USA!! USA!! USA!!

We here at the Blessed are the Geeks blog love the 4th of July. It's one of the few holidays that is grounded in national pride and a love of American history. Today we'd like to celebrate the holiday by sending a shout out to Joey Chestnut, a true American hero who just won his fifth consecutive championship at the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. This year he won the title by eating an amazing 62 hot dogs in under ten minutes.

Chestnut is currently ranked as the #1 competitive eater in the world, but he is best known for bringing the Nathan's title back to the US after six long, dark years under Japanese domination. If he wins again next year, he'll tie the record for most wins currently held by Kobayashi. Check back this time in 365 days for an update on this monumental story.

And just in case you think I'm joking, I only kind of am, since I do think Chestnut is a cool guy and I love to see him win.

Deke!

I just finished reading Deke!, the autobiography of astronaut Deke Slayton. Is this a good book? It is if you like Deke Slayton and want to learn more about his life and career as told in his own words. If you don't like Deke Slayton, well, you probably haven't even read this far down, which is a shame since he's a true American hero who should be remembered and honored along with Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard, and all the others. But as a piece of literature, it's not exactly a must read up there with the Autobiography of Malcom X or anything, but it's a fun, charming story of an extraordinary man's incredible career at the forefront of one of the greatest adventures mankind has ever undertaken.

Deke Slayton was a the son of a poor Wisconsin farmer who went on to join the military as a pilot, not because he loved to fly, but because he saw a plane once and thought it looked like fun. From there he served in WWII, became a test pilot, and then marched into history as one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. In case you don't know who the Mercury 7 were, they were America's first group of astronauts, handpicked out of thousands of applicants to become the first American's in space. Unfortunately, the flight doctors eventually learned that Deke had a heart murmur, grounding him indefinitely, preventing him from flying in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions that made his contemporaries so famous. Deke's loss was our country's gain, however, because he was then able to take on the job of Director of Flight Crew operations, essentially handling the responsibility of training, working with, and selection America's astronauts. Deke became the astronaut in charge of all of the other astronauts.

If any of that sounds interesting, either the man's life or the events he was able to witness first hand, this book is a must-read, since there was arguably no astronaut more important, influential, or essential to the early days of NASA's mission into space and the moon. As he said in his introduction, he may not be as famous as Neil Armstrong, but he was the guy who decided that Armstrong would be the first person on the moon, so that's pretty cool right there. Anyway, this is a fairly engaging and charming, if somewhat light, look at the life of the most important astronaut during the most crucial moments in the history of the space race.

Oh, and Deke does finally make it into space, but you'll have to read the book to hear more. I suppose  the best thing I can say about this autobiography is that it's a good story that not only taught me a lot about the man who wrote it, but made me like him even more than I already had before I read it.

Happy Birthday, Harrison Schmitt!

The Blessed Are the Geeks Blog wishes a happy and healthy birthday to Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, the 12th and last man to set foot on the moon. He also has the distinction of being the first real scientist to walk on the moon, as well as being the first who had never been a member of the air force before becoming an astronaut. He actually learned how to fly after being selected by NASA, which is pretty cool.

Anyway, Harrison Schmitt isn't one of the more famous or well known astronauts, but that doesn't mean he wasn't one of the best, and today he celebrates his 76 birthday, and hopefully there will be many more to come.

Sucker Punch

Is it possible for a movie to be both good and bad at the same time? To be interesting and yet insipid? To be entertaining and yet boring? To be visually enthralling and yet profoundly mundane? To be exceedingly clever and yet so shallow it bordered on the insulting? Sucker Punch was all of those things, so I'm not sure if I'm recommending it or not, but I know I'm probably going to be so hard on it for what doesn't work, because it came so close to brilliance during the times that it did work. Anyway, Sucker Punch is a movie where lots of stuff happens, and the best I can probably say for it is that it is all very neat and interesting, but maybe not actually very good.

Sucker Punch is a film about a girl who... I dunno. On the surface it seems to be about a girl who is sent to an insane asylum, and who works through her emotional turmoil by retreating to an elaborate fantasy world she created within her imagination in order to retreat from the real world while attempting to make sense of what is happening around her. Or not. As I said, I really don't know what this movie was about, just that there was a girl who seems to be imagining lots of stuff to the point where you no longer know what is real or what isn't, but not necessarily in an interesting way like in 81/2 or Jacob's Ladder, but in the sloppy way of a filmmaker who doesn't necessarily understand his own story any more than we do. Or not. Maybe Zack Snyder really is the avant guarde genius he presented himself as by writing and directing this somewhat indescribable film.

Zack Snyder is certainly one of the most visually inventive filmmakers in modern cinema, creating truly breathtaking films that don't look like anything else you've ever seen... unless you've seen every other Zack Snyder film, that is. By this point we're starting to reach a been-there-done-that kind of moment with his films. The long tracking shot where the camera zooms around and speeds up as characters kill loads of enemies was amazing when we first saw it in 300, but then he did it again in Watchmen, and kept doing it again here, to the point where I was ready to see something new. However, he's still a talented guy, and there is just as much to marvel at that is new and original than there is that is old and recycled. At the end of the day, Snyder makes gorgeous films, and this is just about the most gorgeous thing he is ever done, and not just for the settings, camera tricks, and special effects, but for the cast containing some of the most breathtakingly beautiful women I have ever seen. If you have a sweet tooth for lots of eye candy, this movie will give your cataracts cavities.

There is one bravura set-piece that placed the main character Babydoll in a nightmarish version of the first World War where American soldiers fought in trenches against legions of zombie German Huns while zeppelins battled against solders wearing mecha exo-skeletons. This scene was one of the most phenomenal things I've ever seen in any movie, but it's just too bad it was only ten or fifteen minutes out of a two hour movie, and served no real point other than to somehow parallel the real world story that was boring, featuring a bunch of characters I didn't care about. It's a sad thing when the film winthin the film is more interesting and engaging than the film itself, since I wanted to stay in the fantasy instead of going back to the world of the asylum or strip club or wherever these ladies were supposed to be trying escape from. Oh, and just as an aside, but I've read lots of reviews where the enemies in this scene as "Nazis." These weren't Nazis, people, since it was World War I. They were just German.

So this movie had beautiful women, huge explosions, WWI era combat, dragons, samurai warriors, zombies, and strippers, all of which independently are some of my favorite things ever, so added up together they should have been mind blowing. But what this film did not have, unfortunately, was an engaging story, likable protagonists, and interesting villain, a setting and theme that was the least bit relateable, or, really, even any charm at all. But check it out because it's neat looking.

The Best News Ever

Star Trek in (almost) all its glory has finally come to Netflix instant streaming. Sometime this week, Netflix and Paramount released almost every episode of every series of Star Trek for instant viewing to Netflix subscribers. This is awesome, not only for fans like me who can now rewatch our favorite episodes whenever we want, but also for new comers who will finally be able to appreciate the finest science fiction in television history.

The only omissions are Deep Space Nine and the Animated Series, along with all of the films except the recent reboot. I can understand why the movies aren't available to stream, since that's probably some different deal Netflix would have to reach with Paramount, but where is DS9, one of the greatest of all Trek shows? And while I'm not going to lose any sleep over missing the Animated Series, it would still be nice to watch all of those episodes again, since they were good fun. Hopefully these episodes will be forthcoming soon, but until then, we can all enjoy TOS, Next Gen, Voyager, and Enterprise

What are you waiting for?

Trailer Park

Let's go ahead and watch some movie trailers!

Immortals
This looks awesome. The tale of Theseus as told by the guy who directed the brilliant film The Fall? I'm there.

John Carpenter's The Ward
This doesn't look very good, but... it's John Carpenter! Over the years his films have been hit or miss, but his misses are usually still entertaining while his hits are amazing. This one looks kind of creepy (if a bit cliche) and has lots of pretty girls. Anyway, it's nice to see the man working again, since he hasn't had a theatrical release since 2001's forgettable Ghosts of Mars.

Footloose
They remade Footllose? Why not? This doesn't look like it will improve on the original in anyway, but I'm happy that today's generation of kids will be able to hear this timeless story about one young man's non violent struggles against oppression. There's Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and that kid from Footloose. Let's here it for those boys!

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The world "protocol" has a lot of "o"s in it. No matter how many times I spell it, I always want to stick an "a" in there somewhere. Anyway... a fourth Mission Impossible movie. Again, why not? I liked all of the others (except for the awful part 2), so I'll probably like this too. It looks neat. But where's Ving Rhames?!

The Killer Elite
Jason Statham
Clive Owen
Robert DeNiro
If I have to say anything else, you don't deserve to watch movies. This looks awesome.

Brave
Not much to go on here, but it's Pixar and it looks neat, so I'll probably see it, and so will everybody else.

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World
Seriously, who keeps letting Robert Rodriguez make movies? This looks like the worst movie ever made, and I say that as a huge fan of the first two Spy Kids films (the less said about part 3 the better). Still... Jessica Alba gets more and more beautiful with each day.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
No comment.

The Muppets
I have two things against this movie:

#1. The Muppets without Jim Henson seems wrong and pointless to me.

#2. Jason Siegel sucks. I'm just not a fan.

Still... it looks funny.

War Horse
Hmmm.....

Not much to go on here. What's it about? And what's the deal with the horse? If this didn't have Spielberg's name attached, I wouldn't give it a second thought, but he's my favorite director and I've seen just about every film he's directed in the theater since I've been old enough to go to the cinema, so I know I'll see this one too. It certainly looks beautiful. I just wish I knew what it was about. Maybe the big twist will be that it's a remake of Mr. Ed.

The Three Musketeers
I don't care what anybody else thinks, this looks awesome.

Johnny English Reborn
I guess I can't think of any reason not to make another Johnny English movie, so go bless 'em. I'm just happy to see Rowan Attkinson again. In this trailer, I mean. I'm probably not going to see this movie, but I'll admit that the trailer did crack me up.

Primer

This was a brilliant movie. The story was incredibly clever and meticulously plotted and thought out. The acting by a cast of complete unknowns was absolutely first rate. The dialogue was as intelligent as you'll find in any movie, written by a man who clearly knows a lot about engineering, mathematics, and physics. This movie was completely original, brilliantly conceived, and meticulously constructed. It's just too bad it wasn't very good.

Well, I didn't think it was very good, anyway, although a lot of people will disagree with that opinion since it has become something of a cult film. Although a cult film, by definition, is one that is still mostly unpopular, often for valid reasons. Most people will probably be put off by the labyrinthine story that challenges the audience to think and follow along very carefully. Me, I just didn't like it because it was boring and ultimately pointless. I didn't really like this characters, I didn't find their work interesting, and I never really bought into the concept that there was any real moral dilemmas at stake, even though the characters all acted dramatically and thought very important issues were being discussed.

It's well worth checking out, however, if you are into hard science fiction or just want to see a completely new take on a story about the invention of a time machine, since the device in this movie is one of the best I've ever seen in the genre. It just doesn't have a very interesting plot, and the entire thing is filmed in such a cold, removed way that I never really found it interesting and engaging. I liked it enough to watch the entire film, however, even though I never really liked it nor even enjoyed what was going on most of the time.

Xbox 360 Demo Roundup

I haven't done this in a while, so I figured I'd give my brief thoughts on all of the demos I've downloaded on Xbox Live over the past few months or so. In order of how they appear in my Xbox games library:

Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes
If you're an old school gamer or just into retro titles, download this game. It's in the style of an old Atari game like Pitfall, with slightly updating graphics, but not by much. It's charming, funny, and literally the hardest game I've ever played. It's insanely difficult, which is why they start you out with 99 lives! Check it out. Good fun.

Apehlion 2
An indie game in the style of a Japanese RPG, only with mediocre graphics, awkward control, and boring battles. If you love RPGs, check it out, but I didn't think it was all that great. Good music though.

Arkedo Series - 01 Jump!
Weird title, fun game. Another Indie title done in the style of an old school Atari/NES game. This one is a puzzle type platformer kind of like the original Mario Bros. It's well done and worth checking out.

Seven Second Review: The Fast and the Furious

I'm trying out a new segment here at the blog. Some people have told me that my reviews are too long, so I figured I'd try out a time limit. Here is my first attempt at a "Seven Second Review." Let me know what you think.

In Memoriam: Peter Falk (1927-2011)

Top Ten Episodes of Tales From the Crypt (Video)

This took forever to put together, but check it out because I think it's pretty good. It's a list of my top ten favorite episodes of one of my all time favorite TV shows, HBO's classic Tales From the Crypt:

In Memoriam: Gene Colan (1926-2011)

 
Gene Colan, one of the greatest artists in the history of comic books, has passed away at the age of 84. The man, and his work, will be missed.