More Anakin Skywaker Redux

Hey! Regular readers may be wondering where we've been...well, occasionally real life intrudes on one's commitment to fandom, but things are settling back down and we should be back to a regular posting schedule by next week.

Anakin Skywalker: The Fan Dub

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a fevered analysis on the shared and disperate qualties of Luke and Anakin Skywalker. The conclusion was Anakin is a horrible, horrible person but also a victim of circumstance, because his formative years were a trauma-inducing roller coaster of highs, lows, and constant dehumanization.

Left 4 Dead 2 Coming Soon....Yay?

Photos: Lost Season Finale Party at the Bell House

Brooklyn's Bell House threw a massive party for the last Lost of 2009. Highlights included big screens, a Lostmobile cake, Dharma Beer, and a huge room full of alternately screaming and shushing fans.

The best part of the night for me was the performance by Previously On Lost, a NYC rock band who's songs are all based on episodes of Lost's 4th and 5th season. They have tons of MP3s on their site that I can't vouch for because I haven't listened to them yet, but I will tell you they f'in KILLED live on stage. Low-grade digital video won't fully express the explosive amounts of fan energy they emitted, but here is a short clip of the final lines from their song about SE04EP08, titled "The Island Won't Let You Die."



Lyrics:
Must venture to the temple on your own
will she make it safely to her friends, hey did you hear about the
PALM TREE MASSACRE
Palm Tree Massacre
You need to take my hand, he's toast, and on the count of three we'll coast let's go 123
DEAD

I'm not sure if that clip did them justice. They really were mind blowingly good.

Anyway, check this out!


Who doesn't like Geek Cakes?

Tons of the photos of all that other stuff I mentioned, after the jump....


Previously On Lost t-shirts.

Can you guess which episode they were singing about here?

These fools do it up with rainsticks. Need I say more?

More shots of the cake...



Here's an atmospheric one without the flash...

Let's hear it for the folks at nine cakes!

Filled to capacity.

I said Dharma Beer, and I meant it.


NERDS!

I don't think this was ever actually in Lost.

Conspiracy Theory Theater: The Wolverine Leak

So we all know that the Wolverine workprint was leaked on the internet more than a month before it's upcoming May release date. Fox Studios has been in a major huff over the leak, waging war on pirates, yanking the print from torrent sites, and swearing revenge on the perpetrators once the FBI catches up with them.

But in this case of big Hollywood business and internet piracy, are things really as they seem? Geekanerd's resident conspiracy theorist has his own ideas about the people responsible, and their motives for the leak.

We've dramatized this theory for your edification and enjoyment. Spread it around. Trust no one.

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: The Star Wars Force Trainer In Action

Here us your Gnerd editor, AHR, using the Force. I've been waiting my whole life for this.



You may be wondering, when can I own this? July 23rd, 2009.

For embeddable video of this life-changing experience, check out our YouTube Channel.

New York Comic Con: Is Joss Whedon the New Merchant/Ivory? Also, Sunday Photos!

On Sunday at Comic Con, I so desperately wanted to see the Dollhouse preview screening, but missed it due to a prior commitment. But with a little help from my press pass, I made it inside for the following Q&A, and even got to ask The Man Himself a question. Here is a clip of his answer from Cinema Blend (they cut out my stuttering faux-professional questioning, THANK GOD).



To summarize, I asked what genre he most like to work in next, and his response was a "frilly costume drama" in either the Elizabethan era or the end of the 19th century. He noted the similarities between Costume Drama and Sci-Fi, because they exist in strange, unfamiliar worlds. "Also, heh, pretty dresses."

In other news, yes on Doctor Horrible sequel (who knows when), no on Serenity 2, no on a Dollhouse comic, and kind of on a Dollhouse Musical (Eliza sings in ep 3, but it's cause she's a backup signer). And Joss is a big Battlestar nerd, and said The Sarah Chronicles was his "second favorite drama on television.". Dollhouse premieres Friday night.

Okay! Now leaving the Whedonverse. Here's a photo random for Sunday, starting with actual factual Watchmen Babies!

These kids rule all. Homemade outfits for the win. Median age: 15. The reps at DC liked their costumes so much they enlisted them to help hand out their Watchmen swag. I hope they invited them to the premiere or something. These kids are fandom personified.

A Zoey/Hunter team! Awesome. Great makeup on the hunter, and Zoey found a fantastic jacket (though she said she wasn't crazy bout the "clown sleeves"). Excellent pose here.

Have you ever heard of Mana energy potion? It's an energy drink for gamers that supposedly contains the power of two redbulls in one of those little bottles. Ee-yikes! This lady was giving up tiny shots of Mana (blue) and the new Health potion (red). They both taste like death, blue slightly less so than heath. But I suppose that's how you know it's working. And I did manage to prowl the con for seven hours on no food on Sunday, so maybe these shots were the only thing keeping me standing.

2-D stormtrooper made of cardboard! Now that's what I'm talking bout.

This Scorpion was really awesome. You could walk up and challange him, and he would fight you. Like, seriously. With flying kicks and stuff. I mean, these guys were pulling punches, but not by much. Hence the crowd. Some times the best events at these cons don't happen in panel rooms, they happen on the floor. It's a comic con miraicle.

Doc Horrible was a really popular costume, and why not? Here's a Captain Hammer/Doctor Horrible twosome.

Great costumes here. That burlap sack mask is damn effective.

And finally.....Sunday was kids day, and there were actually a whole lot of kids there, in adorable muscled out storebought costumes. But the coolest kid I saw all day was this little Spidey, who was practicing his crawling on Marvel's red carpet. That's some good crawlin, son!

See all these photos (and bonus pics) at the Geekanerd Flickr.

Why Superman Doesn't Exist in the Nolanverse

Oh, the never-ending quandary of the DC Universe--Superman could wipe out Batman's entire rogue's gallery before breakfast, without breaking a sweat. As could Green Lantern... And Wonder Woman... Green Arrow couldn't... The Flash could... 

Why Should You Care About Street Fighter IV?

AHR had the chance to chat with Capcom about Street Fighter IV, touching on everything from what's new to what's old to the ins and outs of Sakura, a fan fave fighter that was just announced as a console exclusive character in the game.

Video produced in co-operation with Pop Culture Shock.

There Will Be Brawl: In-Jokes, Analysis, and Serious Geeking Out

By now, most web-savvy gamers (is there any other kind?) are well-acquainted with the newly minted classic, There Will Be Brawl. If you haven't seen it already, check it out above (mildly NSFW). It's a grim, Noir-ish look into the Mushroom Kingdom, and features awesome production values and appearances by the biggest names in Smash Brothers history (and those who aren't in Episode 1 are on their way...we hear the Pokemon Trainer is next up for the spotlight! Can Pikachu be far behind?).

I recently wrote a detailed review of the show, which you can read at Tilzy.TV. But more importantly, our resident Nintendo specialist Degan was good enough to take meticulous notes on the series, including annotations for the show's many in-jokes and references. You can play the video and read along, or just skim through to see all the nerdy references you may have missed the first time.

• Abductions and mutilations? I'm not sure if this is a yet-to-be-revealed plot point or a reference to some character i'm not thinking of... are the abductions referencing the weird trophy-fying gun that Bowser uses on the characters in the brawl story mode?
• Toad people! Its not the mushroom kingdom without Toads!
• I believe the first Noir music cue is a tune from Mario 2.
• Wii fit ad a nice touch ("unseen arbiter").
• Creepy mask guy in the hallway is from Mario 2.
• "Pileup on Moonview Highway to Moo Moo meadows" is from Mario Kart.

More after the jump? You better believe it.

• Lakitu newscaster is from a bunch of games, but the fact that he's a newscaster is a reference to Mario Kart, where he's the cameraman for the instant replays, and fishes you out after you throw yourself off a cliff. Here, he's complete with fishing pole, and if you look closely you'll see his desk is cloud with eyes.
  
• Luigi's drinking the classic red health potion (I believe first seen in Zelda-but its such a video game convention that I'm not even sure anymore). [edit: there's some debate on the TWBB forums about this potion... many there seem to think its the warp potion from Mario 2... I still maintain that it's regular old health potion. For one, they never drank the warp potions... they threw them on the ground to create doors! So in the context of the scene, it doesn't make much sense for Luigi to be drinking a warp potion... unless he's trying to commit suicide by "internal door".]
  
• Police chief Link and his "Hylean" brand justice-reference to Lake Hylia in Hyrule... apparently an authoritarian police state... never knew. [edit: apparently the "Hylians" are the people of Hyrule... not just lake Hylia]
  
• Awesome violin Mario music that starts as the Mario Death tune and leads into the classic Mario Theme!
• Power up boxes! sweet! And power up mushrooms complete with Mario World sound effects!
• Wario's awesome! And those ice climbers are super creepy... why does Nana need a monobrow?!?
• Roy and Pichu are two characters who didn't make into the line-up for Smash Brothers Brawl...now we know why.
  
• More reference to the mutilations and "tiny guts"? Is that just cause Pichu is tiny... or is there some shrinking thing I'm not picking up?
• Blinking Wario growth a nice touch too
• "Tunic-wearing fairy"- nasty way to refer to Link... "his pigs"? Either just your typical slur for police or possibly a reference to the pigs of Ness' New Pork City? Are there even pigs there though? I don't know...
• Mario Dungeon Theme when Mario confronts Wario and Luigi (actually its the Haunted House theme from Mario World)
• I love the princess' undercover-celebrity-glasses and hoodie! At first I thought the princess was terribly acted... then i realized she's trying to do that obnoxious high-pitched monosyllabic speaking style she always has in the games... pretty clever.
• Mario's medical practice! Dr. Mario reference, natch. [edit: it only just occurred to us the reason for Mario's "failed medical practice"... Dr. Mario isn't featured in Brawl-it's how they killed him off (like they did Pichu, Roy, and MewTwo)]
  
• Shrinking noise from Super Mario World when Mario attacks Wario.
• Ha, "Been a referee (Punchout), been a doctor (obviously Dr. Mario)". Man, Mario's been around.
• Is there tension between Waluigi and Wario? He seems pretty touchy about the issue.
• Awesome awesome ringtone! Sonic Boom! The theme song from the barely played Sonic CD for the even more barely owned SegaCD (I think I owned the only one) I guess that means she's in contact with Sonic... Also surprising they used this since I was one of 7 people who owned SegaCD.
• Ha, "dance around in your skin!" Cause that's kinda what Kirby does!
• "Her own court anymore?" And since when have the Mario Bros not been useful? Not sure if these are game references or again, yet-to-be-revealed plot points...
• Megavitamins.... that's what Dr. Mario used!
• Kirby's a scary freak!

That he is, Degan, that he is. No, seriously. When I had to check the credits for my review, I put my hand over the screen in case I went too far back and ended up on a still of him. Not joking, people.

Watchmen Mania Continues: Animated Comic Available On iTunes

It's a good week to be a Watchmen fan! First we get the assiduously "faithful" trailer for Zack Snyder's film, and now the first of twelve animated shorts (one for each issue) constructed from Dave Gibbons' beautiful original art has hit the iTunes store for FREE! The "short" is about twenty minutes long, and boasts an unabridged telling of the Watchmen tale, something the live action feature will not be able to come close to accomplishing. It even has the chapter headings and closing quotes. And there's no worry about deviating from the source material in any way, because it IS the source material. The only problem is that it's narrated audio book style, meaning one man does all the voices. And not particularly well, all the time. But it didn't bother AHR, and this is still a really exciting new way to experience the book. I can't imagine how long it took to construct some of these animations from tiny comic scans. But the hard work paid off. With an adaptation this spot on, I'm actually left to wonder... Why do we need the movie?

After the jump bonus... A leaked video of the first full Watchmen movie scene?

Video: NYC Zombie Crawl 2008

Photos are one thing, but in order to really understand the mood of the Zombie Crawl, you need to hear the groans of the undead, observe their lurching gait, and hear the the plaintive shouts of the organizer; "Don't break the windows!" Enjoy Gnerd Johnny's 2 minute highlight reel of zombies on the move through Williamsburg.

Dollhouse Upfront Teaser Hits the Net; Wheadonites Rejoyce

Have you noticed all these ads around NYC for TV Networks, a'cept they're not asking you to watch their network, they're telling you that you should advertise with them? This is because it's time for UPFRONTS, when all the advertising suits come to town and get wined and dined by network suits who show them splashy presentations of their amazing new post-strike fall seasons. And while it's hard to get too excited about anything TV-related because the cultural relevance of network/cable boxed television died with the last really good HBO show, one interesting leak did make it online; the very rough looking teaser for Joss Whedon's return to network TV, Dollhouse.

Why you should not expect this trailer to be very good, after the jump...


Keep in mind this is a teaser designed to appeal to advertisers, not audiences. It's very BASE, is what I'm saying. Not FANbase, just base. As in, lots of clumsy exposition, skin, cheesy aftereffects and bad font choices. And it's not like they have a ton of footage to pull from, they've been in production for a month. A month! This is probably why they don't want this kind of thing leaking on the internet. But as a fan of many people involved on this particular project (faithfaithfaith), I can't NOT watch and post it.

Extra points to anyone who can spot the clip from Buffy Season 3, presumably thrown in because they simply haven't shot enough action sequences to fill a two minutes trailer (again, one month of production). Also note that actor Harry Lennix makes an appearance (the skeptical black guy about 1:45 in), who you might remember from one of those awful Matrix sequels, but who you SHOULD remember from Titus, in which he gave a supervillianous performance for the ages.

Anyway, if you Wheadies out there are looking for more of a reason to have (ahem) confidence in this show (see how I avoided a potential pun there?), check out this New York Magazine article in which Joss says he created Dollhouse to save Eliza Dushku from B-Horror Movie Starlet Hell and that she guilt tripped him into not sheving the writing duties off on someone else. How can a series so steeped in personal drama fail!? The stakes are simply too high.

NYCC 08 Venture Brothers Panel: Clips, We Got Em

The Venture Brother's panel at the NY Comic Con was completely packed, and why not? The Astro-Base team was certainly the most articulate, entertaining group of creators I saw all week. Let's go to the video proof.

There's something magical about seeing a man do a cartoon's voice, live and in person. Especially when that man actually writes the show, and can ad-lib in character.

More clips from the panel (with classy graphics from Mantis-Eye's screencap gallery) after the jump...

Ask and ye shall receive; here's James Urbaniak answering a fan's request to do a pick-up line in Dr. Venture's voice. Vulgar hilarity (I call it "hilgarity") ensues.

Here's what happened when a fangirl asked the panel if Kim would be making an appearance in the third season. You know, Kim? Triana's friend who looks like a supervillian? Apparently you were not the only one who thought her 30 seconds of screentime were enough to warrant a major crush, and Doc Hammer is none too happy about it.

Don't act so surprised, DH. You wrote a scene in which Kim thinks Doctor Girlfriend is coming on to her. People are going to like that.

A fan asked why Brock couldn't simply break off the lock of the chastity belt keeping him from consummating his highly unusual relationship with Molotov Cocktease. Doc Hammer sets him straight and shuts him down. Sex is complicated. Cartoons fans need to hear this stuff.

Watch this post Venturers, it'll fill up with more bite sized morsels of Q&A goodness as the day goes on.

Monday Time Waster: Some of the Craziest Crap You've Ever Seen

This video has apparently been around for awhile, but it's new to me so I'm sharing the damn thing. Lot's of strung together mini-vids, often laugh out loud hilarious. The work of a true genius. Keep your eyes peeled for Batman and Robin riding an elephant and some stormtroopers riding a VW Beetle with AT-AT legs... There's a whole lot of riding in this video.

Does LOST Confuse You?

Well you're not the only one.

(If you don't watch the show but one day plan to, some of what you see in the vid will qualify as SPOILERS.)

A Three Year Old Explains Star Wars

Via /Film.

Where the Wild Things Are to Be Completely Reshot? BONUS: WTWTA Test Footage!

CHUD has some very bad news for us. You might want to sit down for this. The Spike Jonze adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are is apparently getting scrapped, rewritten and reshot. Warner Bros did it to Paul Schrader's Exorcist and now they're doing it to Jonze. And while the suits will be saying it's because of technical issues, CHUD says:

It's not because of technical issues, unless you want to consider the lead kid actor and the script technical issues. Sources tell me that the suits at Legendary and Warner Bros are not happy with Max Records, the actor playing Max, the mischievous boy who is crowned King of the Wild Things. Worse than that, they don't like the film's tone and want to go back to the script drawing board, possibly losing the Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers script when they do it. Apparently the film is too weird and 'too scary,' and the character of Max is being seen as not likable.

Surely the studio didn't think they'd be getting a straight kids movie when they hired Jonze, isn't a little late to complain? This news comes a week after some early test footage was leaked to the internet...


Jonze had this to say about the footage:

that was a very early test with the sole purpose of just getting some footage to Ben our vfx supervisor to see if our vfx plan for the faces would work. The clip doesn’t look or feel anything like the movie, the Wild Thing suit is a very early cringy prototype, and the boy is a friend of ours Griffin who we had used in a Yeah Yeah Yeahs video we shot a few weeks before. We love him, but he is not in the actually film…Oh and that is not a wolf suit, its a lamb suit we bought on the internet.

Still, it looks freaking awesome. I love that the monster is jealous of ROBOTS. I'm really upset I might never get to see Jonze's film realized. It was probably my most anticipated upcoming film. I'll leave you with the words of a concerned mother from an early test screening of the film (via /Film):

And some kids at my screening began to cry and asked their parents to leave, so that should give you an idea. The things are not cute. Max comes off a bit weird and off-putting. He slaps his mom and he seems confused and not charming at all. No rumpus, no big set pieces, no ‘state-of-the-art’ lucrative sequences just some running around on some desert place and thats that.

*sigh* It sounds so wonderful...

Geekanerd Goes Idiotaroddin'

Over the weekend, over three hundred teams of five participated in New York's infamous shopping cart race, The Idiotarod. A few of the G'nerd editors raced for the first time this year, and I don't think we did too terribly if I do say so myself. The race is completely unlicensed by any civic organization, and the general mood is indeed of uninhibited idiocy, in the form of garish costumes, sabotage, and lots of thrown food. Some noteworthy geek-themed carts included a Mario Kart, an Oregon Trail wagon, the Indiana Jones crew with Giant Bolder, and the DeLorean (on spotting the team finally making their way to the finish line - G'nerd: "Why didn't you use time-travel to win the race?" Doc:"We did, but we went the wrong way".)

A crapload of photos after the jump...
The race began in Chinatown near the FDR highway and ended in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood, coming in at just over six miles. This meant the first leg of the race was a test of endurance as the teams funneled into the pedestrian walkway of the Manhattan Bridge, for a long uninterrupted drag, broken up only occasionally by flying food substances and Ben Hur style jockeying for position.
Geekanerd went with a New York coffee cart theme, featuring a coffee proprietor (that's AHR in the red apron and hat, having obviously suffered some sort of injury that caused her to fall behind) and various NYC workers. Not pictured is Albo, who went as a doctor and is too fast to even stay in the picture.
C'mon, they look exactly the same! Our cart featured actual hot coffee and donuts, which were used to bribe judges with little effect. This is our team losing a tug-of-war, because we're a bunch of weakanerds. There were a bunch of clever teams, including:
The Mushroom Kingdom!
Lego Men!
With stackable heads! Just like real life!
Teen Wolf!
Q-Tips!
A Clockwork Orange!
Wrestlemania!
Indiana Jones! (With Juno close behind.)
Staten Island Ninjas!
Danger Zone! (These guys won Best in Show.)
The Hair Cult for Men! (These guys were slinging hairy Vaseline at people... Very gross.)
Scooby Doo!
Double Dare!
Cobra! (The hosts of this year's Idiotarod.)
Oregon Trail! (Probly my fave.)
Internet Memes! (I'm ashamed to say I can only identify 2.5 of these references.)
Kool Aid!If one word could describe this event, it would be MESSY. Just look at that wake of goo. There was some serious fury from Red Hook residents on the official Carts of Brooklyn messageboard, although in fairness to the organizers (if not the hedonistic participants), the Cobra organizers did make an honest attempt to clean up in the days that followed, even hiring salvage company to take away the abandoned carts (though according to this post, the salvagers turned down the job on-site, though the picture below certainly proves some sort of take-away effort)
Most photos were taken from the Idiotarod 2008 Flickr Pool.

Be Kind Rewind Marketing Goes Meta

As most of you probably know, Be Kind Rewind is the new movie from Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It's about two video store clerks that accidentally erase all the tapes in their store and shoot homemade versions of the lost films. Apparently the process is called "sweding," and we've previously reported on it here. Here's the trailer for the film:

Got it?

Now get ready for the twist.

Michel Gondry has personally gone and sweded the trailer. Yes, he's sweded the film about sweding. Fantastic.

Delicious.