Nerd Culture Podcast

The Walt Disney Company has announced that it is purchasing Lucasfilm (including Industrial Light & Magic & Skywalker Sound) in a stock and cash deal for just over $4 billion. During what will no doubt now be thought of as a historic conference call, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and Star Wars creator and Lucasfilm CEO George Lucas announced that the deal came with  ‘an extensive and detailed treatment for the next three movies’ and that their ‘longterm plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years’, meaning that Episodes VII, VIII & IX are on their way. In fact Episode VII  is aparantly in early development and scheduled for release in 2015. However, Fox and Paramount will retain the rights to the previous six Star Wars films and last four Indiana Jones films respectivly.

In a statement Lucas added, ‘For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next. It is now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime.’

Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy, will become the studio’s President, reporting to Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. She will also be the Executive Producer on the new Star Wars films, with Lucas serving as a Creative Consultant.

Now I’m not usually the sort of person to have a strong reaction to these sort of announcements. With a few exceptions nerd rage is not my prefered form of expression (just don’t mention the Spider-Man storyline Sins of the Past or the film Prometheus to me and we’ll be ok), but I have to admit that upon hearing the news that the evil corporate behemoth that is Disney Studios had bought Lucasfilm, the home of two of my all time favourite film franchises, I did feel a disturbance in the Force.

Luckily I was at work when I heard, so my initial reaction was muted, and it gave me time to reflect. It also gave me time to read the additional information as it came to light. What I’ve come to realise is that I’m actually not that concerned with this announcement. Sure, I can’t stand the Disney Corporation and all that is stands for but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying (some) of their products and I can’t deny that (some) of their recent acquisition related output has ranged from quite good (The Muppets) to outstanding (The Avengers) so I can at least give them the benefit of the doubt.

And lets face it, the last 3 films under total Lucas’s control ranged from ‘crap’ to ‘average’ so a new fresh pair of eyes may be just what we need. I’ve always thought that Lucas was the creative genius behind Star Wars but that it took other people to help bring his vision to life and that is what we have now with his new role as Creative Consultant. And let’s not forget the most important aspect of this – EPISODE VII !!! (as long as it doesn’t turn out like this:

Episode #36 features:

Dust Jacket: Make Room!, Make Room! by Harry Harrison

Round Table: NCP’s 1 Year Later review of DC’s New 52 Part 2

Special: Interviews with the stars of Armageddon Expo Melbourne 2012 Part 2, featuring Frank Candiloro & Paul Bedford.

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My Feral Frenzy spec will allow the user to harm foes while keeping him/herself safe.  The point of this spec is to keep a constant flow of damage on your enemies through bleeds, while making self healing better.  The first thing to know about Feral Frenzy is to remember your bleed attacks.  These are Rake, Rip and Thrash.  While going about making your enemies bleed, Feral Frenzy also likes to make you heal yourself easier for situations in which you may be in trouble, or just keep enemies off of you all together.

Displacer Beast will get you into position to start wreaking havoc on any enemies in the area, or out of a sticky situation if needed.  Nature’s Swiftness can give you a quick pick me up, and when mixed with Dream of Cenarius, will allow you do deal increased damage.  Mass Entanglement can be used if you bit off more than you could chew, allowing you to fall back, heal as needed, and join back into the fray.  Force of Nature, while in Feral Spec, causes your Treants to attack foes with an occasional stun, which will help you to apply bleeds or even heal if needed.  Ursol’s Vortex is also for the just in case situation to help keep enemies in 1 spot while you delve bleeds or run out to heal.

As for the glyphs I have chosen Cat Form, Prowl and Pounce for Major and with Aquatic Form, Stag and Grace for the minor.  Cat Form will allow better survivability in giving you better heals from your own dots or from the kindness of others.  Prowl allows faster movement to get to any foe that you want to Shred (or rather Ravage first, then Rip a little later) your enemy that much faster.  As for Pounce, more distance is always good.  The Minor glyphs for this spec are more or less for artistic value, except for Grace.  Though the player will more than likely be in cast form most of the time, there may be situations (like after healing) that you may fall from a cliff while in Human form, or another when falling… not likely, but still a chance.

All in all, this spec is designed to allow the druid to rip their foes to pieces while keeping the aggressor as healthy as possible.

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#dxUZ|tmVM0c

The official Iron Man 3 trailer is out now and as I expected, it is full of Win!

It certainly looks like it’s going to be a rough time for Tony and Pepper!

Check it out 🙂

Hi All!

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