Hey Look a List (underrated Christmas Specials)

Happy Holidays to all you NERDlings out there. Tis the season of giving and I want to give all of you some great specials to watch to put you all in the mood during the month of Christmas.  So here are my top 5 underrated christmas specials.

5. Will Vinten’s Claymation Christmas Celebration

A fun little special with dinosaurs and the California Raisins enjoying the holidays. This video is one of the shorts in the special.

4.Twas the Night Before Christmas

In this great cartoon classic Santa gets a letter from someone in this town that says the people of the town don’t belive in him. So Santa being the nice guy that he is decides to pass over the town that year. So it’s up to a poor clock maker to build a clock tower that will play a song to win the love of Santa as he flies by on Christmas eve.

3. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

What happens when you mix a stop motion special about the story of Santa Claus with a Dungeons & Dragons campaign? You get this wonderful story of how Santa started off as a normal orphaned boy left in a forest to become a great man bestowed with immortality to continue his mission to make the children of the world happy.

2. The Town Santa Forgot

This special is about a young greedy boy who asks for a list of toys 3 miles long. Santa mistakes his name for the name of a poor town he always flew past by accident every year. The whole thing rhymes like a poem through the show but its hard to notice at times since it doesn’t beat you over the head with it.

1. A Muppet Family Christmas

How can anything muppet related be underrated you ask? When its impossible to find it on DVD or even see it on T.V. anymore. Even if you can see it 4 of the musical numbers have been cut out due to music rights changing hands over the years and them not having access to them any more.

Have a very NERDy Holidays

Chris

Try before you die (movie eddition)

Hey NERDlings. Is anyone awake after all that food? I wanted to suggest some movies for everyone to watch while your body does battle against the 15 pound invader in your stomach. So without further ado. On with the show!

First up is an indie movie that came out a few years ago called “Brick”. It’s a film Noir set in a high school. Joseph Gordon-Levitt from 3rd Rock from the Sun plays a lone wolf character investigating what happened to his ex-girlfriend. It has all the old Noir niches; weird lingo, a dame that you want to trust and not trust all at the same time, and many well done plot twists.

Next is one of my favorite westerns, “The Quick and the Dead”. This movie has an A-list cast with Sam Raimi (one of my must see directors) at the helm. Sharon Stone is seeking revenge against Gene Hackman and the only way she can is through a quick draw tournament. Russel Crow is also in this movie as a renounced killer now priest dragged back into the tournament by Hackman to see who is better.

 Now on the cult classic side is “Six String Samurai”. After the nuclear fall out of WW3 we find Buddy, a lone swordsman, is off to Lost Vegas to become the new king after Elvis died. Along the way he has to fight against an assortment of crazy characters to reach the end. A great movie with a great soundtrack.

Lastly is a great movie I saw several years ago and have been trying to track down ever since. It is the 1972 classic “Sleuth”. Michael Cain plays the new man of Sir Laurence Olivier’s now estranged wife. He is there to pick up the last of her things and Olivier proposes that Cain steal the jewelry in order for the wife to be able to continue living a comfortable life. What continues after that is one of the best cat and mouse stories I have ever seen. The movie only has two people throughout the entire movie and there is never a dull moment. Now I know there was a remake with Cain playing Olivier’s part and Jude Law playing Cain’s but DO NOT SEE IT. I have heard nothing but bad things from it and what I saw was not good. Try and see if you can find it somewhere like hulu or youtube.

Well thats it for today everyone,

Live NERDy and prosper

Chris

This post is rated N for NERDy

So I am taking a break this week from video games to discuss some movies coming out soon that I am looking forward to.

First up is the movie “Kick Ass”, yes that is the title. It’s about a comic fanboy who wants to live out his fantasies of fighting crime and makes a mask and costume to take up vigilantism.  The only downside is he doesn’t have any powers. I know it didn’t stop Batman from being awesome but I think he is more of an exception to the rule.

Next is the highly anticipated(to fans at least) Avatar movie. No not James Cameron’s Big Budget Blue Bomb, the awesome Nickelodeon show Avatar: The Last Air Bender. Its being  directed by M. Night “what a twist” Shyamalan and looks to be really good so far.

Finally is the awesome looking Iron Man 2. This one concerns Tony Stark dealing with his increase in fame and pressures from the government that lead him down the dark path of  alcoholism and run ins with the law. All the more why I found the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is so fitting. Don Cheadle replaces the previous guy whose name escapes me as Stark’s Military friend who becomes War Machine.

Its a photoshop but still looks cool and gives off what you need to know.

Scarlett Johansson plays new love interest/evil gun for hire Black widow.

Here is the comi-con leak

This is the leak that was pulled from every where a few weeks ago.  I think it looks like its going to be good and look forward to it coming to theaters next May.

Next week I plan on making an argument about censorship in the wake of the Modern Warfare 2 debacle.

My girlfriend tunred into the moon,

Chris

Trust the Fungus

The new Prince of Persia Trailer hit the net this week and looks really good.

I know it looks like The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean had a baby, but I have high hopes for this movie because it’s based on a video game of the same name.  I know video game movies before have been bad, very bad.

OF COURSE!

But it all depends on the director and the budget. I Thought Silent hill was a good movie and Resident Evil wasn’t that bad. I just feel there are a lot of games out there that still need a movie, a game like Castlevania. Watch the trailer for the new game coming out next year and tell me that wouldn’t make a great movie.

I think this would be a great movie just based on the mythos alone. I know Vampire movies are this year’s disaster movie, but I feel like a Castlvania movie (if done right) would be like a Dark Knight version of Van Hellsing.

The one, The NERDy

Chris

A reboot of REBOOT.

Now if you understood what I said in that title you will already be excited. For everyone one else let me explain. A reboot is when they take a well-known series of either movies or T.V. shows and start it over from the beginning with a new cast and a reworking of the original story. A few good examples of this is the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie or the V miniseries coming to T.V. soon. 

Reboot is a completely CG-I T.V. series from the late 90′s to early 2000′s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReBoot

Rainmaker studios (formely Mainframe entertainment) will be making a movie trilogy set to take place after season four. The first movie is slated to come out sometime in 2010.

So for those eagerly awaiting fans, here it is.

Thats it, just a quick ten second clip of how the new movie will look. I’m excited and await any other news to come out. Don’t worry everyone, I plan on doing my usual weekly post. This time with a halloween theme.

To Mend and Defend…and drink NERD

Chris.

Try before you die (music eddition)

Its that time again NERDlings. This month I am showcasing different artists I feel deserve a listen.  Now I won’t share with you all of the bands I listen to and feel deserve attention just a little attention just a few I have been listening to lately and one special one.

First Up is a duo called Justice. For all those out there who are fans of Daft Punk’s french euro house grooves, you will love this album †. Yes thats the title, a cross. Now before you nay sayers worry if this is some kind of religious album don’t worry, its not. To me the album sounds like Isaac Hayes for computers. Enough of the chatter lets give it a listen.

I really like this video and the song is very catchy.

On to something more “real” for those people who need “actual” instruments to be played I bring you the synth-pop group The Postal Service. Lovers of fancy ultra fresh group Freezepop will enjoy their sound.

Now that wasn’t them or an official video, just a couple of fans working on a school project.

OK so maybe that was still to “electronic” for some of you out there. Don’t worry this next group is all “real”

The Protomen is a group of Megaman fans that decided one day instead of just making music covers like a thousand other bands out there they were going to make music that was inspired by their love of the Blue Bomber. The first album told story of Protoman and Megaman in the first game. The latest album goes into the pasts of Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. Both albums are rock operas, but the second album feels alot more evolved than the first. Here is the first track from the second album.

Man if only the games could be that dark and story heavy.

Next is a group from my favorite sub genre of music, Female lead vocal pop punk. I don’t know why I am so drawn to this little niche genre but I love it so. In the long line of bands like Tsunami Bomb, The Donnas, and The Distillers I present The Dollyrots

And lastly is probably one of if not my favorite band of all time, Pain.

A punk band with a ska feel to it and great fun filled lyrics full of references to all the things I grew up enjoying.

Please ignore the bad stop motion video and just listen to the song.

Also since it my blog and I love this band I’m posting another video.

I know the audio quality is kinda bad on that one but I still feel the song come out good. Now I know a lot of you out there have heard this band before and just can’t place it. Let me help you.

Oh how I miss those groovies.

Thats all for this week.

Silly rabbit NERD is for

Chris

A continuation of “An intro of sorts.”

Well I had a post already written out for today, but I decided that I didn’t like it. I don’t think that I got out all that I wanted to say about who I am or what I do. So today’s post will be just that.

Hello fellow NERDers, if you want me to refer to you all as something different just let me know, my name is Chris. I am going to UTSA currently and I am in my last semester for my bachelors degree in political science.  Now I know some of you out there are saying “Hey thats not a science”, well I say if people consider cryptozooology a science, politics can be a science. I will not bring politics into the blog because I am not a big fan of flame wars and the political nature of our country right now is one crazy volcano about to blow.

Oh, and that photo of me is not shopped at all, just in case you were wondering. I am 6’10″  and that is just a 3/4 attic door. So, to clear the matter before I get asked; no I do not play basketball, my shoe size is 18, and yes… it is raining.

The things I plan on talking about on here range across the nerd spectrum. From video games to comics to movies to music, and just whatever really comes to mind that day. I am also trying to get a web comic started with a friend of mine, which I hope to use to start my own store selling humorous t-shirts and the like.

So, sit back and look out for lots of pictures and videos to come your way from me on here.

Hope you enjoy the ride!

-Chris