We Have A Harry Potter Winner!
May 11One of you crazy muggles, Stephanie, just won a $50 Visa Cash Card and paperback set of the Harry Potter series, courtesy of Scholastic’s “Real Magic of Harry Potter” Online Giveaway! Who’s your favorite character, Stephanie?
I always liked McGonagall. Stern but kind-hearted, loyal and brave.
Hard to argue with that, except that Snape is sexy. Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking that, internet.
Don’t forget, you can also win one of FOUR trips to Orlando to experience the Wizarding World for your own self at Universal Studios this summer.
Lost 6.14, "The Candidate"
May 06
I’m having a hard time with it.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Bin – 4/30/10
Apr 30
It’s that time again — time to cram every bit of awesome and sort-of-awesome and maybe-not-as-awesome-but-shit-we-need-to-fill-up-some-space from the past week into one tidy little feature. We call it…The Bin!
This week there’s a bit of a twist – Saturday, May 1st is Free Comic Book Day! Yay!
Matty Potter's Favorite Harry Potter Moment
Apr 28
There’s something incredibly compelling in geek entertainment about the No-Win Scenario*.
Of course, the most famous No-Win Scenario saw Captain James T. Kirk defeat the Kobayashi Maru test during his time at Starfleet Academy. JJ Abrams brought that sequence to life in his Star Trek flick last summer; we first heard about it in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Later in that movie, Kirk conquers yet another No-Win Scenario, with a gutsy, naked bluff that allows the Enterprise to lower the Reliant’s shields, thus narrowly clawing out a victory over his arch-enemy.
There’s a couple great No-Win Scenarios in Star Wars. From Empire Strikes Back, we have Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids desperately weaving their way to avoid any Imperial entanglements before narrowly escaping into the bowels of a giant space worm. Then in Return of the Jedi, the tremendous moment when Luke is walking the plank on one of Jabba the Hutt’s sail barges, steps toward the sarlacc pit, only to grab the edge of the plank and catch a lightsaber hurled into the air by R2-D2. (Minor Matt note: Some twenty-odd years after first seeing that flick, that moment still gives me goosepimples. Just typing this gave me some.)
We love the No-Win Scenario because it isn’t the No-Win Scenario at all; it takes us to the brink of a character’s darkest moment, but flips the script toward the dawn of victory, usually in an unexpected way. Geek entertainment, with its superheroes and Jedi and giant space-faring Horatio Hornblower starships, provides a unique opportunity for amazing feats that transform a No-Win Scenario into a thrilling win.
The Bin – 4/23/10
Apr 23
It’s that time again — time to cram every bit of awesome and sort-of-awesome and maybe-not-as-awesome-but-shit-we-need-to-fill-up-some-space from the past week into one tidy little feature. We call it…The Bin!
