Archive for pop culture

Walking in the footsteps of Billy the Kid and other roadtrips I want to take

Posted in Americana, Billy the Kid, pop culture, roadtrip with tags , , , , , , , on August 3, 2012 by Paxton

Billy the Kid Week

Brian has given us a good assignment this week. He wants us to plan the ultimate pop culture roadtrip. I have already gone on several geeky roadtrips in my life thanks to having been a traveling IT consultant for about 8 years.  I’ll start chronicling more of those soon. I already talked about two Star Wars Roadtrips that I’ve taken (Star Wars Celebrations I and II).  But I think Brian’s idea is to plan a road trip that you want to take.

There are several I could do, but one is definitely at the top.  And I’ve discussed it before, both on the Nerd Lunch Podcast and here on the site.  I want to walk the Billy the Kid Trail in New Mexico.

Billy the Kid

I’ve been a huge fan of Billy the Kid since high school.  I’ve read a ton of books about him (and other gunslingers).  Plus, my wife is from New Mexico, so it’s totally doable.  There are several places in New Mexico pertaining to the famous outlaw.  The biggest would probably be the Lincoln State Monument in Lincoln, NM.

Lincoln Lincoln County Courthouse
(Via Jeff Arnold’s West)

The little town of Lincoln has been preserved almost exactly as it was back in Billy’s day. You can still visit the courthouse in which he was imprisoned and then famously shot his way out of, killing two deputies in the process.  There’s also the Wortley Hotel which was once owned by Pat Garrett, the man who shot Billy.  The hotel was also the final dining place of Bob Ollinger, who was one of the deputies Billy killed in his getaway.  Not only would this place be awesome for Billy the Kid buffs, but the town is almost exactly how it was in the Old West.  It would be great to see how things were back then as I’m fascinated with the time period.

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Nerd Lunch and Atomic Geek crossover episodes!

Posted in nostalgia, podcast, pop culture, TV shows with tags , , , , , on July 31, 2012 by Paxton

Nerd Lunch Podcast

Atomic Geeks

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.

Dr 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.

Mashup or Shutup

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.

A counterpoint review of The Garbage Pail Kids retrospective book

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

Badass Book Report

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.

GPK 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.

Adam Bomb Jay Decay

GPK 1GPK 2

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

Nerd Lunch Episode 47: Pop Culture Expanded Universes

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

Nerd Lunch Podcast

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.

Star Wars novels

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.

I talk about Casablanca on Classic Film Jerks Episode #8

Posted in movies, nostalgia, podcast, pop culture with tags , , , , , , , on July 23, 2012 by Paxton

For the next two weeks, The Atomic Geeks and Nerd Lunch podcasts are having a summer crossover extravaganza. To start things off, I am the first guest ever on the podcast Classic Film Jerks. I am brought in by Digio and Bloom for Episode #8 in which we watch and discuss the Bergman/Bogart classic, Casablanca.

Casablanca

The three of us talk about the movie, if there was anything we liked/disliked about it or if anything stood out as being anachronistic or “out of date”.  We also recast the movie if it had been made today. At the end during our recast, I blow the other guys’ minds by mentioning that there was a TV show based on this movie in 1983 starring one of the guys from Starsky and Hutch.  It’s a pretty fun show.

You can listen to this podcast on iTunes or check it out on the Classic Film Jerks website.