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Nerd Lunch Episode 37: Moving Right Along with the Muppet movies

Posted in movies, podcast, pop culture with tags movies, Muppets, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture on May 15, 2012 by Paxton

Episode 37 has gone live. This is the episode that was supposed to air last week. Everyone is back in their respective cities and we are happy to bring back Shawn Robare from Branded in the 80s. This week’s topic? MUPPETS.

(Via Ariel S Winter)

More specifically, we are talking about the first three Muppet movies; The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and Muppets Take Manhattan. We discuss our earliest memories of the Muppets, what nostalgia we have for these movies and we rank which ones are our favorites. We even talk briefly about how we feel about the non-Henson Muppet movies that would come after.

So move yourself right along to iTunes and download this most excellent episode. I promise you, it’s Boffo, Lenny. SOCKO, Lenny!!!

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

The League: Ultimate pop culture cross overs

Posted in 24, Back to the Future, Jack Bauer, Knight Rider, movies, pop culture, TV shows with tags 24, Back to the Future, jack bauer, Knight Rider, LEB, movies, pop culture, TV shows on May 10, 2012 by Paxton

New assignment for the League this week. Per Brian over at Cool and Collected:

What pop culture heroes or stories would make for the ultimate crossover…

I think that’s a really good question. There’s a lot of different ways to go with this. But, honestly, the first thing that popped into my head was the germ of an idea I had several years ago. I think it would be great if Doc Brown from Back to the Future became the head scientist/mechanic for Knight Industries. I had gone far enough in my pondering to actually mock up scene (click it to see it full size):

I created this scene a year or two ago. It was an idea I had for a header for this blog. Imagine the logo of Cavalcade of Awesome being right above KITT. The idea just intrigued me. I haven’t actually thought any further than that. No plot ideas on how Doc winds up at Knight Industries, or anything like that. I just love the idea of Doc getting his hands on KITT and grafting on his own wacky modifications. Like Time Travel and a Mr Fusion. So awesome.

Another crossover I’ve actually discussed on this blog involves an Old West gunslinger and the King of Vampires. In 2010 I envisioned and casted a Billy the Kid vs Dracula movie.

I casted Emilio Estevez to reprise his role as Billy the Kid from the Young Guns movies. I also casted Sam Neill as Dracula. Sam had played an awesome evil vampire in the movie Daybreakers so I thought he’d be perfect.

Another idea that I think is a little more serious and could really work well would be a crossover between Torchwood and 24. The idea being that Torchwood decides to open up an LA office and asks Jack Bauer to be the second in command.

Torchwood LA

This concept may seem familiar to you. I discussed this idea in Episode 18 of the Nerd Lunch podcast. It was an idea explored in a nice piece of fan fiction I read for the episode. I think it was a great idea and could totally work as a real show.

Other entries from The League:
1) Shawn at Branded in the 80s brings the big guns this week with an epic 80s computer hacking/spy action adventure that combines War Games, Manhattan Project and Cloak and Dagger. I nearly wet myself in excitement.
2) League coordinator, Brian, from Cool and Collected puts together an awesome Old West crossover (Awesome even if he does omit Emilio Estevez’s Billy the Kid).
3) Christopher Tupa imagines an incredible crossover between The Fall Guy and The A-Team.
4) Fiji Mermaid at Sidshow Cinema wonders who would win between Predator and Boba Fett?

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Nerd Lunch Episode 36: Marvel’s The Avengers Extravaganza

Posted in comic books, movies, podcast, pop culture with tags comic books, Marvel Comics, movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture, The Avengers on May 8, 2012 by Paxton

Episode 36 has gone live in what is probably the fastest turn around we’ve ever accomplished between recording, editing and posting. Much luv to CT for that. *pats chest with two fingers gangsta-style*

So anyway, I’m pretty sure we teased our Muppet episode this week, but with the smash success of The Avengers, we felt it was more appropriate to air this episode instead and air the Muppet episode with Shawn Robare next week. Sorry to bump you, Shawn, but…Avengers…am I right?

Avengers Forever by John Byrne (Via Comic Vine)

This is a very special “roadtrip” episode of Nerd Lunch. CT travels to Jacksonville to see The Avengers with me and Jeeg travels to southern Illinois to visit the mysterious “third” Nerd Lunch-er, PLee. CT and I record live in the Cavalcade headquarters and Jeeg and PLee record live on their end and the episode cuts back and forth between our conversations as we talk about our reactions to the movie and our thoughts on the entire Marvel movie franchise.

Did the movie live up to our VERY high expectations? Did the fact that Banner was Ruffalo instead of Norton bother us? Will we ever be the same? Download the episode and find out.

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

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Star Wars Celebration II: The 10 Year Anniversary

Posted in movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags anniversaries, anniversary, conventions, Indiana, Indianapolis, pop culture, roadtrip, Star Wars, Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars Roadtrip on May 3, 2012 by Paxton

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of Star Wars Celebration II. The event started on May 3, 2002 and went until May 5, 2002.

I was there with my friend Jason Collier. Above is a card advertising the event. It’s autographed by Daniel Logan, the kid who played Boba Fett, and RA Salvatore who wrote the novelization.

Jason and I also attended Star Wars Celebration I in Denver. I talked about Celebration I on it’s 10th anniversary in 2009.

So Celebration I was held in Denver. The powers-that-be decided to move it to what they thought was a more “central” location. It was announced that Celebration II would be held at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, IN. Honestly, I was a bit excited about the announcement. I’d never been to Indianapolis and I heard it was a really nice city. So with my wife’s blessings Jason and I planned our second trip to a Star Wars Celebration.

Right away, this convention proved that it was going to be a lot more “formal” than the last convention. There was going to be a proper “Autograph Alley” where fans could get autographs of their favorite stars which Celebration I didn’t have. And there were going to be really big stars putting in appearances like Hayden Christensen, the newly minted Anakin Skywalker, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams and the return of Anthony Daniels as emcee of the festivities. Also, there was going to be a LOT more convention merchandise as well as an exclusive action figure developed to be sold only at Celebration. This Celebration was shaping up to be a “real” convention as opposed to the loose “gathering” of Celebration I.

Jason and I bought three days passes, which had a picture of Hayden as Anakin.

Celebration I had Darth Maul on the three day pass.

I took off work on Thursday and Friday and we arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday night and showed up at the convention several hours early on Friday morning. Here’s the front of the RCA Dome. I was able to catch it when the sign flashed up Star Wars.

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5 Awesome pop culture vehicles I’d love to drive in real life

Posted in Back to the Future, movies, pop culture with tags Back to the Future, cars, Knight Rider, movies, nostalgia, pop culture on May 2, 2012 by Paxton

New assignment for the League this week. This week Brian wants to hear what pop culture vehicles do you personally want to drive?

Right off the bat, Brian took the Batmobile off the table, so I can’t include it here. For grins and giggles, though, my favorite version of the Batmobile? The one from Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns. However, it wouldn’t have been my #1 pick, but it would have made the top 5. Possibly even top 3.

So let’s take a look at the 5 pop culture vehicles I’d personally like to own and drive. And yes, these are in order of preference.

BTTF Delorean
BTTF time traveling Delorean – Hands down, this is my number one. And that should be obvious if you’ve read my blog for longer than 15 minutes. Not only does it look bad ass but it TRAVELS THROUGH TIME. And obviously I want the one from the end of the first movie with the Mr Fusion (so I don’t need Plutonium) and the 2015 hover conversion (so the thing can FLY).

KITT
KITT – KITT is a very close second. Why is it second to the Delorean? Because it doesn’t come with the ability to TRAVEL THROUGH TIME. Time Travel trumps pretty much anything else. However, having a talking bad ass car that can almost fly is pretty awesome, so I would want it next. Btw, I want the classic Pontiac Trans-Am version, not the crappy Ford Mustang version.