Nerd Culture Podcast

Welcome back to my Spotlight on the films directed by Steven Spielberg.

Last post we had just entered the 80’s so lets see if we can finish up that awesome decade.

TWILIGHT ZONE the MOVIE

Released: 1983

Starring: Dan Ackroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, John Lithgow

Plot: Four directors team up to tell 4 different stories in the vein of the classic TV show Twilight Zone. Spielberg directs segment #2 which is a remake of the episode ‘Kick the Can’, which involves the residents of an old folks home who encounter a new resident who promises them something no one of this Earth could possibly give them.

For: The performances are very good. Some really sweet moments that aren’t too smaltzy.

Against: Pretty boring and overshadowed by the other segments, especially #4, the Gremlin.

Favourite Scene: Don’t really have one from his segment. Lithgow’s first visual of the gremlin in #4

Rating: Steven’s segment – 1 Luke, Film – 2.5 Lukes

INDIANA JONES and the TEMPLE of DOOM

Released: 1984

Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Amrish Puri

Plot: The second installment in the Indiana Jones story (but occurring before the events of Raiders), Temple of Doom sees Dr Jones aiding a desperate Indian village retrieve their children and sacred stones from an evil Thuggee cult.

For: Darker than the other installments, Temple of Doom sees a drug controlled Indiana attempt to sacrifice his love interest and slap his young side kick around. It also has a great villain in the form of cult leader Mola Ram

Against: Wille Scot – ’nuff said.

Favourite Scene: The minecart chase

Rating: 4 Lukes

THE COLOR PURPLE

Released: 1985

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey

Plot: The life and trials of a young African American woman named Celie, growing up in the early 1900’s. Impregnated by her father at 14, beaten by her husband and generally treated like crap all of her life.

For: Every single actor in this film brings their A game, including an excellent Oprah Winfrey.

Against: Sometimes too depressing. With the amount of crap Celia goes through its amazing she doesn’t become a serial killer.

Favourite Scene: Celia stands up to her piece of shit husband

Rating: 3 Lukes

EMPIRE OF THE SUN

Released: 1987

Starring: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson

Plot: A young English boy is separated from his parents and struggles to survive under Japanese occupation during World War II.

For: Great cinematography by Allen Daviau. Moving story. Christian Bale’s brilliant debut.

Against: Can’t think of anything at the moment

Favourite Scene: Jim saluting the Japanese pilots as he watches them prepare for take off.

Rating: 4 Lukes

INDIANA JONES and the LAST CRUSADE

Released: 1989

Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery

Plot: When Dr. Henry Jones Sr. suddenly goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, eminent archaeologist Indiana Jones must follow in his father’s footsteps in order to rescue him and find the Grail before the Nazis do.

For: Connery as Jones Snr is genius. The origin of Indiana’s name, scar, aversion to snakes & outfit.’He chose, poorly.’

Against: Elsa is quite clearly a baddie from the moment she appears. Other than that, nothing.

Favourite Scene: The entire young Indiana sequence.

Rating: 4 Lukes

On this day, July 11, in 1969 David Bowie released his epic song Space Oddity. It was released to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landings and the BBC even featured it in its coverage of the moon landings.

Being a mega space nerd for as long as I can remember, I have always loved this song. It appealed to me on multiple levels over time. As a young girl it was because it was a story all about space. I could picture Major Tom in my head sitting in his capsule, waiting to take off. I loved how it told a story of a space man. He seemed sad, but also happy to be floating around in space.

In my teen years, I appreciated it for it’s psychedelic beauty and imagery.

I was always getting something different out of it every time I heard it. The music alone, even without the lyrics, takes you on a journey.

Over time it’s become one of my all time favourites.

My love of space and science fiction is what drew me to the song (That and it sounds just brilliant!) so it was interesting to note that the song was apparently partly inspired by Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. And, to draw out the science fiction connection, Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, grew up to direct Moon. A movie I enjoyed immensely.

And so here at nerdculturepodcast, we salute you David Bowie, and your magnificent song Space Oddity.

I’ve seen quite a few movies in my lifetime and like a lot of people I enjoy sharing my opinions on these films. This is partly why this website and the podcast were born.

So, in order to convey my opinions in an orderly way, I will focus on a particular section of my ‘watched’ list. Namely, a particular Director, Writer, Producer, Actor, or even Genre/Theme.

To kick things off I’m going to start with Steven Spielberg, in his capacity as Director. His producing list may come another day.

This list is by no means definitive, and will only include films that I have seen. A full list of his many works can be found at IMDB

I chose Mr Spielberg because he is undoubtedly one of the most influential film makers in the history of cinema, and a great many of his projects fall into the ‘nerd’ category.

DUEL

Released: 1971

Starring: Dennis Weaver

Plot: This made for TV movie sees Weaver’s business commuter pursued and terrorized by a malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer after passing him. No reason is ever given for the animosity. Very Twilight Zone like. The ultimate Road Rage movie!

For: Great escalating tension and craziness. And you never find out exactly what the truck driver’s deal is.

Against: No character development. Main character bit of a dick.

Favourite Scene: The snake zoo.

Rating: 2.5 Lukes

JAWS

Released: 1975

Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw

Plot: When a gigantic Great White shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity during its busy tourist season, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman, defy the local bureaucracy and set out to stop it.

For: What can I say that hasn’t already been said? This film has it all, great characters, gripping plot & a haunting score, and set the benchmark for the summer blockbuster. ‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat.’

Against: The shark looks terribly fake in some scenes.

Favourite Scene: A distracted and bored Brody gets the shock of his life while chumming.

Rating: 4.5 Lukes

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND

Released: 1977

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss

Plot: After an encounter with UFOs, line worker Roy Neary feels drawn to Devil’s Tower South Dakota, where something spectacular is going to happen and his life will be changed forever.

For: Spielberg’s 2nd greatest film and one of my all time favourites. When I first saw this film my life was changed and I still get shivers of excitement watching it today.

Against: I know that he is compelled beyond his will, and who wouldn’t want to travel the stars with a race of benevolent aliens, but I can’t help but criticize Roy’s willingness to abandon his family, especially the kids, with only a half-hearted attempt to win them back.

Favourite Scene: Can I only have one? Ok, everything from when Roy first encounters one of the UFO’s to when the lights come back on.

Rating: 5 Lukes

1941

Released: 1979

Starring: Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi

Plot: Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.

For: A great cast go all out in an effort to entertain. Good to see Spielberg try comedy.

Against: It’s not funny and, while it does pick up half way through, the first half is so unbelievably boring that its really hard to stick with it.

Favourite Scene: It has to be the Ferris Wheel.

Rating: 1 Luke

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

Released: 1981

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen

Plot: Archeology Professor and Adventurer, Indiana Jones, battles against Nazis and a rival antiquities finder in his quest to locate the Ark of the Covenant, while reuniting with the former love of his life.

For: My favourite Spielberg film and one of my 2nd favourite film of all time! This movie has everything. I have to stop typing or the rest of the post will be about how awesome this movie is.

Against: Nothing. I’m serious.

Favourite Scene: It’s too hard to pick just one so I’ll go with the entire opening sequence (‘Throw me the idol. I’ll throw you the whip.’) & the entire pursuit of the Ark along the Nazi truck convoy. Genius.

Rating: 5 Lukes

ET the EXTRA TERRESTRIAL

Released: 1982

Starring: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore

Plot: A group of Earth children help a stranded alien botanist return home.

For: The SFX still stand up today. The template for kids summer blockbusters.

Against: I’m probably going to shock a lot of readers here but I have to be honest. This film doesn’t do it for me. Even as a kid I didn’t tear up when ET left. All I kept thinking was, And? Another Against is the fact that Spielberg felt the need to digitally remove the guns of the government agents (and replace them with walkie talkies) in the re-release. Why? Their presence doesn’t advocate gun use for impressionable young ones. The government agents are clearly the bad guys. You want them to be threatening don’t you? A small point but it irritates me (but at least it isn’t Greedo shooting first level of annoying!).

Favourite Scene: ET successfully phones home using a modified Speak & Spell

Rating: 3 Lukes

That’s all for now. To be continued in Spotlight on…..Steven Spielberg part #2

This is the stuff that makes legends.  When the actions of one character turn the odds and save his party, those actions deserve to be immortalised.  A recent DDO quest showed the calibre of our guild, The Bro Code and in particular a Dwarf called Ruff.

At the end of a campaign called The Jungle of Kyber, adventurers need to fight a massive boss called The Inevitable. The Inevitable is a thirty foot tall construct (an intelligent Golem) with sonic attack on one hand that stuns and an electrical attack on the other that blinds. The Inevitable regenerates so if any attack falters health slowly builds increasing the imperative to hit him fast and hard.  All this besides the usual monstrous attack of just plain monumental bludgeoning force. The Inevitable is scary. We knew we were in for a snotting.

The room that the boss fight occurs seals when the fight commences so the usual trick of releasing (quitting the quest) healing and jumping back into the quest would not work here.  We had one chance to get this guy otherwise we’d have to start the quest from scratch. The first time we came close, but it was clear we were going to need speciality weapons. The second time, we were completely snotted by two mini bosses, a +5 level Troll with extraordinary regenerative abilities and a +9 level Beholder that killed with a look.

Third time, now equipped with Deathblock armour, chaos weaponry and an extra level for good measure, we re-entered the battle. Most of us were killed in a flash of lightning. Ruff the Dwarf though was still running and run he did.  While the rest of us scrambled to find ways of salvaging what was looking like another failed attempt, he just ran the entire circumference of the room keeping The Inevitable distracted.

Once again we started our attacks, this time staying well clear of the circling monster and the tasty dwarfish bait. Our attacks were all range, nothing ostentatious that may attract his attention and all attacks ceased when the monster lumbered close enough to notice. Comments such as, You know he’s a natural sprinter, very dangerous over short distances, started being spouted as the groups moral lifted and The Inevitable health was whittled away. With a strangled roar the monster crashed to the ground at Ruff’s feet. The ordeal was over, and a legend was born.

Last weekend my character, an elven thief called Philipia, found herself in a similar situation when a Fire Giant spotted her breaking into his throne room in Stormcleave Outpost. Instantly the call went up from the party, Do a Ruff! I clicked my haste and high tailed it around the room with the fire giant lumbering after. Eventually the giant was killed, another quest completed with no loss of life thanks to the ingenuity and fast feet of one dwarf. Well done Ruff, you’re a credit to motley crew that call themselves The Bro Code.

Welcome to a special edition WoW Yoda!

My last spec, Conviction, received quite a bit of feedback, including this post by Zendfrim:

‘Oh great WOW Yoda, please give a rogue pvp spec to help with ripping the ugly faces off the horde.’

Who am I to deny such a request, especially since I too hate the Horde! So, here is the spec I made just for you Zendfrim, the Face Ripper :

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#fchfrsGzoGobh0bZb:qRVkwmzVc

This spec should have enough points to give you enough survivability in PvP to last long enough to “rip” the ugly horde faces off.  The interesting part about this spec, is that you can actually move faster in stealth than you can without it.  Also, while you are stealth (and just coming out of stealth) Overkill will give 30% additional energy regeneration, to help you tear up your enemy even faster.  Plus, if you have the time, Blackjack will allow you to gain an upper hand on any melee enemy for 8 secs, with the 70% reduction to their damage.  To further assist with your survival, you will want to try to keep your Recuperate on whenever you can, since that will be a total of 16% damage reduction at all times from just talents alone.

As for your poisons, I would recommend Deadly and Wounding.  They should help out to prevent them from healing, and also does great damage over time, and allows for Envenom.  Also, using Rupture and Garrote is a good idea, because Venomous Wounds will get to deal its damage more often.  Just remember to take your time, you should have enough dots, to really chip away the enemy hit points until you are ready to throw out those finishers and Mutilates to gain your points.  Also, you don’t have to wait for 5 combo points to use your Recuperate, because the 6% gain even for a few seconds from a couple of points, will be more than worth it.

UPDATE

Here are my updated findings on Face Ripper.  With only 2 pieces of PvP gear on this toon this spec has the survivability of having 5 pieces of PvP gear.  The main things that seems low, for the moment, is the damage.  My main reason for this is due to the nature of it being based mainly on dots.  However, even with this being the case, I have started to reforge my gear to increase my mastery, thus greatly improving my poison damage.  This has started to prove to enhance my damage output by a great deal.

One tip that will greatly enhance the damage, is to use Deadly Poison on the off hand weapon, if the off hand is either slower or the same speed as your main hand weapon.  Then, make your other weapon have Instant or Wounding.  Also, be sure to use Envenom at every opportunity, because not only does it do more damage, but it allows you a higher chance to apply Deadly Poison, and if you are at 5 stacks, it automatically applies the damage of your other poison.

I hope this helps you tear them to pieces and thank you so much for your interest with nerdculturepodcast!

Good luck

-WoW Yoda