Me so spoily…
Jul 18Ahoy! NO SPOILERS BELOW!
Right now, it’s taking physical restraint not to spoil myself silly on the last Harry Potter book.
I’m almost done re-reading book 5, and then it’s on to book 6. Then, hopefully, book 7 will be out and I can jump right in.
Until that moment, I already know that spoilers exist. Reliable spoilers. It took Slashdot a few days to pick up the story, but I found the photographed pages of what’s allegedly a library copy of the book on Demonoid Monday afternoon.
(Supposedly, the nimrod who took the photos left the camera’s serial number somewhere in the image–how dumb can you be? For that reason alone, I hope Scholastic lays the legal smackdown on his sorry ass–you have to be truly inept to screw up digital piracy in this day and age.)
It’s not so much that I want to download the book and read it–I just get this gut, visceral reaction knowing that a few Googles or clicks away, someone has written up all the dirty details that I’m craving. Who dies, who lives, and how it all goes down. Hell, I skim pages where I suspect I could even accidentally be spoiled, with this weird scary butterfly tingle in my belly, like I’m playing Russian Roulette.
I need a hobby. No, a REAL hobby, like curling or knitting. Something that doesn’t involve this goddamned machine.
Indy "Arrives" (Or: George, Cut Down on the Cheetos)
Jul 18As I continue to chronicle the pathetic attempt on the parts of three of our preeminent film juggernauts to recapture the vanished glory days of their youth, I submit the latest installment in my “How in the name of fucking GOD can Indiana Jones 4 actually be any good?” campaign:
Indiana Jones: Community | Video: Indy Arrives
Shot by Spielberg himself, it depicts three self-satisfied, fat and sad old men sitting around in the desert while a multi-million dollar film project takes place around them, a project pinned on the impossible possibility that maybe George Lucas (whose prequels mostly sucked), Harrison Ford (whose movies since…well, since FOREVER have mostly sucked), and Steven Spielberg (whose movies have…okay, they’ve been mostly good to great) can make lightning strike a fourth time.
Mark my words, genre fans: It vehemently AIN’T HAPPENIN’. If it does, I will literally eat Indy’s hat.
Seriously. If I see this movie–which I will–and it is good–which is impossible–then I will eat a fedora.
Only in Japan, pt. 1
Jul 17A flash-based game, in Japanese, where you (get ready) are a Victorian girl who gets into a series of ever-more bizarre slap fights. I like to think being able to read the Japanese text would provide some context for the game, but it’s not needed to play.
The Alert Nerd Podcast: Episode 1 (071707)
Jul 17In honor of this, my 31st birthday, we are PROUD and THRILLED to launch…
OUR PODCAST.
(Cue ominous music.)
Seriously, we figured, every OTHER nerd on the intertubes has a goddamned podcast, so why not us?
In episode 1, we discuss a vital question for every geek on the planet: To Comic-Con, or Not To Comic-Con? Plus, our debut round of Buy This Now, where we tell you how to spend your hard-earned pay at your local Geek Emporium.
If you have ever wondered, “Gosh, I wonder what Chris, Sarah, and Matt actually sound like, so I can imagine their voices in my head reading the posts,” then this is your lucky day.
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My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-29b54f8ef9958463ad4ea8ab85ff82bd}
Delicious
Jul 16I finally watched the handful of Blood Ties episodes socked away on my TiVo annnnnnnndddddd…I enjoyed them! Somehow, the heady brew of melty fantasy cheese, overheated vampire mythos and soothing Vancouver backlots hits my B-level-genre-TV-loving sweet spot in a way that Painkiller Jane and the non-Claudia Black episodes of The Dresden Files do not.
Part of it is that the cheese is always fairly enjoyable — and when it ventures into “unintentionally hilarious” territory, it’s just over-the-top enough to be kind of awesome. I’m thinking of the moment in the voodoo-themed episode wherein one of the voodoo dudes gleefully sits in a chair made out of bones that look like they were swiped from the Indiana Jones(TM) Adventure Outpost at Disneyland.
It also has to do with Christina Cox, who I LOVE. In the late ’90s, she was a big part of another B-tastic extravaganza, F/X: The Series, which also featured a pre-Matrixcized Carrie-Anne Moss. As tough PI Vicki Nelson, she gives Blood Ties a center and a soul and she always has perfect hair. She’s exactly the kind of charismatic presence a show like this needs.
The show was popular enough to get a second season, which starts in the fall. In the meantime, I plan to check out Tanya Huff’s books, on which the series is based.
