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Thursday, March 17, 2011

TNA...Total Nonsense Always

   The title isn't the greatest, I know, but I couldn't find a way to make T-N-A  short for Dumb Asses and Their Unwatchable Wrestling Program.


   Last Sunday at their Victory Road pay-per-view, this company shit upon it's fans in a way that is both disgusting and just downright unforgivable. They let Jeff Hardy prove to the world that a) he is a pathetic waste of human flesh and b) TNA is incapable of making even the most basic of business decisions without screwing it up.


   Jeff Hardy came to the ring for the ppv MAIN EVENT so drugged out of his mind that he couldn't perform and TNA did NOTHING to stop it! I want you to think about that for a moment. They let their top wrestler come to the ring totally fucked up...to a pay-per-view! The people in charge never once stopped to consider the damage he may do to himself or the company. Frankly, I don't care if he wants to burn his brain up and kill himself, that's on him, but what is so utterly inexcusable is that people around the world PAID 30 or 40 bucks a pop to see this event and TNA said flat out fuck you to those same people.  I bet that will increase ppv buy-rates!
   Eric Bischoff then came out and made the match a No DQ match, no doubt so the fans wouldn't expect much more than a brawl, no doubt to cover Hardy's ass. Bischoff, mind you, is a one-trick pony in the wrestling business. He is responsible for the classic NWO storyline back 15 years ago on WCW and still to this day rides that pony. Since then he has used his abundance of creativity to creatively disappoint wrestling fans time and again.
   TNA World champion Sting then forcibly hit Hardy with his Scorpion Death Drop and held his shoulders down so the ref could count to 3 and end the match a few seconds into it. I am impressed that Sting is World champion in TNA since most of their World champions have been former WWE talents, but whatever.
   There you have it. A 25 second pay-per-view main event. I hope the higher-ups in TNA gave  each other high fives and pumped their fist in the air after the show and gave Jeff Hardy a bonus bag of smack. I hope they were proud of themselves. In a business known for it's tricks and swerves and charlatans, TNA managed to stand out.


   I have always felt that TNA was mostly unwatchable, but I wanted it to succeed. I want there to be another place for workers to go outside of the WWE and still make it big, but I wish nothing but ill-will on this company. I want to see this company burn. I don't want Vince to buy them out. I want them to go penniless. I want this company dead.




  Send your "but WWE did this, that, and the other" comments to nerdondemand@yahoo.com

Sunday, February 6, 2011

SUPER BOWL!!!

   I didn't watch it. I don't even like football, but by titling this blog "Super Bowl" I figured I could get a few extra page views, but anyways, I wasn't totally misleading because I wanted to share a trailer that aired during the big game.
   Yea, we got the first glimpse at Captain America: the First Avenger, Fast Five with the Rock, and another shot of Thor, and they all seem pretty cool (Thor a little more than Cap'n A.), but the one that really caught my eye was for the third (and possibly final) installment of Michael Bays' Transformers saga. I mean this trailer really kicked up my WANT for this film. See for yourself.



   Was that not totally badass? It appears we have a full-on Decepticon invasion of Earth, Independence Day-style! Hell, it even has Laserbeak! If Mr. Bay is really leaving this franchise, he has apparently decided to make this one much more epic and I like where this could be headed.


   What do you think about Transformers:Dark of the Moon or any of the other SuperBowl commercials and/or trailers? Drop us a line NerdOnDemand@yahoo.com and don't forget to follow us on twitter @NerdOnDemand




Thanks for being here,
Travis

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Infestation begins...

   If you follow @NerdOnDemand on twitter (and you don't), you've seen me send out a few tweets concerning the "Infestation" which i never fully explained. Well, the Infestation was unleashed Jan. 26.


   Infestation #1 was the kick-off of IDW Publishing's first major crossover event featuring a new take on the zombie apocalypse as the hungry undead battle an impressive line-up including the Transformers, G.I. Joe, the Ghostbusters, and even the original crew of Star Trek. It's quite an unusual line-up.


(spoilers)


   Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Infestation #1 starts off by introducing us to the CVO (Covert Vampiric Operation) team, a squad of vampires and supernatural beings that are brought in by the military whenever there's a job no human could handle.
   Seems a inter-dimensional portal to Dimension Z has been opened at a top-secret military installation somewhere in the desert of New Mexico and things have not gone as planned as an army of undead come thru the portal and begin to wreak havoc and zombie mischief. The CVO are soon transported to zombie ground zero to stop the outbreak and rescue any government officials that may have survived.
   Things take a turn for the worse as the Undermind, the collective force driving the zombies to spread their chaos across the universe, takes over the minds of several team members, Benny, who's in charge of magically-enhanced technology, and Britt, a big-breasted female vampire assassin, and use them to open inter-dimensional portals to other worlds.
   The CVO is able to shut the portals down but not before the Undermind spreads it's zombie virus into four separate universes, each universe now containing a part of Britt's soul(for lack of a better term).
   Although the CVO has saved their world from a certain zombie apocalypse for the time being, they realize that the only way to be sure it's gone forever is to go into the four universes and recover the four pieces of Britt's soul.
   And the story continues..


Infestation: Transformers #1-Feb 2nd
Infestation: Star Trek #1-Feb. 9th
Infestation: Transformers #2-Feb. 16th
Infestation: Star Trek #2-Feb. 23rd
Infestation: G.I. Joe #1-March 2nd
Infestation: Ghostbusters #1-March 9th
Infestation: G.I. Joe #2-March 16th
Infestation: Ghostbusters #2-March 23rd


and the story concludes in
Infestation #2-April 6th


   And spinning out of Infestation are 2 new mini-series: Transformers: Hearts of Darkness & a new Zombies vs Robots.




*If your local comic store is sold out of Infestation #1, a 2nd printing will be available starting Feb.16th! For more information go to www.idwpublishing.com

Friday, January 21, 2011

Phoenix Jones to the rescue!

   So I had a blog that was halfway written about World Wrestling Entertainment and their recent PG-13 movement and if you thought that it was the path to success that Vince seems to think it is. Yep, I was taking a week off from talking about super-heroes and moving on to other forms of geekiness.


BUT THEN!


   Along comes Phoenix Jones, Guardian of Seattle! This masked crime fighter seems to have jumped directly from the pages of a comic, or perhaps a new movie based on a comic, and into the pages of real-life. He even made the front page of msn.com.
   Doing a little research (which involved some surfing on the ol' Information Super Highway), I discovered 1) He has superhero buddies (the Rain City Superhero Movement) with equally dramatic names like No-Name, Buster Doe, and Thorn  2) Taylor Swift may be dating Jake Whatshisname and  3) there is an entire underground super-hero movement and Seattle seems to be right in the middle of it.
   My biggest question is what to make of this guy and of this movement? On one hand, he is living EVERY nerd's fantasy, but on the other, he is putting his life in danger. What is the real trade-off? Is he doing this simply for his 15 minutes of fame? If so, that's a hell of a way to do it.
Just a few months ago, Jones received a broken nose while trying to break up an altercation between 2 people and learned a painful lesson, that this is the real world and bad shit happens to good people.
   As a nerd I love the notion that real-life super-heroes are out there righting wrongs and suchlike, but truthfully I don't want anyone to get hurt which is what will happen eventually.
   Jones, himself, says he doesn't condone others dressing up and fighting crime, but he is the leader of a group that does just that. Double talk?
   In the end, as long as he's not breaking any laws, he is free to do as he pleases, even playing dress-up crime fighter.
      And he does have a positive message after all and isn't that what we really need from our heroes?

Monday, January 10, 2011

Happy Nerd Year!!! pt.1

Ok, we're 10 days into 2011 but better late than never, right?

   2010 was a pretty good year to be a nerd. The ultimate nerd movie, Avatar, made more money than God, we got a pretty good super-hero sequel in Iron Man 2, and Greg Kinnear didn't appear in any big movies with the exception on a Miley Cyrus vehicle.
   Yea, life was good back then.
   But that's all behind us now. The calendar has John Meyer'd 2010 and changed it's facebook status to "In a relationship with 2011" and we, as nerds, are ok with that, because for better or worse, it's hip to be square. And we have a lot to look forward to. 


January


the Green Hornet   (Sony Pictures)
   Cool, another super-hero movie, right?
   Maybe.
   I saw the previews for the Green Hornet back when I saw the Expendables last August and I knew then that this movie would probably suck. I soon found out that Cameron Diaz was in it and my expectations sank further, but it wasn't until I ordered a bacon, egg, & cheese biscuit from Hardee's (Carl's Jr.) and it came in a Green Hornet bag that I knew without a doubt that this movie should have been renamed Green Howard the Duck.
   Now I like Seth Rogan and I want this movie to be good, but let's look at the facts: Funny People just wasn't funny, and if I Observe & Report truthfully, I'd say that movie was total crap. Add that to an semi-obscure super-hero from the 1930's and it all adds up to a box-office bomb.
   Maybe I'll be wrong, but if I were a gambling man (and I bet I'm not), I'd say that isn't gonna be the first blockbuster of the year. Pretty sure I'll go see it because KJ wants to, and I'll give you my honest opinion then.


   We also have NBC's the Cape to look forward to starting Jan. 9th. A DC Comics inspired superhero drama kicks off with a 2hr series premiere before moving into the former Heroes Monday night time slot.


   Gamers and comic fans alike can cheer the much-delayed but awesome looking DC Universe Online coming Jan. 11th. I refuse to play it because I will become addicted, but those with stronger wills can become a super-hero (or villain) and join up with the likes of Superman, Batman, or Aquaman!
   I'm kidding about Aquaman, he eats lunch alone in the super-hero community.




February
   
Death of Ultimate Spider-man (Marvel Comics)
   We don't have a whole lot of information of this storyline but it will play out in the pages of Ultimate Spider-man and an Ultimates vs Ultimate Avengers mini-series. It's got my curiousity peaked. Why kill Ultimate Spider-man?
   Granted, it's not the real Spider-man of the Marvel Universe proper, but I'm sure the liberal media will pick up on the story and make a huge deal out of it and that's not a bad thing. Maybe it'll drive more people into the comics shops. 


   Sci-Fi nerds have I AM NUMBER FOUR being unleashed in theaters on Feb. 18. It's all about aliens and humans and being hunted and stuff.






March


Sucker Punch (Warner Bros. pictures)
   Zach Snyder's latest action epic features guns, babes, and fantasy! Those things go together, right? Of course they do, except for every other attempt to meld them into a quality science fiction movie. Remember Barb Wire, Aeon Flux, the Tomb Raider movies, and Ultraviolet?
   BUT!
   The previews for this look pretty cool so I'll wait til Hardee's starts promoting it before I call it doomed.


   Vanessa Hudgens' new supernatural romance movie, Beastly,  and the Johnny Depp-powered animated movie, Rango, also hit theaters this March.




April


Fear Itself  (Marvel Comics)
   Marvel kicks off their summer crossover event this April with the heroes of the Marvel Universe battling the God of Fear. At a recent press conference to announce the event, Marvel promised the status quo of the Marvel U. would be changed from it's current Heroic Age that followed darker events like Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Dark Reign. The series is being written by fan favorite scribe, Matt Fraction.


   Scream 4 is coming out in April. Just saying.




May 


Thor  (Marvel Studios/Paramount)
   How can you not be excited by the trailers and previews we've seen for this film? I was a bit skeptical at first, I'll admit. Even the post-credits teaser following Iron Man 2 didn't raise my expectations, but the few minutes of nerdy-goodness I've seen make me want to make sweet love to this movie. Bring that big ol' hammer and...well, you get the picture.
   I'm so ready for this.


   Also the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, titled On Stranger Tides, opens. A lot of nerds will get excited by that, but not I. And that's not because I don't like Johnny Depp or this series, but I just can't get excited for it. I couldn't get excited for the others either, so if you have a large collection of Pirates toys, please don't drop me any crap-nasty e-mails, I'm not ragging on your dirty pirate fantasy.






June


the Green Lantern (Warner Bros.)
   This will probably be a polarizing movie. Some will love Ryan Reynolds' version of Hal Jordan, while others will complain that Mr. Reynolds is playing himself.
    I can't answer that because I've never really been that into GL to know how Jordan is supposed to be, but I'm really liking the previews for this. Everything looks good so far, and if Reynolds makes this role his own the way Robert Downey Jr. did Tony Stark, then we are in for a huge treat.


   Disney's sequel to 2006's animated movie, Cars, cleverly titled, Cars 2 hits the big screen in June as well.




   There you have it. A rundown of just a small sampling of nerd-like stuff we have to look forward to in the next 6 months. Of course, I missed a lot of cool things like DC Comics'
 Reign of Doomsday storyline, the alien invasion flick Battle: Los Angeles, and Kung-Fu Panda 2, but that's just proof that our cup runneth over and all that.




   2011 will be a GREAT year to be a nerd!






Travis










   
   



Thursday, December 30, 2010

I bought some comics yesterday...

   I bought some comics yesterday. Two actually. I'm going to tell you about them. You're gonna be entertained by what I tell you. Yup. Simple as that. 


   Now that I think about it, I also picked up a free Marvel 2011 calendar that's in comic book format, but I'm not going to speak on that.


And just for the record, there will be spoilers, oh yes.


First up...


What If? #200
   If you've never read an issue of Marvel's What If..? series, the premise is what if certain events in the Marvel Universe had occurred differently. What if Spider-man's Uncle Ben Had Lived? What if Conan the Barbarian Lived Today? What If I had bought Dorito's instead of Cheeto's? Ok, made that last one up, but you get the picture. Small, maybe even random, events leading to consequences of sometimes cosmic proportions and if the numbering on this issue is to be believed, there has been 200 of them.
   The main story for this issue is What If Norman Osborne had won the Siege of Asgard. In the original story, Osborne was able to convince the god of war, Ares, to help in the U.S. Military's invasion of Asgard. Ares eventually came to his senses and turned against Osborne on the battlefield only to be killed by the Sentry, Marvel's answer to Superman (I can read the comments on that already). 
   This story supposes that Osborne couldn't convince Ares to join and the Sentry kills him right then and there, leaving the Sentry several days to replenish his energy before leading the assault on Asgard. Even the combined might of the Norse Gods and the Marvel heroes can't prevent Osborne's Dark Avengers, along with the Dark X-Men and the U.S. Military from victory with the mentally unstable, but physically unstoppable Sentry leading the charge and striking the heroes down one-by-one.
   Even President Obama can't stop Osborne's madness (add that to the list).
   Anyways, it's almost impossible to explain what happens next without spending a LOT of time on the Sentry's backstory, Dark Reign backstory, and a whole lot of other backstory that I just don't want to get into, so I'll just say that Dr. Doom, of all peoples, hatches a plan to remove Osborne from power, it fails and the Sentry ends up extinguishing all life on this universe's Earth. Everyone loves happy ending, right?
  The next story takes us all the way back to the Fantastic Four issue #48, where the world-devouring purple-loving Galactus shows up to eat the planet. In that story, the Watcher broke his oath of non-interference to warn the Fantastic Four that Big G is coming to dinner, but What if the Watcher had just decided to kill Galactus and be done with it? It's a short-yet-interesting tale with a nice little twist at the end which due to my oath of non-interference I will NOT reveal.
   There's also a reprint of the What If...? #35 "What if Elektra had lived?" News flash: She did!
I'm giving that story a fail.
   Finally, there's a cover gallery/checklist of every What If? comic and a retrospective with Marvel's former Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas who also created the series back in the 1970's.
   Honestly, I wish I hadn't spent 5 bucks on this. I'm sorry Marvel. I love you and all, but this wasn't worth it and certainly not your best What If? effort. The What if Tony Stark became Dr.Doom that came out 2 weeks ago would have made a much better issue to celebrate the big 2-0-0 with, but no, you wouldn't do that, would you.
  Marvel, I'm not mad, just disappointed.




Hulk #28
    I made a mistake.
   The backstory. Starting with Hulk #25, the Red Hulk(formerly Thunderbolt Ross) has been working with Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers to defeat the evil machinations of the Leader and M.O.D.O.K. 
   Project: Scorched Earth was a backup plan left over from the Fall of the Hulks/World War Hulks storylines and also a plot device to team the Red Hulk with Marvel powerhouses like Ironman, Thor, and, last issue, Namor.
   Issue 25 also started a Rick Jones as A-Bomb backup storyline. Seeing as how I buy Hulk for Red Hulk and not Sidekick Jones, I never read the backup story. Take that corporate America, tossing in random backups to make my comics appear bigger!
   Therein lies my mistake.
   Hulk #28 merges the Hulk Team-Up stories with the A-Bomb, so feeling the weight of the World on my manly Hulk-like shoulders, I had to break out the Hulk back issues so I would know what the Red Hell is going on.
   The Leader and M.O.D.O.K created a series of fail safes to plunge the World into chaos should they be on the losing side of the Hulk War. The Red Hulk was originally an ally of their's so who better to help prevent armageddon then he?
   This issue has the Red Hulk and A-Bomb on an uncharted island in the middle of the Marvel Pacific where ginormous monsters frollick and the deer and antelope are eaten. The issue ends in a cliffhanger with Thunderbolt Ross trapped in human form against an ass-load of massive monsters, while A-Bomb is out of commission.
   I have really been digging the Hulk (both of them) lately and I enjoy the story, but the art is off at times. Gabriel Hardman is a talented artist, no doubt, but there just seems to be too many lines running thru his art. The story just seems ahead of the art, if that makes sense. Maybe I'm just spoiled from the terrific art from the World War Hulks story. But whatever.
   All-in-all, the Hulk series is worth checking out and issue 28 is no exception. It's got compelling story, the art is passable, and it's got lots of Hulk Smashing!


   There's also a Watcher backup story, but I didn't read it.


So, did you buy some comics yesterday?






Thanks for reading, tell your friends.