Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts

SDCC Prep - Custom Arrow Shoes

 I decided to make some custom Arrow shoes to wear to San Diego Comic-Con this year. I'm hoping Warner Brothers, The CW, D.C. Comics, and Stephen Amell will excuse the infringements of a fan, and that maybe this will inspire some more merchandise from the franchise for Arrow. Enjoy!
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Brief Castle Review





I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I DVR'd Castle last night and finally watched it tonight. I wasn't show how this new procedural would fair, especially since it's on ABC (which I haven't watched a show on for many, many years). The premise is that a mystery writer is questioned about his books and fan mail after two murders are committed that replicate murders that take place in his novels. It definitely sounded like a one show deal or a Murder She Wrote remake from that description.
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SDCC Posts at PCP

I have been posting all my adventures at SDCC over on TD's PCP blog. I'm not syndicating these to ND because I'm lazy, so go over there and check them out!

To tide you over until you get the full reports, here's a link to SciFi.com's full video of the Battlestar Galactica panel I attended:

http://video.scifi.com/player/?id=279928

It was just as frakkin' awesome as the video makes it out to be.
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Dollhouse Trailer

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3/4 Relief from the CW

Well, the CW eased my mind today as it released its early series pick-ups. 3 out of the 4 shows I watch on the network have been picked up for another season next year. My picks that are getting another season include: Smallville (season 8), Supernatural (season 4), and Gossip Girl (season 2). I'm still holding out hope for Reaper and wondering if the execs are right about picking up new viewers by moving its reruns to Supernatural's normal Thursday night slot. Only time will tell.

For a full list of the CW's early bird picks, check out the CW Blog.
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Put on your Jedi Robes...



That's right Star Wars fans, there's a new animated movie and television show being released later this year. It's called Star Wars: The Clone Wars and takes place between episodes II and III.

Here's the official Lucasfilm release: http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/news/announcement.html

This shouldn't be shocking news to most readers. It was announced last year at Celebration IV. This week tons of news syndicates have been picking up the story. I just didn't feel like I could get away with not posting about it and still call myself a Star Wars fan. Yes, I am excited for this, but not so excited that I'm wearing my Jedi Robe from now until the release or anything.

Anyway, the full-length motion picture will be released on Friday, August 15th, 2008. The show will follow as half hour episodes on Cartoon Network and then more airings on TNT. You can't say I didn't warn you...
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Start biting your nails...



While I'm sitting here dreading going out into the sub-arctic temperatures that have descended today, I thought I'd give you all something to ponder and obsess over until it's safe to go outside - the ramifications of the WGA strike on the rest of the TV season.

While the writers and networks are scrambling to figure out what to do now that a tentative agreement has been reached, TVGuide.com has a blog entry detailing what the future looks like for our favorite shows. For some fans, the news is good, as some episodes are slated to be written. filmed, and released before the end of the season. Many other fans will mourn as they find that their favorite shows are facing a fairly silent death as a result of the strike (or a future yet TBD). For the latest info on which shows are continuing and which are over now and forever (and which shows may need some saving in the next couple of months), check out this blog. Supposedly, it will be updated as more "official" announcements about these shows are released.

Personally, I lucked out because most of the shows I care about are all continuing until the renewal announcements that usually come in May. I'm still fearing for Reaper though, since it only has pre-strike episodes listed and an undetermined future. Of course, the strike is also going to affect the DVD sets of this season (many shows won't make it to the full 22 episodes before the season runs out). I'm just relieved that next season won't be entirely reality TV, at which point I would stop watching TV.

I'm going to crawl back under my rock now until I have something else worthy to report.
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Reaper Outlook Not So Grim



I've been watching Reaper since the season premiere because it seemed like it had a decent premise (for a CW show). I love tales of dealing with the Devil, and an hour-long episode each week sounded great to me. After the last two episodes, I'm glad I tuned in.

The pilot was better than most new shows. It wasn't awkward or grasping, although it did have plenty of the "getting to know the show" scenes. The next three episodes (Charged, All Mine, and Magic) all followed the same format and made sure to ground the viewer in the premise. At this point, I began to wonder if the show would be able to transition enough to stay on the air. Episode 5, What About Blob, managed to pull that first transition step off by adding a darker and more sinister tone to the show, which was desperately needed. Hopefully, the sub-plot revealed will become a longer story arc that is revealed throughout the season.

This week was the Halloween episode, Leon, and while it lost most the darkness that was brewing in What About Blog, it managed to mix the framework up enough to show the show has real potential. In this episode, Ray Wise, AKA the Devil, was shown smoking a cigarette (rare these days) and acting really depressed about the commercialization of evil, while Sam, played by Bret Harrison, showed some real character growth by getting a backbone and feeling some sympathy for the Devil's emotions. Comedian Patton Oswalt's performance as a soul trapped in a snow-globe at the show's beginning also added some extra depth to the show's premise and gave viewers a chance to learn more about Sam and Sock's (played by Tyler Labine) friendship. This episode also brought up some philosophical points about the real meaning of forgiveness, repentance, and sin. Way heavier stuff than the previous episodes.

Reaper recently received an order for three new scripts, which may indicate that additional scripts will be requested to make it a full season. Hopefully, the writers can continue to add more depth to the characters and the scenarios they face, since that is definitely the show's main selling point. So far, the story-lines about the escaped souls and their new Earthly forms have been decent, but they could use some fine tuning and less attention. They should be the backdrop of the show and the focus should, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville, be turned to character development and relationships. If the show moves in that direction, it may be one of the best new shows this television season. If not, then it's still more believable and pleasurable to watch than some other now defunct shows with similar mythical premises.

If you've ignored this one until now, you can still catch up and watch old episodes at The CW website. Reaper airs Tuesdays at 9 pm EST on The CW.
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Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica is a great action-based drama with excellent character development. Thanks to TD, we were able to view this in one long stretch. Yes, it is sc-fi (and on the Sci-Fi Channel), but I think anyone who likes a good fast-paced story will enjoy this series. The other advantage it has is that they already know that the fourth season (airing in Jan. 2008) will end the series. A lot of TV shows push past their prime and become ridiculous before ending. With an end goal in mind, this coulde be one of the best series to date. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out.
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Buffy and Angel enter the Afterlife

Due to the smashing success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comics, IDW has announced that the Angel series will also continue in comic form. BtVS:S8 has been an enormous seller for Dark Horse, with the first issue already in its 4th printing and a TPB release scheduled for November of this year. The Angel continuation is title Angel: After the Fall in case you want to check it out. It just went up for pre-order at TFAW.com this week. The only possible setback for A:AtF is that it has a significantly higher pricing point ($3.99 per issue) than BtVS:S8 ($2.99 per issue). It will be interesting to see what happens in this series since many of the main characters on the show did not make it to the series finale.
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Croc Hunter looks for the Thylacine

Breaking news... tonight at 6pm on Animal Planet, The Crocodile Hunter will be showing Steve Irwin's trip to Tasmania. The thylacine (see thylacine posts from Shawed) is mentioned in the episode summary. There have been rumors floating around since Irwin's death that he captured the thylacine on camera, while others denied the existence of this episode. I'll be tuning in later to see if there's anything noteworthy in the broadcast.

Thanks to Cryptomundo.com for the heads up!
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Ghost Hunters + TV Tidbits

Ghost hunters cast


Last week was the first episode in the second half of season 3 of Ghost Hunters. The team returned in style with another abroad (Ireland/England) hunt. I won't ruin the findings for those who are fans, but let's just say they did capture some eery and impressive footage. Late breaking news on the show's cast is that Brian Harnois has announced via his MySpace blog that he and TAPS have parted ways.

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DCN!!!!!

Well, well, well. Look who it is. That’s right. It’s D-train with Dorky Comic News, your one stop shop for useless news about comics and pop culture, with some witty banter mixed in. Well, at least I hope it’s witty. Otherwise why am I wasting my time? That’s right. Because like the title says, I’m a DORK. Deal with it.

I know I said this edition was going to be about TV on DVD. That will wait until next time. My BEAUTIFUL wife Rebecca suggested that I go off the beaten path this week and talk about my transition from Ohio, which I’ve lived almost all my life, to the other side of the country, Seattle WA. Now, seeing as how I like to make my wife happy (I forced her to start liking comics. I guess I owe her.), Here goes. J

The pros of being here in Washington as opposed to Ohio are first and foremost, the scenery. You can’t beat it. I can look out my back window and see the Cascade Mountains whenever I want. When we go running, we have a great view of Mt. Rainier. People in Ohio don’t know what a mountain is until they’ve been out here, that’s for sure. Ohio isn’t really known for mountains. Got a shit ton of malls though. Let’s just say that if I am ever driving in Ohio and I have the urge for a t-shirt from Hot Topic, regardless of where I am, it’s only 15 minutes away. Damn malls.

The other thing I like is the lack of humidity. When it gets hot here, you can actually bear it. My house doesn’t even have central air. All we do is crack a window and that’s all it takes. I know longer need to sit in front of the air vent and pray to the gods (that’s for Galactica fans) that winter comes.

Now I realize that Washington isn’t a perfect place. Here’s why. The traffic. It’s REALLY bad. We are lucky that we have a reverse commute and that when Rebecca starts her new job, they will pay for her transit pass. Rush Hour here sucks. If I wanted to make the 20 minute drive from my house to downtown Seattle and get there by 8, I would have to leave by 6:30 just to be 10 minutes late. That and the drivers. I would always complain about Ohio drivers being stupid. They are, no question. But I can at least handle that. When your excuse is being stupid, that means you don’t know what you are doing. That can be fixed. Washington drivers? They’re just dicks. They see you need to merge, and they will do everything they can to NOT let you over. I guess being the newbie out here, I am the only one that can’t get to where he needs to be when he needs to be there. Everyone else has first dibs.

Those are some of the changes I either get to enjoy, or have to endure. I could go over every single one, but hell, I’m boring myself.

Next time I will answer the TV DVD question and comment on your responses. If you haven’t done it yet, go ahead. It’s fun. For those that missed out, I asked last time what TV shows on DVD do you watch? I want to know, as well as the American People.

P.S. The Watchmen. It came out in 1986 and forever changed the way we read comics. Trust me.

P.P.S. I am going to SDCC next year if anyone wants to plan a trip.
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DCN!!!!!!!!

As always, I am the Dtrain with your latest fix of Dorky Comic News. (Disclaimer: by saying “latest fix,” Dtrain may or may not promote drug use.) This edition was going to be about one of the comics I read, and why you should too. However, a lot of stuff happened as it pertains to TV and movies, that my propaganda to get you to rush to the nearest comic shop will have to wait. Let’s get to it.

Last Thursday was the season finale of Smallville. I wish I could go into more detail about it, but I am not sure whoever is reading this is a fan of the show, and has not seen it yet. (Although, if you are a true fan, you’d have seen it. You jerks.) All that I can say is that is was a very BIZZARE ending. For those of you that get what that meant, leave me a message telling me what it is and your free DCN T-shirt will be in the mail.

On Saturday, those of you that frequent superherohype.com got to see the first picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker from next summers The Dark Knight. That’s Batman Begins 2 for those of you that need to catch up. From the looks of it, this version is going to shy away from the cartoony and campiness that the Joker has brought to the comics, as well as the first movie. Nolan (director) is going for a more realistic, sadistic version. He did not do the fans wrong with the first movie, and I can’t see him doing wrong here.

Last but not least, the finale of the best show on television that is not Smallville also ended this past Monday. (For those of you that thought The Bachelor, you are no longer allowed to DCN. Please leave. NOW. I’m serious. Get out of here. Not kidding here, guys. Ummm, other random comment to make the joke last too long and get tired. OUT!!) For the rest of you, I am talking about Heroes. This show was 23 episodes this season, and every one of them ruled. Each ending was a cliffhanger, and the finale gave resolution to the story. It left you with questions, but not enough to feel unsatisfied with the ending. And the epilogue, with Hiro, doesn’t act as a cliffhanger for the current story, but as a great starting point for next year. If only the writers of Lost could have done a show that well, they might have kept me as a fan, instead of boring me to death last season that I had no other choice but file the show in my “wait for the show to end, then watch it on DVD” file.

That brings me to both the end of the column, as well as a question: What shows on DVD do you watch? I want to know, because I want to write about them. Please realize that some of you might get made fun of, but c’mon. DCN isn’t known for its seriousness. (Actually, it’s not known for anything. I put it on myspace. Whoopee.) Anyway, write me a message with what TV shows on DVD you are currently watching, and that’s what DCN will be about next time. Well, that, or it’ll be a rant about none of you responded and that you all suck. We’ll have to see.

P.S. Can’t deny you what I promised: The Ultimates. Get the Graphic Novels. You’ll be glad you did.
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Sink your Vampire Teeth into Buffy Season 8

Well, it seems some Buffy fans are becoming comic fans with the release of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 in comic form. Include me in this category. I'm been familiar with comics for a while and understand the different formats well enough. I used to peruse Spider-man comics as a kid, but Buffy marks my first foray into actually buying comics. Until this venture, I have only purchased Neil Gaiman's Absolute Sandman volume one. Now I get to explore the wonders of bagging and boarding, subscription services, variant covers, and debates on the best method of storage and preservation.

As a long time collector of Star Wars paraphernalia, I joined the Ohio Star Wars Collector's Club about 2 years ago to help create contacts and improve my knowledge of the collecting hobby. This amazing group of people are great at discussing the various available items and commenting on what actually makes a collection valuable to actual collectors. Through this club, I've learned a lot about the hobby and about building value into a collection. Now I am hoping to take this knowledge, plus knowledge gained from conversations with D-train, and apply it to the Buffy Season 8 series.

Currently, I have acquired all the essential pieces to make this a very valuable collection, including promotional posters and the limited 1 of 1,000 sketch variant cover of the 1st printing of issue 1. I decided to pay an additional $0.25 to have the comics bagged and boarded before they even reached me so that the ones I don't read will be as near to mint as possible. For some fans, this paragraph probably doesn't make much sense and may sound like a bunch of comic book jargon. It still kind of does to me too. I've decided to chronicle my foray into this new direction of collecting and share my information and assumptions with fellow fans. For folks knowledgeable in comics reading these posts, please feel free to comment with suggestions, etc to help me with my collection or correct something I am misunderstanding.

Here is the gist of this collection:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 continues the TV series in comic form. The series is reportedly up to being scheduled for 52 issues (unconfirmed). Joss Whedon is overseeing the entire story arc and actually writing several issues himself. The other issues will be written by other alums of the Buffy TV series writing staff.

The collection will contain a variant cover for each issue. These variants are being offered in a 1/4 ratio to merchants. This mean that for every 4 copies the merchant orders, one variant will be included.

Issue 1 also has a limited edition sketch variant cover. This LE variant is 1/1000 and was only provided to Dark Horse retailers that entered the Buffy contest. Each retailer who won in this contest received ten copies of this LE variant. Also of note, Issue 1 has already run its first printing and is now on its second printing to accommodate the large number of orders Dark Horse is receiving. That makes any Issue 1 first print a LE of 1/100,000. So currently, that brings Issue 1 up to 4 covers in the first week of release. To promote this series, Dark Horse released two promotional posters. The first was given away at recent conventions and is a 11" x 7" poster featuring the regular cover of Issue 1. The second was released in Buffy and Angel magazine #29 and was also given away at recent conventions. This poster is 36" x 24" and features the regular cover for Issue 2. Both posters were factory folded. The following is the current offerings:


Issue 1:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Sketch Variant Cover, 1/1000, 1st print


Expanded Cover, 2nd print


Promotional Poster, Convention


Issue 2:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Promotional Poster, Convention/Magazine


Issue 3:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Issue 4:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print

Pictures Courtesy of Dark Horse comics.
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JTT Revealed, Foreign Cars, Trans-fat, The State

NO DISINTEGRATIONS



Well, I think I've finally finished copying code and fixing links and making all the upgraded changes (at least for a bit). If anyone notices anything else missing, let me know.


CHRISITAN SLATER AND JTT?


If you're still on the edge of your seat about Christian Slater from a few posts ago, my theory is that Jonathan Taylor Thomas is his illegitimate child or something. Check out Jon (he hates being referred to as "JTT", the pompous ass) in Smallville or Veronica Mars if you have no clue what I'm rambling about. He's like a mini-CS, including smug facial expressions and phrasing.


STUPID BUMPER STICKER


Today I saw a car with a bumper sticker that read, "Please don't put my flag on your foreign car." The sentiment is obviously trying to support American automotive manufacturers, but the truth behind the statement is pretty outdated. Considering we are now moving toward a global economy, people should take a few minutes and do some research about where and how things, such as vehicles, are actually being made. While many automobile companies could be considered foreign at first glance due to their corporate headquarters being in a foreign country, most are actually multinational so that we, the consumer, can get a better deal on a new ride. I used to work for a company that manufacturer automotive parts. While most of our business was supplying the Big Three, we also made parts for several "foreign" companies as well. So just remember that even though the name may be that of a "foreign" car, there's a good chance that many of the actual parts were manufactured right here in the good ole USA.


EATING AGAINST THE LAW


Another thing that has been bothering me for the last decade and continues to escalate is the trend in "fixing" our countries problems by introducing more laws. We are now legislating what people can and cannot eat. In the past these types of laws were disguised by saying that certain foods were banned due to health concerns (contamination by illness inducing organisms). Now we're just saying, "Hey, the country's fat and stupid. We'll never be able to take care of the stupid, so let's try to make it impossible for people to be fat." Since when did trans-fat instantly kill the population? Sure it's not great for you, but it's not a psycho killer lurking to get you the minute you put a fry in your mouth. This basically comes down to personal choice. There are SO many ways to acquire food in the country it's ridiculous, but we have to legislate to make sure that people are making "healthy" choices. Let people eat what they want and quit minimizing personal freedoms and choice.


RANT:
Will people ever learn that democracy is actually just a tyranny of the majority? Will someone finally point out to all of our citizens that our country is not based on democracy anyway, but rather capitalism? Will all this cause the US to lose its moniker as "Home of the Free" and instead become "Home of Legislated Choices"? Will the Preamble change to "We the consumers, of the United States of America..."?

Find out next time. Same blog time, same blog channel.


P.S. TV/DVD


Amazon is now offering downloads of 5 episodes of The State. Anyone who remembers enjoying this show should be excited because this probably means a DVD is in the works at some point.
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