Fact: Michael Bay Loves To Double Dip
One of the trends that Hollywood doesn’t seem to get tired of is the DVD double dip. Transformers: Dark of The Moon was first released on Blu Ray & DVD on September 30th. It was bare bones with no special features at all. That was a very shitty move on behalf of Paramount, as they had full intentions of releasing it again a few months later chock full of special features and in 3D.
As someone who throughly enjoys the commentaries and behind the scenes stuff, I opted to wait it out. Luckily I only have a couple of weeks left until the Transformers: Dark of the Moon Ultimate Edition Blu-Ray 3D Combo Pack hits retail on January 31st.
Transformers Dark of The Moon 3D Blu-ray from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.
Credit [TFW2005]
DDOY Book Club: The Cult of Lego
By: John Baichtal and Joe Meno
Publisher: No Starch Press
Rating: 
LEGO has been a part of my life for as a long as I can remember. Many of my best childhood memories have something to do with those tiny plastic bricks. I vividly remember the Christmas of 1988 when my parents bought me every single set from the Castle line. I spent an entire week building and rebuilding two of my all time favorite sets 6085 Black Monarch’s Castle and the 6054 Forestmen’s Hideout.
With having a Kindle there are very few instances where I actually buy physical books (sorry Borders), but when I saw early reviews for The Cult of LEGO I knew I had to make an exception. In the Cult of LEGO Biachtal and Meno do a great job of touching on the cultural impact that the LEGO Group have had across the world.
A great layout and fantastic photographs highlight some of the most iconic sets produced by the LEGO Group and some of the staggering creations by AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO). The Cult of LEGO will appeal to the broad spectrum of fans and is deserving of a place of honor on any nerd’s coffee table.
The ‘GI Joe: Retaliation’ Teaser Is Better Than The Entirety of The First Movie
Looking back, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra wasn’t the worst movie adaptation of a toyline to hit theaters in the summer of 2009. Hands down, that honor goes to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which for all intents and purposes is a steaming pile of shit. I didn’t wholly disapprove of RoC, but feel that there were some opportunities missed in the execution.
When it was announced that Jon Chu, director of the Step Up sequels and the Justin Beiber movie, “Never Say Never”, had been selected to helm the sequel/reboot to RoC I was not enthused.
This week saw the debut of the teaser trailer for GI Joe: Retaliation. Prepare to have your face melted in with some truly awesome Joe imagery.
Sweet merciful baby Jesus. Wait was that Cobra Commander looking like … Cobra Commander? Did they just kill Channing Tatum?!? Is that Snake Eyes fighting a bunch of Red Ninjas on the side of a mountain? HOLY SHIT. I’m buying my ticket now. See you in line asshats!!!
Insta-Buy: Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis
My father is a responsible for a lot of the nerdy passions in my life. At a very young age I would sit with him and watch a copy of Giorgio Moroder’s contemporary restoration of Metropolis on our kick ass 19″ Magnavox television. On a side note, It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that my father was making illegal dubs of movies that he had rented from West Coast Video. We really didn’t have a lot of disposable income for entertainment, yet we always had good VHS copies of some of my favorites: Big Trouble in Little China, Transformers: The Movie, and Flash Gordon.
Back to Metropolis, it wasn’t until I was well into my college years that I finally got a chance to watch the “original” Metropolis. While I have an appreciation for the tremendous vision that Fritz Lang had in 1927, there’s just something about the color filters and the all-star soundtrack of Moroder’s version. Several years back I went so far as to import the soundtrack from the UK because it was out of print stateside (I kicked myself when it became available on iTunes a short time later)
On November 15th, Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis will be released on Blu-Ray for the very first time. Previously this had only been available on LaserDisc and VHS. And yes, there was a point at which I considered picking up a LaserDisc player specifically for this movie.
Awesomely Nerdy Stuff: Fantasia Air Patrol
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who was completely and utterly terrified by The Nothing in The Neverending Story. Fortunately, over at Nowhere Bad they have decided to avoid that character in entirety and produce a pretty cool homage to everyone’s favorite luckdragon, Falkor.
I like think I’m pretty plugged in to the Interwebz and I really haven’t seen a wealth of Neverending Story merchandise. So this entry is a welcomed change from the relentless onslaught of Dr. Who merchandise flooding sites like TeeFury & Ript Apparel.
Geeks For Tots Is Back For 2011
Toys for Tots is one of the charities that I’ve always supported. As a kid I was fortunate to have some kick ass Christmas mornings, and now that I’m a fully functioning adult with stable employment, I do what I can so that kids that are less fortunate have something underneath the Christmas tree.
Geeks For Tots rewards people for doing the right thing and helping kids during the Christmas season. To encourage increased contributions to this worthy cause, Geeks For Tots is offering prizes to anyone who submits proof of donation. These could either be pictures of aforementioned geek dropping off their toys or a proof of an online donation to Toys For Tots.
Some of the kick ass prizes:
- Gift Cards to BigBadToyStore
- Gift Cards to 80sTees.com
- Star Wars Action Figures from Brian’s Toys
- Premium Format Clone Trooper from Sideshow Toys
- Spider-Man Minimates from Luke’s Toy Store
Complete rules and the fine print can be found over at Geeks For Tots
It’s Still Scary: The Real Ghostbusters “The Boogeyman Cometh”
It’s been pretty well documented that I’m a gigantic Ghostbusters fan, and as a kid I was a fervent watcher of The Real Ghostbusters. Not too long ago I started revisiting the cartoon and found it to hold up rather well. The late 80s were a boon for animated series that were essentially 22 minute long toy commercials. While I never committed The Real Ghostbusters to memory, there are few episodes that have stood out over time and one such is the episode “The Boogeyman Cometh”.
I didn’t like the Boogeyman as a kid and I certainly didn’t like him on my TV while I was trying to eat my Lucky Charms. The animated incarnation of the Boogeyman utilizes portals within his realm to access kids’ closets (inspiration for Monsters Inc. maybe).
Couple that with the fact that he had goat legs, a creepy voice by none other than Frank Welker (he also did Soundwave, Megatron, and Fred from Scooby Doo), and a ridiculous haircut … the Boogeyman was a recipe for childhood nightmares.
It Isn’t Christmas Until The LEGO Advent Calendar Is Mine
For the last three years usually around this time of year I make an trip to LEGO Store to pick up the newest edition of the Advent Calendar. This year the Advent Calendar comes in two flavors: CITY and Star Wars, I opted for the CITY theme.
Due to my line of work, the CITY Police are a favorite and I can’t simply deny 24 days of mini-figure related goodness.
LEGO City Advent Calendar: 7553 MSRP: $34.99
And for those Star Wars minded individuals, the calendar features mini ships and minifigs galore; however they will cost you a bit more (LEGO has to mark up the cost due to licensing)
LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar: 7958 MSRP: $39.99
If you plan on getting either of these sets, be sure to pick them up before Black Friday as they get rather scarce after that point. Also, go direct to LEGO to pick these up the markups at Toys R Us and Target are a bit on the ridiculous side.
Insta-Buy: Mark Welser’s “The Thing”
As an avowed fan of all things John Carpenter you can understand that there is a special place in my heart for The Thing. One of the greatest aspects of The Thing isn’t even in the film, but the glorious one sheet by artist Drew Struzan. It’s imagery is iconic within pop culture which has often been copied but never duplicated.
One of the things I love about Planet Pulp is that is a central repository for nerdy things I like, and artist Tim Welser knocked it out of the park with his poster for The Thing.
I know the thing right now that the craze within pop culture circles are limited edition poster prints for current and cult films. While I have yet to fully embrace that craze, I think that Mr. Welser is deserving of some much deserved love. This print and many of of his works are available in his Etsy Shop Team Welser.
Credit: [Planet Pulp]
And This Is Why I Love The Walking Dead
The second season of AMC’s The Walking Dead kicked off this past Sunday to huge ratings totally dominating that crucial 18-49 year old male demographic. As a long time fan of the comic, I’m very pleased to see it getting the respect it deserves as one of the great modern zombie tales.
One of the key things that creator/executive producer/awesome bearded one Robert Kirkman stated from the outset of the series was that it wouldn’t follow every plot point and character development he laid out in the comic. For the series, the comic would serve as the road map getting us to some of the key dramatic moments long time fans have yearned to see on the screen.
The 90-minute finale ended with one of those “Holy shit Kirkman I can’t believe you did that and are making me wait at least another month before the next issue” moments that fans of the comic are used to. The final scene was something that I saw coming as it is one of the critical plot development early on in the series that sets the stage for **SPOILER ALERT** Hershel’s Farm!
It was kind of like cheating on a test because some of us knew what was coming for poor Carl Grimes.
Fortunately for the viewing public, we will only have to wait another week to see what happens with Rick’s son Carl. I’m more interested in the goings on of Daryl Dixon, my favorite and most loveable crossbow wielding racist redneck.
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