Nerd Culture Podcast

Like all proud nerds I love stuff. Trading Cards, Action Figures, Movie posters etc. But I do have some absolute favourites and top of the list is my Green Goblin statue.

I first saw this awesome statue at Alternate Worlds in Melbourne and instantly fell in love. I didn’t have the funds to buy it at the time and vowed to return when I did. Unfortunately, by the time I returned it had been sold and, as it was a limited release, they couldn’t get another one in. Despite my disappointment I eventually gave up on ever getting it and eventually forgot about it. But my friend Richo didn’t! He managed to track one down, still factory sealed, and surprised me with it for my birthday. What a legend! It has been the centrepiece of my collection ever since.

The Green Goblin statue is from Sideshow Collectables and is ¼ scale polystone, fitted with cloth clothing and hand painted. As expected this sculpture is quite heavy, so I wouldn’t recommend placing it on a glass shelf. In fact its weight, size, and the presence of 2 very annoying cats, has made it a bit of a problem trying to find an appropriate place to display it. One day I’ll get a proper display case.

Like all Sideshow Collectable statues the quality is brilliant, and features great attention to detail, like the Goblin’s trademark grin, pumpkin bomb and leather bag. His notorious glider looks great, and connects to the sturdy base with an appropriate nameplate. I love this statue so much I refer to it by ‘Norman’. Weird I know.

Now I just need a ¼ scale Spidey to complete the set!

Some more pics of the Green Goblin statue:

*Disclaimer – I suck at taking pictures so I’m using some I found on the web. If you are the owner of these pictures and want them removed please contact me and I will do so.

Welcome to the sixth instalment of Dust Jacket, and the first of 5 reviews in five weeks highlighting this year’s Hugo Award nominees. We’re opening up Hugo month with a look at Lois McMaster Bujold’sCryoburn, book 14 in her highly praised Vorkosigan saga.

This week, my co-conspirator Luke is in control. So take it away, Luke!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Drugged and alone on the streets of Kabou-daini, Lord Miles Vorkosiganfinds himself trying to evade capture at the hands of a local terrorist cell. Only a few hours on the planet and already somebody wants him dead.

They’d have succeeded too, if not for the timely intervention of Jin Sato. Against his better judgement, the twelve-year-old takes the rambling madman to his sanctuary. As the drugs pass, Vorkosigan finds himself in the care of a boy whose mother disappeared under mysterious circumstances, who himself is in the reluctant care of Suze, a woman with connections to the cryocorps that keeps the planets economy afloat.

After Jin goes missing running a message to Vorkosigan’s embassy, Miles uses all the resources at his command to track the boy down. After all, he has suspicions that the disappearance of Jin’s mother may be tied up in Vorkosigan’s mission. The cryocorps of Kabou-daini have begun trading in the Barrayan Empire. Cryogenics is now a tradeable commodity. But where there’s commerce, there’s takeover. Emperor Gregor has dispatched his most trusted agent to investigate a threat to the empire. And Lord Vorkosigan, the Imperial Auditor, will put his life and those around him in danger to uncover such a conspiracy.

(more…)

WELCOME TO THE FIRST ANNUAL DUST JACKET HUGO AWARDS MONTH!

Beginning Wednesday, and for the next 5 weeks, your dedicated reviewers at Dust Jacket will be casting their eye over the 2011 Hugo Award nominees. 5 novels in 5 weeks, all leading up to the announcement of this year’s winner at Worldcon 2011 on August 20^th.

WHY REVIEW THE HUGO AWARD NOMINEES

Named after Science Fiction pioneer and Amazing Stories editor Hugo Gernsback, the Hugo Awards are the world’s preeminent literary SF awards. Established in 1953 and held annually since 1955, the Hugos are awarded for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. In essence, the Hugo Awards are the Oscars of science fiction and fantasy literature.

The list of past winners of the Hugo Awards reads like a who’s who of SF literature – Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Orson Scott Card, Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson, Larry Niven.

Many of the genuine classics of the genre have won the award: Dune, The Demolished Man, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, Lord of Light, Ringworld, Ender’s Game. So far, we’ve reviewed 3 of the award winners both on the website and in our podcasts – The Dispossessed, RendezvousWith Rama and The Forever War. The Foundation Series, which we reviewed in our inaugural podcast, was also awarded a special Hugo for Best All-Time Series.

The Hugos are the most prestigious awards in science fiction literature, the best the genre has to offer. If we’re to compile the list of greatest SF novels of all time, it’s important not just to look at the classics, but search for modern masterpieces as well.

The Hugo Awards represent the best of the best. Let’s see how 2011 stacks up.

THE NOMINEES

Five novels have been nominated as the best Science Fiction of 2010-11. The nominees are:

Blackout/All Clearby Connie Willis

Feed by Mira Grant

The Dervish House by Ian McDonald

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

THE REVIEWS

Our Hugo Award reviews will follow the same basic structure of all Dust Jacket reviews, with one additional feature thrown in for good measure; not only will we be reviewing the novels themselves, but we’ll look at what chance we think each novel has of taking home the big prize.

Once the winner is announced, we’ll follow up with a review of last year’s winning novels: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi and The City and the City by China Mieville. How will 2011 stack up against the previous year’s Hugo winners?

BEHOLD…THE FUTURE

So join us on Wednesday as we launch into Hugo Awards Month with our review of Lois Bujold McMaster’s Cryoburn.

Welcome to the final installment of Spotlight On….Steven Spielberg. WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

A.I.

Released: 2001

Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor

Plot: A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become “real” so that he can regain the love of his human mother.

For: Great performances, moving story.

Against: The anti-robots carnival sequence goes on for far too long. Tone of the film jumps around a bit.

Favourite Scene: Thanks to some cool looking aliens, David finally has a day with his mother one last time.

Rating: 3.5 Lukes

MINORITY REPORT

Released: 2002

Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max Von Sydow

Plot: In a future where criminals are caught before they commit their crimes, one of the officers in the special Pre-Crime unit is accused of a crime and sets out to prove his innocence, and on the way discovers the dark secret at the heart of Pre-Crime method.

For: Great story/concept, visually awesome

Against: Painfully obvious that Burgess is the bad guy & the ending sucks – Burgess should have blown Anderton away.

Favourite Scene: Anderton and Agatha elude pursuit through the mall

Rating: 3.5 Lukes

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Released: 2002

Starring: Tom Hanks, Leonardo DeCaprio

Plot: Based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.

For: Interesting story

Against: `Sara Lee’ product placement jars. The opening sequence is too long. I’ve seen these actors do better. More like a Ron Howard movie than Steven Spielberg. Because of this I skipped The Terminal.

Favourite Scene: Don’t really have one.

Rating: 1.5 Lukes

WAR OF THE WORLDS

Released: 2005

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins

Plot: Deadbeat dad fights to keep his family alive as Martians invade Earth.

For: Martians/SFX look awesome. Acting quite good, especially Cruise and Fanning.

Against: Original 1953 movie much better. How the hell is the son alive at the end of the film when he clearly walks off to his death earlier? The happy ending really annoys me. I don’t mind a happy ending, but it has to make sense damn it!

Favourite Scene: The Martians arrive / the humans being harvested.

Rating: 2.5 Lukes

MUNICH

Released: 2005

Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig

Plot: Based on the true story of the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for the Black September terrorist attack.

For: The performances are top notch. Australia’s own Eric Bana! When is killing justified? What happens to your soul when you take another human being’s life?

Against: The scene where Avner’s group share a flat with a Palestinian group really jars. It attempts to show the audience that the Palestinians are people, with their own views but then shies away from giving an opinion of its own. It is a very clumsy and frustrating scene.

Favourite Scene: Avner crying at hearing his child’s voice over the phone.

Rating: 3.5 Lukes

INDIANA JONES and the KINGDOM of the CRYSTAL SKULL

Released: 2008

Starring: Harrison Ford, Shia LeBeouf, Cate Blanchet, Karen Allen

Plot: Archaeologist/Adventurer Dr. Indiana Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls.

For: Indiana Jones is back! Marion! Cate Blanchet’s hilariously over the top accent. Sitting in a cinema as the iconic theme music blares from the speakers

Against: The fridge! Aliens. Mutt Williams. The Monkeys & the Tarzan-esque vine swinging. I could go on.

Favourite Scene: The warehouse fight & the first appearance of Marion.

Rating: 3 Lukes

And that brings us to the end of my series on the directorial endeavors of Mr Steven Spielberg. As mentioned in part #1, I may go over his producing credits at some stage but this is it for now.

What do you think? Was I too harsh on Crystal Skull? Is my admiration for Saving Private Ryan unjustified? Tell me your opinions, I’d love to read them.

Coming up next – In preparation for the upcoming release on Blu-ray I will be doing – Spotlight On….The Star Wars Saga! (Come on, the website is called Nerd Culture Podcast, so you had to have seen that coming!)

Welcome to my Spotlight on Steven Spielberg part 3. Last post we finished up the 80’s so now we move into the 90’s, in which Spielberg produced what many believe to be his finest work, and no doubt contributed to his receiving of a Lifetime Achievement Award at ComicCon San Diego yesterday.

HOOK

Released: 1991

Starring: Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts

Plot: When Capt. Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy.

For: Interesting concept, Dustin Hoffman looks like he is having the time of his life playing Hook, & some cool action sequences.

Against: Boring, Robin Williams dominates every scene he is in (great in Aladdin, bad here), the whole film has a sense of smugness about it.

Favourite Scene: The final battle

Rating: 2 Lukes

JURASSIC PARK

Released: 1993

Starring: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum

Plot: During a preview tour of a new theme park that exhibits living cloned dinosaurs, a major power breakdown allows the dinosaurs to run amok.

For: Unbelievable special effects (that still hold up today), combining CGI, puppetry & sound, bring the dinosaurs to life. Good story.

Against: Acting is a bit weak.

Favourite Scene: Too many to have just one, so I’ll have the Velociraptors stalking the kids, & the introduction of the T-Rex

Rating: 4 Lukes

SCHINDLER’S LIST

Released: 1993

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Sir Ben Kinsley

Plot: In Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis and resolves to help them.

For: A masterpiece. Every actor brings their A game, but Ralph Fienne’s performance is extraordinary.

Against: the ‘I could have done more…’ scene is a little over the top.

Favourite Scene: Every scene Fiennes is in.

Rating: 5 Lukes

The LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK

Released: 1997

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Peter Postlethwaite

Plot: A research team is sent to the Jurassic Park Site B island to study the dinosaurs there, while another team approaches with a different agenda.

For: Dinosaurs, Jeff Goldblum.

Against: Fighting a Velociraptor with funky gymnastic moves.

Favourite Scene: The Velociraptors in the long grass converging on the hunters.

Rating: 2.5 Lukes

AMISTAD

Released: 1997

Starring: Djimon Hounsou, Mathew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins

Plot: A court-room drama set in 1839, concerning the trial of Cinque, who led a revolt aboard a slave ship that was traveling towards America from Cuba.

For: Great performance from Hounsou, interesting story

Against: Court room dramas not my thing

Favourite Scene: Cinque’s family

Rating: 3 Lukes

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

Released: 1998

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon

Plot: Following the Normandy Landings, a group of US soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

For: A masterpiece in all areas.

Against: The end scene at the grave is a bit forced and unconvincing.

Favourite Scene: The Normandy landing is one of the best scenes in film.

Rating: 5 Lukes

Well, that’s it for the 90’s. And what a strong decade it was for this great film maker. Next up we hit the 00’s and the final installment of this series of Spotlight On. Let me know what you think. I would love to read your opinions.