highlander and even Alf. It’s a lively discussion you should have a lot of fun with. I know I had a lot of fun hosting.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

Or, you can listen to the episode online right here.

This is the first week of the huge Atomic Geeks/Nerd Lunch cross over series. The new Atomic Geeks episode this week will also be about Expanded Universes. As you saw yesterday, I’m also on Classic Film Jerks this week talking about Casablanca.

Next week, Jeeg and I go over to the Atomic Geeks to talk about mash ups. Digio and Downs from the Atomic Geeks join CT for a discussion about Doctor Who. It’s getting all mixed up and incestuous here in the Atomic Geeks Podcasting Network. Should be a lot of fun.