Paxton

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Creating a fantasy baseball team of movie ball players

Posted in movies, pop culture with tags LEB, movies, pop culture, sports on April 5, 2012 by Paxton

I took a few weeks off from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers due to several other things going on here with the blog and podcasting. But I like the new assignment Brian gave us this week so I’m jumping back in.

This week, Brian asks us to write about baseball. Anything we want. Now, I’m not a huge baseball fan. I’ve played Fantasy Baseball like once in my life and I never watch the game. However, I do enjoy going to baseball games and I also enjoy baseball movies and video games. I pondered reviewing one of my favorite games Baseball Simulator 1.000 for the Nintendo Entertainment System but I decided to go with an article I almost did for the League’s Expendables Week. I’m going to field a ball team with baseball players from movies.

I went through all of my favorite baseball movies and I’m picking the best players for each position. And by the best players, I mean, my favorite players. So grab your peanuts and Cracker Jacks and let’s play ball!

My fantasy team:

1st Base – Lou Gehrig (Pride of the Yankees) – As played by Gary Cooper in the classic 1944 movie about the baseball great.

2nd Base – Joe Hardy (Damn Yankees!) – Pretty boy Tab Hunter portrayed Hardy in the classic 1958 movie based on the popular stage play. The character of Hardy sold his soul to the Devil, literally, to be a bad ass baseball player. So yes, he’s on the team.

Benny the Jet
Shortstop – Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez (The Sandlot) – Obviously, not the kid version, but the older veteran version from the end of the movie. “The Jet” is fast so he’d be a great shortstop and he would most likely be my lead off batter.

Spike Nolan
3rd Base – Roy Hobbs (The Natural) – Because he’s “The Natural”. Probably one of the single greatest ball players in the history of Hollywood. I would have played him at pitcher (he was able to strike out “The Whammer”), but I have plenty of other talent there. I also thought of putting him in the outfield, but I really needed someone at 3rd Base, and Roy can play any position on the field. So he’s covering 3rd.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 31: Nerdy Lunchy Bucket List

Posted in Boba Fett, movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture, Star Wars on April 4, 2012 by Paxton

Episode 31 is live and ready to be shot into your ear on a rocket sled. In this episode Jeeg, CT and I do a “3 way dance”, ie we fly without a fourth chair and just talk amongst the three of us. Our subject? Life, man. We just sit and talk about life, love and just being alive, my friend.

Just kidding, this isn’t an Oprah podcast. This week we are talking about our own personal Nerd Bucket Lists. You know, the list of things I’d like to do before I die in a hail of gunfire and lightsaber blades.

Actually, CT has deemed it Nerdy Lunchy Buckety List, or something like that. We list things we’d like to do, places we’d like to eat and places we’d like to go before we kick the bucket. We even discuss a few bucket list items we’d like to do before we retire from podcasting in like 50-60 years (trust me, you’ll be stuck with the Nerd Lunch Podcast for a while).

So download this episode and start thinking about your own demise. It’s fun.

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

Happy Atari National Pac-Man Day

Posted in Atari, Pac-Man, pop culture, video games with tags Atari, Cavalcade Arcade, Pac-Man, pop culture, video games on April 3, 2012 by Paxton

30 years ago today on April 3, 1982, Atari announced National Pac-Man Day.

National Pac-Man Day coincided with the release of Atari’s port of the Pac-Man arcade game.

Via John Mundy

Despite that game being one of the worst ports of a game ever created, it was the highest selling game of the year and received an enormous marketing push from Atari.

Above is an ad touting the popularity of Pac-Man and it includes pictures from Pac-Man release parties all over the world. Atari even held several Pac-Man Championships. Here’s an ad for the UK Championship.

Atari’s Pac-Man, along with E.T., probably killed not only Atari but the entire home console video game market. At least for 4 or 5 years until the Nintendo Entertainment System took off. Because, despite selling millions of Pac-Man cartridges (as well as E.T.), Atari had over estimated demand and made many, many more than was sold and they were left with tons of extra cartridges.

So, enjoy Atari National Pac-Man Day! One of the nerdiest holidays ever!

Only 5 More Days Until Atari National Pac-Man Day

Posted in Atari, Pac-Man, pop culture, video games with tags Atari, Cavalcade Arcade, Pac-Man, video games on March 29, 2012 by Paxton

Countdown to Avengers: Thor (2011)

Posted in comic books, movies, pop culture, reviews with tags comic books, Marvel Comics, movies, pop culture, reviews, The Avengers on March 28, 2012 by Paxton

Countdown to Avengers is a blog crossover between Nerd Lunch, To The Escape Hatch and the Cavalcade of Awesome. Together we are reviewing all of the solo Avengers movies as well as some of the comics and cartoons. It’s all leading up to the release of The Avengers on May 4 where we will all review the new movie.

So, today my assignment for the countdown is to review the movie Thor. Directed by Kenneth Brannaugh and starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddleston and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

(Via Die Screaming)

My Review:
For this review, this was my second viewing of the movie and the first time I’d seen it since watching it in theaters when it was released in May 2011. To back up a bit, my background with Thor is pretty close to nil. I was not ever a Thor reader. I have a few of his issues from the 80s/90s, but mostly when he had co-stars I cared about like Hulk or The Fantastic Four. I also vividly remember his terrible, terrible Incredible Hulk TV movie appearance. So, needless to say, I’m not really a fan. That being said, if they had decided to play fast and loose with Thor’s history, I really wouldn’t know any different and I would welcome it. I just wanted the movie to have an interesting and engaging story with some really nice visuals. Did it deliver?

When I saw this movie in the theater, I thought it was okay, I enjoyed it and thought the effects were awesome. I think I was more excited about the Hawkeye cameo than I was about the rest of the movie. When I watched it this second time, I focused more on Hemsworth as Thor and Portman as Jane. They were great. Hemsworth especially as the prideful Thor in the beginning is truly great. And how awesome is Anthony Hopkins as Odin? All the Asgard stuff was really good as are the machinations of Loki back in Asgard. I actually believe Hopkins as Odin is truly disappointed and mad at Thor when he casts him out of the realm to Earth. I jokingly quote some of Hopkins’ speech to my son. “..I CAST YOU OUT!!”

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