Nerd Culture Podcast

Welcome to another instalment of Dust Jacket.

Richo and Luke need a break from Dust Jacket to recover from their awesome Hugo Award nominees roundup so this edition will be a collaboration between Miztres and myself on one of our favourite books – American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

In a land that is the melting pot of the world, where people have come with the customs, stories and Gods from the old countries, a god has got to make a living the best way they know how. The characters from mythology, folk legends and the divinities of nations across time have come to America, a land that does not know or need them, and they find themselves forgotten, and un-worshipped.

Shadow, our hero, stumbles into this underworld of gods and mythological characters when he takes the job as Mr Wednesday’s right hand man. Mr Wednesday is a con man who’s working towards the biggest con ever perpetrated, a war to end all wars, between the old Gods and the modern Gods of America. He lives a half-life, befitting his name, doing what Mr Wednesday tells him to do, regardless of how stupid or dangerous it seems.

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The Terminator series is one of my favourites. Not only is it a cool movie with lots of action, it is also a thought provoking idea. What if our increasing reliance on technology worked against us, instead of for us? Add an iconic character (the only fictional character to be in the Hall of Fame as both the hero and villain), and a blockbuster is born. Also, on a personal note, a highlight for me was when I got to meet Michael Biehn 🙂

The Terminator

Released: 1984

Directed by: James Cameron

Written by: James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd (and ‘inspired’ by Harlen Ellison – see video at bottom of this post)

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn

Plot: In the Year of Darkness, 2029, the rulers of this planet devised the ultimate plan. They would reshape the Future by changing the Past. The plan required something that felt no pity. No pain. No fear. Something unstoppable. They created ‘THE TERMINATOR’.

For: The ultimate sci-fi action movie? If not then definitely up there. Action, romance, thought provoking story, this film has it all. And a standout performance by Arnold.

Against: The music sucks, but that’s all I can think of for Against 🙂

Favourite Scene: The nightclub, the assault on the police station, & the gun shop – ‘Hey, only what you see pal!’

Rating: 5 Lukes

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Released: 1991

Directed by: James Cameron

Written by: James Cameron, William Wisher Jnr

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong

Plot: The same model of cyborg that once tried to kill Sarah Connor arrives in the present with a new mission – protect Sarah’s teenage son, John Connor, from an even more powerful and advanced Terminator.

For: Practically a remake of the first film, T2 ups the stakes with the introduction of the awesome T-1000, and putting the young future leader of the Resistance in jeopardy. Great action and story, and Linda Hamilton gives it her all as the nearly psychotic Sarah.

Against: The comedy bits are hit and miss.

Favourite Scene: The T-800 gets new clothes, the chase down the canals, everything at the Mall, everything at Cyberdyne.

Rating: 5 Lukes

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Released: 2003

Directed by: Johnathan Mostow

Written by: John D Brancato, Michael Ferris, Tedi Sarafian

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken

Plot: John Connor is now in his 20’s, and a new model terminator, the T-X, is after him. Another model similar to the one from T2 is sent back through time to protect John once again on the verge of the rise of the machines.

For: The new terminator is quite cool, the deleted scene showing the military inspecting the terminators is hilarious, and the end sequence showing the rise of the machines is well done.

Against: Nick Stahl can’t act. The inflatable boobs bit is terrible. Not very exciting.

Favourite Scene: The deleted scene showing the military inspecting the terminators.

Rating: 2.5 Lukes

Terminator: Salvation

Released: 2009

Directed by: McG

Written by: John D Brancato, Michael Ferris

Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood

Plot: After Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, a group of survivors led by John Connor struggles to keep the machines from finishing the job.

For: Christian Bale is good. The CGI Arnie model terminator scene is well done. Good to finally see the future war.

Against: Sam Worthington is the most over-rated actor in Hollywood, his character is pointless, and he can’t act. Most of humanity has been wiped out by nuclear war, yet they all look quite healthy and there doesn’t appear to be any fallout. The terminator bikes are stupid. The idea of mobile terminators is fine, but why build them with the capability to be used by a human (by having handle bars)?

Favourite Scene: The T-800 model terminator

Rating: 2.5 Lukes

Special extra bit – see the alleged true story of the origins of the Terminator:

http://youtu.be/DwyyJ3D3g1E

Yay, we’re married!

Everything went very well (I didn’t trip over or stuff up the vows) and we would like to thank everyone for their well wishes.

As promised, here are a few wedding photos –

This is our cake. I was inspired by a picture I saw on the interweb. Crystal and I are attempting to fight off our Maid of Honor and Best Man, who have unfortunately been turned into ravening Zombies. I’m using a sword and Crystal a cricket bat.

Another shot of the cake.

Me and my groomspeople – Richo (fellow NCP Crewmember), Erin (from the Black Panel), & Kristy (one of my closest friends & not a nerd).

Despite my protests, my beautiful bride prefers that no photos of her get posted, sorry ladies.

Tomorrow we will return to our regular scheduled programming, with a Spotlight On….the Terminator!

Hi all. Just a quick post to let you know that there won’t be a post tomorrow, as I’ll be too busy getting married.

That’s right, the lovely Crystal was silly enough to say ‘yes’ and is going to make me the happiest nerd in the world tomorrow (Star Wars on blu-ray and marrying my beloved, all in one week!).

For any girl nerds reading this I may post a photo or two later this week. Of course all the boy nerds are like, ‘Who cares man, just tell me if <insert nerd related item here> is any good!’.

So everyone take the time to tell your special man or special lady (but not your lady friend) that you love them tomorrow, because I will be. 🙂

David

The Sixsmiths

Story: The Sixsmiths

Released: October 2010

Publisher: SLG Publishing

By: J. Marc Schmidt & Jason Franks

What you need to know

The Sixsmiths are a family of suburban Satanists who’ve fallen prey to the global recession. Now their life is in turmoil: Ralf needs to find a new job; the twins, Cain and Lilith, need to survive the public school system; and Annie needs to keep them all sane and under budget. Meanwhile, their estranged elder daughter Jezabelle is having her own crisis of faith.

The Sixsmiths strips are available on-line at www.thesixsmiths.com as well as the graphic novel from SLG Publishing. This review will focus on the graphic novel.

What we thought

DAVID: Sixsmiths is a comic that every parent should read. How many comics show the good old fashioned family values the Sixsmiths family have? Love and respect for each other, the perils of under-age drinking, supporting your family, teen angst, making friends, the list goes on. And more importantly, it’s funny as Hell (see what I did there!).

CRYSTAL: This is an interestingly amusing take on suburban life.  The Sixsmiths aren’t all that different from any other religious family, except the object of their worship happens to be the Lord of Darkness himself.

DAVID: I agree. It just goes to show that no matter our background or denomination, we all have the same wants/needs and tribulations, and it is how we deal with them that defines us.

CRYSTAL: While we laugh at the ridiculous things the Sixsmiths do in the name of religion, it brings to mind how bizarre some of our more ‘standard’ religions can be.

DAVID: Definitely. Are the Sixsmiths’ rituals and beliefs any weirder than any other religion out there? True, I can’t think of any that service faulty photocopiers by deflowering a virgin over it, but I know my job would be a lot more interesting if that was all it took!

CRYSTAL: I knew you’d like that bit. My favourite was the guy’s t-shirt that read ‘SARCASM is a little bit mean’

DAVID: I did notice that too. And that brings us to the art. I like it, it has a nice clean, newspaper strip style to it that is easy to follow and has all the detail you need.

DAVID: I have been a fan of both Schmidt and Franks since Egg Story and Mr Black respectively. They obviously had fun with this book and work well together so I am interested to see what else they come up with. They are on a winner here and I can’t wait to read the next installment 4 Lukes

CRYSTAL: I really liked this as well so I’ll also give it 4 Lukes

What do you think?

Have you also read the Sixsmiths? Do you agree or disagree with our opinions? Let us know! Send in your thoughts to feedback@nerdculturepodcast.com, or leave a comment on this post. We would love to hear from you!