Weekly Geek Outs - 04/15/16

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• Doctor Strange

We were treated to our first look at the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week with the teaser trailer for Doctor Strange. While there has been some backlash for whitewashing The Ancient One (perhaps ignoring that they're having a gender nonconforming woman in the role), I nevertheless thought this initial glimpse was great. They're also changing Baron Mordo to be played by an black actor, which is great to add more diversity to what is a somewhat lackluster roster of MCU heroes and villains when it comes to diversity. This movie just looks like a trippy, wild, fun ride that is like Inception with magic and superheroes. I'm in!

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Another great teaser trailer we got this week was for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (how are we going to abbreviate this movie title? FBWTFM?). Exploring more of the deep Harry Potter universe, this movie will take place in 1920s America, which will be a refreshing take and will provide so many opportunities to flesh out this world. I'm really looking forward to this movie, and while we don't get much in this trailer, anything taking place in this world already has my interest piqued.

• Fear the Walking Dead

After the disappointing season six finale of The Walking Dead, this past Sunday we were treated to the premiere of season two of Fear the Walking Dead. This show's initial six episode season one was pretty slow moving (I know I saw someone joking that pretty much the entire season was summed up in a quick "Previously On..." which goes to show how little happened) and this first episode was no different. The jokes about this show being a zombie sort of write themselves. Both of these shows are starting to lose me with their inconsistency and lack of character exploration or anything that gets me really invested in the show. Also, FTWD struggles to me with their chemistry between the characters, which makes it hard to watch or get connected to the show. I think I'll give FTWD a few more episodes to win me over, but if not, I don't think I'll waste my time anymore.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekly Geek Outs - 04/08/16

Greetings!

Here's what is all the geeky stuff going on in my world this week:

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

This movie finally came out on Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital HD this week, bringing along some new special features alongside the much beloved film. I was really excited to dig in with the behind the scenes stuff for this movie to get some more background and context to the the story and production. I have to say I was a little disappointed by what I found. There is certainly a breadth of different special features, but the depth isn't there. I found myself sort of bored with them, and I watched most of them all in one sitting. The deleted scenes were the worst part. They were all irrelevant fluff and only added up to a few minutes of footage. I'm sure they are going to repackage this movie several times in the future (in addition to all the current versions for different retailers) and have a trilogy box set with Episodes 8 and 9 when they come out that has more special features. I'm happy to finally own the film, I just wish there was more stuff with it.

• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The first teaser trailer for this upcoming addition to the Star Wars universe dropped yesterday morning. To put it simply, I am so excited for this! It is a unique exploration of this rich universe for the first time as a movie. We've had plenty of video games, comics, and books that expand the Star Wars universe, but this is the first "anthology" film we'll be getting, and it looks like it will not disappoint. Dare I say that it could be even better than Force Awakens?

• The Walking Dead

This past Sunday was the season 6 finale of TWD. I did not like it. I think the cliffhanger was cheap even though there are some that are clinging to it as masterful storytelling. The entire finale episode was a build up to a moment that itself dragged on and then did not pay off (it won't for another seven months). This show has had high highs and low lows. It is either really unique, fun, brutal, emotional television, or a super boring drag with no end in sight. After the finale, I contemplated giving up on this show, as I have with other shows in the past (for example: New Girl, Doctor Who, Once Upon a Time, Game of Thrones, Heroes Reborn). I think the break will help me get some distance and reevaluate if I want to keep committing time to the show. Maybe Fear the Walking Dead will reinvigorate me with this zombie universe.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekly Geek Outs - 02/19/16

Greetings!

Here's what is on my mind this week:

• The Walking Dead

Walking Dead came back from its mid-season break this week, and wow, it came back in a big way! Picking up right where the last episode left off, we were treated to an epic episode with a lot going on, but it all worked. It is easily one of the best episodes of the series so far, and I'm really excited to see where the rest of the season goes from here. I enjoy watching this show as it airs with my partner, since it gives us one more thing to share and it is a nice Sunday night ritual before the work week begins. I've been with this show since the beginning, and I'll (most likely) be with it until the end.

• Valentine's Day

Connecting to the previous item, this past Sunday was also Valentine's Day, which I spent with my partner, enjoying a nice, quiet day at home. We had a tasty breakfast, wonderful dinner (that I made, which is a rare occurrence), and some of our favorite wine that we have held onto since we were in New Jersey for Winter Break since we can't find it up here in Maine. We also enjoyed The Walking Dead together to cap off the night. It was really great to be able to spend that quality time together, and it continues to reinforce the importance for us of making the time on our schedules to have this with each other.

• RA Interviews

Something that has been (and will continue to) keeping me busy lately is rolling out this year's hiring process for Resident Assistants. I'm taking a bigger part in this for this cycle, and it has been quite the learning experience. It is fun to see all of the raw enthusiasm from the students involved, and it is helping me be more detail oriented organizing everything. We just started a few weeks ago, and the process will go until about this time next month, so there is still plenty to come, but so far it has been a positive experience and I look forward to see how the rest of it will go!

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 10/16/15

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• Fear the Walking Dead

Over my long weekend break back in NJ (the reason for no posts on this past Monday or Friday), I sat with my partner and watched the entire first season (only six episodes) of Fear the Walking Dead (FTWD), the new companion series to hit show, The Walking Dead (TWD). My partner and I are big fans of TWD so we wanted to check out FTWD to see how it holds up. The answer is that FTWD is both similar and different to it's counterpart, in good ways and bad (I'm a very relative person). It's slower moving and smaller scale but also leads nicely to a different focus than our badass survivors in TWD. These people are still figuring everything out and aren't as hardened yet but are becoming acquainted with their new normal in terms of what kind of things they'll have to do to get by. I'm intrigued to see where the show goes, and I hope it doesn't just become The Walking Dead: Los Angeles since they have an opportunity here to tell a very different kind of story with FTWD.

• Arrow

After what many deemed (myself included) to be a rocky third season, this new season of Arrow is hopefully going to right the ship a bit. I like the bit of a lighter tone the show has been taking, as well as getting deeper into the relationship Oliver has with his team. I'm still a big fan of this show and have been for a while since I think it has some of the best action sequences on TV and builds up in its own way to the expanded, shared universe with The Flash. I look forward to it helping to expand the universe even further as it works to set up the new mid-season series, Legends of Tomorrow.

• The Flash

The first two episodes of season 2 have aired so far and this show is keeping the positive momentum going from their debut season. They're still going all in on pulling from their awesome comic book lore, introducing the multi-verse, the original Flash Jay Garrick, and continuing to maintain the expanded, shared universe of the show. I can't wait to see threads from season 1 picked back up as well as fun uses of the multiverse such as seeing different versions of our core cast in Earth 2 for example. If you haven't watched this show yet, get on Netflix and watch the whole first season, you'll be glad you did!

Thanks for stopping by!