What Type of Doctor Who Fan Are You? Dorkly Knows You All Too Well…

WHO_fans 
Okay, this new Dorkly strip made me chuckle a bit because I think I’m not on that list, but have been a few of those types over the years. Of course, if you’re not yet sucked into the surprisingly cool vortex that is Doctor Who, you still have time (see what I did there?) before tomorrow’s big event episode rolls in to shake things up on a worldwide level. It’s quite cool that BBC is running that episode simultaneously around the globe so everyone watching can have their eyeballs pop out of their skulls and roll around the floor at the same time. Of course, the sound of all those toilets flushing will make some people go deaf temporarily while the resulting pressure drop in water supplies around the globe may have drastic consequences (such as a TARDIS materializing inside someone’s living room), so make sure you have enough space for an extra visitor, I say…

Jimmy Fallon vs. Xbox One: The “Who”, “What” or “Where” Show Returns…

Yes, it’s usually pretty crazy on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, but just what the heck was this confusing mess of a live demo? Yeah, the Xbox One has SO many things packed into that black box that it was hard to tell what was going on. I did note that Kinect wasn’t used for the menu navigation (as it seems to have issues with more than a few people in a room according to some early press), Forza 5 got a few seconds of play (not by Jimmy) that showed off some lovely visuals before things switched to the camera scanning Jimmy earlier (and making an awful likeness) and there was some playing of that new Kinect Sports game with Will Forte. Ugh. Meanwhile, that Microsoft rep was no Ron Popeil at all, trying to cram too much talk into a handful of minutes.

Look, if you’re trying to sell an all-in-one living room dominator/media center/juicer to the non gaming public and it indeed does WAY too much for a mere under five minute demo… you need a longer sales pitch. I don’t think that sloppy mess last night was selling any consoles to anyone who wasn’t already buying one because other than Jimmy drooling about the new controller too long, it really didn’t show off much other than pretty visuals and a lot of “wait, what was that?” before it ended. Eh, whatever – we’ll see what happens when the system rolls out later today. Or: yet another midnight launch I won’t be going to cover because it’s all hype and the REAL proof is a few months down the road plus when the post launch titles start dropping into stores…

A WHOLE Week of Doctor Who? Apple Sales Will DROP Drastically!

EDIT: Edited!

No, not those popular (but slipping in sales as of late) fruit-named hi-tech devices of many uses, but the more popular (and slipping off a tree branch, so get with the dodging, Newton!) fruit that makes some great pies, sauce, leather and other stuff you might not enjoy if other things were labeled as such. Crow pie is terrible, Kudzu sauce? Nasty! Llama leather? Awful AND it makes you seriously gassy! Anyway, next week should be pretty hard on Whovians who haven’t yet invested in that digital delay device or happen to have BBC America on their Free on Demand service in case they miss anything thanks to actual work or play activities. My own schedule suggests I’ll be playing catch up unless I go and “EXTERMINATE!” a few tasks early. I probably won’t break my routine all that much, as that tends to do nothing but make time holes in a few areas where I don’t need them (or have had to do a simple patch job that doesn’t need any further fiddling.

Jimmy and Ice-T Put The PS4 On The Hot Spot…

Alright, it’s a given: CUTE ROBOTS SELL CONSOLES. And SUPER-cute virtual robots you can play with and/or kick around the room? When the audience goes “D’aaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!” more than five times a minute? Yeah, there’s Christmas in a box for Sony right there.

Okay, despite my occasional cranky side acting up from time to time, I’ll have to admit that Jimmy Fallon always gets me excited about gaming despite me having a longer history with them than he has. Granted, it’s his great enthusiasm for the medium and NOT his play style (that tends to lean towards the “Boy, do I suck at these games but I’m having FUN!” although he did beat Ice-T at that Pong variant) that’s hard to fake. And yep, game companies love him, Conan and anyone else they can get a console and controller to. Of course, none of them love ME, but that’s more my fault than theirs at the end of the day. Oh well, we’re workin’ on it… we’re workin’ on it. I’m thinking of writing a fake e-book (not really) called “How To Get The Respect You Deserve Without Being A Total Ass or Total Suck-Up” but we’ll say no more about that unless we want to be called a total ass. Or a total suck-up. Not too good at either of those, but I can swing both ways once I take some lessons. Is the Learning Annex still open here in NYC?

A Doctor A Day Keeps You Guessing (In A Good Way)…

So, not only are we getting what looks like the ultimate Doctor Who episode on November 23 in a very special simultaneous broadcast, but an actual TV movie (and DVD, at least in the UK) about the show’s beginnings. Okay, so I’m a bit behind on this news, but hey – I’m a busy man more than an obsessed fan so I need to time my excitement properly or else it’s a permanent state of bug-eyed wild postings and potentially doing what every other overexcited fan does (posting crazy YouTube videos that make me look like a total nut). Anyway, An Adventure in Space and Time looks like it’ll be a nice history lesson for Who fans and hopefully it’s more fact-based than the crap Hollywood biopics that always follow the same predictable plot patterns and lose any sense of veracity in favor of hitting the audience over the noggin with the requisite schmaltzy elements that focus test better than the actual truth.

An Adventure In Space and Time DVD UK

Eh, we’ll see soon enough, right?

Annnd While You’re Waiting, Another Free Movie!

Yeah, yeah – I’m furiously typing away on some reviews, but I need to take a break for a bit to rest my eyeballs. YOURS, however can get a workout courtesy another *FREE* movie. Let’s go for a sci-fi vibe with something from Japan:

Yes, that’s 1965’s Attack From Space, a Japanese “movie” I believe was cobbled together from episodes of Super Giant (aka Starman in the U.S. of A.) and shown on American TV way back when. I haven’t seen this in decades, but I’m not seeing it now either as I’m too darn busy! So, um… someone out there send out a signal from space and please tell me how this one is. I know from my vague childhood memories that it’s pretty junky and lame, but that can be a ton of fun under the right circumstances. Enjoy!

Mail’s In! (Or: Well, My Weekend Is SET, It Would Seem…)

weekend update 

OK, I got Skylanders SWAP Force last week, but I’m finally getting around to finishing up the review I started. Everything else here arrived this week and yup, means save for a trip to the library to swipe their bandwidth (hey, it’s FREE!) people-watch and hopefully avoid catching another bad cold, I’ll be camped out at home in front of the telly for a wee bit too long. Now, had I been smart enough to buy that cheap Banksy original when I had the chance (or get someone to buy it for me), I’d not need to be writing reviews because I’d be counting money and sewing a comforter out of dollar bills or something. But noooooo, I’m still poor and have games and a spectacular DVD box set to review. Yeah, Edie Adams is keeping me up all night, folks. You’d stay up late too if you knew of her many talents. And before you get the WRONG idea, Skippy… hit the Google for some research on the talented lady. Me, I’ve known what I was in for since I was about five or six years old…

Mr. Peabody & Sherman Trailer: Wards of the State, Juvenile Delinquent Version…

 
Urgh. OK, I think I asked this question before, but just WHO is this film targeted to? Us cranky ass oldsters who grew up watching Rocky & Bullwinkle, Fractured Fairy Tales and yes, these two characters are grinding our collective teeth about this CG travesty, the kids of today won’t have a C-L-U-E what the heck this is about other than the usual dumbed down predictable plot that lasts and hour and half and has pop songs packed in and the obligatory fake outtakes in the credits. Parents not in the know about Jay Ward and his creations (and style of humor) will of course, dutifully pack up the tots and trundle in to see this, buy the toys and other merchandise and thing all is peachy keen and as harmless as a stuffed poodle.

Me, I’ll be hitting my head with a hammer and hoping at least one or two critics point out that the Peabody segments were excellent because they worked best as unconnected shorts that were over and done with in a few minutes. Stretching things to feature length and adding needless stuff and worse modern jokes is only bleeding any chance for redemption from this one dry in record time. I didn’t even crack a smile during this trailer and that’s a bad sign because my sense of humor is pretty off the wall and expansive. Hey, I could be totally wrong, people… but it’s not a good sign in this day and age of movie trailers coughing up all the best parts of a movie in that two minutes or so. Hmmm… we shall see, I suppose…

Dracula on NBC: Great or Awful, There’s Still a Lot of Sucking Bound to Happen…

Hmmmm… The words “Dracula on NBC” should already scare some of you away from this one like it’s covered in maggots with a crazed Renfield chasing after it with a very rusted butter knife, but here we go, another attempt at getting the vampire on the telly. Vampires in general have suffered the indignities of modern romanticizing for quite some time and it’s been a downhill slide for the true fanged few since the preteens got their stupidly stripped down versions on them that rake in profits for their re-creators by the billions. I won’t name any names here, but for many true fans of the myth it’s been a hell of the purest form seeing print, film and other new media vampires eat away at the legend to the point where it’s now “cool” and yet played out because every time you spin your head, some would be Stoker-lite is shifting a new piece of overblown fan-fiction from their hard drive out into the world as a professional work in some form of media and yes, the kids love them some fancy fang to face action on a regular basis. Blech… Continue reading

A Little Remider From AMC: Sundays Are For Zombie Lovers…

And not those of you who lounge around the house in your jammies chilling in front of football games until your arteries lock up. The Walking Dead is back for a fourth season and this one looks to be even more grin than previous ones. That’s a refresher on what happened last season below in case you’ve forgotten already. I don’t know about you, but after that Breaking Bad finale, Sundays have been DEAD in terms of good TV. OK, well, there are a few things I do watch, but yeah… Ol’ Walt is definitely missed!