Hello.
This blog is put together purely for my own self indulgance. It will also serve to help me vent. If you take the time to read these blogs I can only thank you and hope you’ll return to read more. If you enjoy the geeky side of life you will have much in common with me. But beware, for this is HALF MAN HALF GEEK. So while I have been known to sit through the entire Lord of the Rings Extended Editions and had a hell of a time doing it, it should be noted that I have no time for comic books and haven’t watched an episode of Dr. Who since the early 80′s. My mind understands the difference between 1080i and 1080p but my eyes see no difference. I enjoy Halloween and everything to do with it but I don’t enjoy cosplay. I find it odd. I also enjoy sports and am looking forward to the rugby today. Anything else you need to know about me you will find out in due course.
So what can you expect to find here? I’m not entirely sure. I just want to talk about things I enjoy. So there will undoutedly be talk of movies, music, games and telvision. But there will hopefully be relatable life stories. I’m going to be a Dad soon so I’m guessing that’ll pop up. My wife has already sourced me an amazing babygrow with the words “I listen to Iron Maiden with my Daddy” on it, so the poor little chap is already on the rock n’ roll path. But I will try to keep baby talk to a minimum. I know how I feel when someone I’ve just met starts blathering on about their litter. Times like that my mind tends to wander. I end up nodding approvingly but in my mind I’m enjoying Quint’s Indianapolis speech or hearing the tune Sacrifice from season 5 of Buffy.
One thing I do want to chat about is how whiney some geeks can be. I’ve been guilty of this myself but clarification is required. There was a time when geeks were people who, like me, spent many hours in front of their NES or Sega Master System (Alex > Mario) which then became the SNES or Mega Drive. Unlike me, they read comics and drew pictures of their favourite characters. They went a bit deeper than me which is fine. I played guitar for hours on end, everyone has a “thing”. But the moment Joss Whedon pulled off the miracle, made a wonderful movie and avoided the clusterfuck that The Avengers was going to be… geeks went mainstream. They won! You can’t go five minutes without hearing about the next blockbuster movie made for everyone on the back of the geeks. Transformers 4 made another billion dollars recently. All the Marvel movies are raking in the cash. You can’t go three poxy channels on the telly without seeing a show made for geeks. Yet the very thing that made geeks more relatable to me than normal folks, that is their deep love of movies and such, is the very thing that is making me back away slowly from some of them.
Let’s use the barrage of comic book movies as an example. Because (some/not all) geeks care so fucking much about these things they feel they have the right to tell everyone else how to feel about them too. They have more knowledge so they are “right”. Man of Steel was, to some, the worst thing to ever happen to the world and everyone involved with said movie should be banished to the phantom zone. I’ve never read a Superman comic but have seen all the other movies (though I can’t remember anything of Quest For Peace) so I went in hoping for a fun adventure for me to sink my teeth into. And I really enjoyed it. I walked out smiling and looking forward to the Blu Ray (which is gorgeous btw).
I was not prepared for the geek rage. I mean, I love reading it and still do, it’s endlessly funny but I digress. “How many people died in those buildings?” They raged. I dunno… a lot I guess. “Why didn’t Superman take the fight to a remote area?” He tried but that pesky Zod just kinda does what he wants… “Superman shouldn’t ever murder anyone.” Why not? I mean, appealing to Zod’s better nature really wan’t getting it done. “But in the comics and the older movies all he does is save people, he’s not a killer.” And here my friends is where you have to at least try to let it go. Those old movies and comics are still there for you to enjoy. They did something new with Superman and you have every right to despise this movie but as my good friend Simon “Republic of Cinema” Fitzgerald says: “don’t fucking tell me I’m wrong for liking it”. I think we should apply that to everything in the realm of entertainment.
Right, I’m off to complete the excellent Resident Evil Remake. More on this in the next blog.
Cheers,
G.
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