John's Geektastic Blog 2

hello and welcome to my blog I hope you like what you see and you will come and become a regular visitor to our strange wee corner of the Xhamster verse.



Random thought of the week

are the Star Wars Prequels as bad as everyone says they are? Or are they misunderstood, personally I don't care for them I have seen A NEW HOPE, EMPIRE and JEDI countless times (Literally i've lost count on how many times i've seen them) I watch them when i'm sick,bored,holidays I even invented a Star Wars drinking game with my friends at uni so I could combine getting wasted with my love of star wars. The prequels on the other hand I have maybe seen the phantom menace 5 times? Clones about 7ish and then sith 4 times. They just didn't do it for me but they have there fans, they made there money, so they must off done something right what it is I don't know. A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a friend and they said they enjoyed the Prequels more than the original, saying that the originals lacked the scope of the prequels and that the whole rise off the empire was deftly done and that got me thinking does my age and background make me prejudge against them this friend was about 7 years younger than me and grow up in a foreign country one which had a man take power through means similar to Palatine and which lead to some of the worst crimes in the history of humanity so off course he would see them in a different light. Though I will never love them or even watch them again maybe I can see them in a new light who knows maybe your Humble Narrator is growing up (very slowly and at the rate of two steps forward and one back)



Grown up things John cant do

1. John hates phoning people, I hate it, when I wanna get a take-a-way I will walk the 1mile and a half to the Chinese, Indian, chippy and order the food then walk over to the taxi office and get a taxi home. I don't know if this is due to me growing up with a severe stutter that still comes out when I'm nervous or what but I just cant do it
2. John Cant buy Clothes, yes your humble narrator and all round folk hero cant buy clothes, like WTF? Why when I go into one shop and buy a XL T-shirt then walk down the street into another shop and buy a XL T-shirt it doesn't fucking fit like what the hell? Or when I buy and 2XL shirt and its nice and lose plenty of room to move around in and I get another and its like a fucking sausage skin? And don't get me started on trousers, I'm anywhere between5 foot 8 and 6 foot 3 with a waste that vary s between 36 inch and 44inch. WHIT? Fuck it someone else can buy my clothes.
3. John can't pay bills organise a budget or work out a mortgage, now this one I blame purely on the eduction system. My head is full of useless shite, I know why trees are green, I know that litmus paper turns blue of alkalines red for Acid and green for neutral, I can tell you how many wives Henry the VIII had and that little line under your nose is called a filtrum. WHIT? HOW THE FUCK IS THAT EVER GOANNA FEED ME AND KEEP ME WARM?
4. John cant sign his signature, every time I write it down it looks totally different sometimes its all neat and liney other times there's big loops and twists but all in all its never the fucking same.

Yes all these any many other things are keeping your humble Narrator down but not out in the world of grown-ups



Johns Babe off the week

Continuing with our Babes of Buffy series with our favourite fiery redhead bookworm witch Willow Rosenberg who was Portrayed by Alyson Hannigan. Famous for playing a number of roles outwith Buffy, she is most often seen in comedys including American Pie where she plays Michelle every ones favorite flute playing Nympho manicac Reapeat after your humble narrotor “this one time at band camp” and or other famous Nympho Lily Aldrin in How I met your Mother. She has also lent her voice to several cartoons including the wild thornberrys, the simpsons, king of the hill and rugrats. She is married to Buffy and Angel co-star Alex Denisof with whom she has two Daughters, extra geek credit goes to her being Godmother to Joss whedons son.





Johns Book Club

Its time for your Humble narrator to sit down in the chair of Knowledge and tell you all about some off the books in my collection. In my Library you will find comics, fantasy, sci-fi, technical manuals and a Plethora of historical based fiction.



With the return to our screens of the walking dead in the next few weeks its time to delve into some zombie fiction that has availed us in the past few years, world war Z by Max Brooks tells the fictionalized tale of humanity's war and eventual victory over the undead hordes. Taking the form off a series of interviews with survivors of the war with Zed. The interviews cover both world and military leaders, individual soldiers as well as some of the wars survivors and snake oil salesmen who made a quick buck at humanity expense. A great work of fiction, that is full off real military tactics takes digs at the world governments and the war on terror at times humorous and always terrifying. My favourite chapter concerns the war to retake the Paris catacombs which during the war became home to millions off zombies and it would prove to be one of the bloodiest battles of the war and at times it made my tear and others made me whoop with delight like the old Texas cowboy who took on a heard of zombies with his Winchester, Colt navy six and his stallion and saved his ranch single handily and who can forget the blind Japanese Gardner and his young Apprentice who sums up humanity perfectly

"I told him that we might be facing fifty million monsters, but those monsters would be facing the gods."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzMxC9h2KVE

you can listen to it on youtube (see how many famous voices you can tell)





Johns Icons of fiction

what comes to your mind when you hear the word Doctor when thinking about TV? Do you think of Bones and Crusher? Daniel Jackson? Dana Scully? Doc Cottle? ER? Casualty? When I hear the word Doctor I think of the runaway in time and space the hopeless romantic who throws his life on the line for strangers who he doesn't even though he has just met them, who has defeated the worst that time and space has throw at him despite almost never using guns who is this man? Why my Dear old Boy he is the DOCTOR. But what of his 13 incarnations what makes the Doctor who he is and why does he do what he does, the runaway from Decadence and the cosmic fool with the Dangerous glint in his eye and the brain off a super computer. The most Alien of Aliens yet the most Human. This is the story off the First Doctor (William Hartnell) the Oldest looking Doctor yet the Youngest incarnation. The Doctor stole (or was stolen) by an Old T40 TARDIS and set out to see the universe along with his granddaughter Susan . This Doctor could be gruff, rough and though and yet had the wonder of a c***d while being as stubborn as a teenager (cause he was) he made some off the Doctors greatest Foes (Daleks and Cybermen) and met some of history's greatest men and women Napoleon, Richard the lion-heart, Nero as well as the first Time-lord to see the Value in humanity for eons and who would become our greatest friend and protector In short he was the first Doctor.



Geeky interview Kelly

1 hey whats your name and tell us a bit about yourself


for xham purposes I go by Kelly (yes it's my real name) or Kellykins (it's a nickname i have in real life too)



2 so what kind of Geeky stuff are you into?

I'm not really "hardcore" into any one area of being geeky, but i do like to dabble in a bit of everything i suppose. if anything its probably books. when I was little I was obsessed with a lot of fantasy type books - Alice in wonderland, wizard of oz, chronicles of narnia, neverending story. books that kind of allowed me to escape the reality of being snowed in most of the time, lol

lately I haven't had as much free time for leisurely reading, but i've been getting more into Neil Gaiman books. his stuff is fantastic. it's like Tim Burton minus the disney "squeaky clean" bits. i've finished neverwhere, the graveyard book, american gods, and anansi boys. 

generally if i can read the book before watching the movie version then i try to, but i'm not opposed to having the movie lead me to the book.

3 the neverending story is a book I've always wanted to read I was a big fan of the film, can you tell me what the book is like?

is it too cliche to say the book is way different from the movie? lol

its really true though. not just in terms of things being cut out/changed. what people know to be the "first" neverending story movie is really just the first half of the book. 

I don't recommend anyone watching the second movie because it's terrible. even when I was little I knew it was terrible, but the plot of that one basically covers the second half of the book.

I don't know that telling an adult to read the book now would give them the same level of enjoyment that i had when I read it growing up, but if you like fantasy novels it's still certainly among the better ones.

fun fact - in the book Atreyu has green skin!

4 I will try and pick it up at some point on a side note never watch the 3rd movie possibly one off the worst movies i've ever seen. so would you sing Limahls theme tune with me?

how many drinks am i allowed to have first before attempting that? i'm going to go ahead and say at least 5-7, lol

5 i'm sure we could arrange that, so what type of movies do you like?

i'll watch most anything (again, when you're snowed in for half the year, you can only do so many things to occupy your time) but generally i like to watch comedy movies, or sometimes fantasy movies. 

a lot of times the "fantasy" genre spills over into the sci-fi/geeky realm of things and i'm okay with that. the only problem is that you run into the "low budget" stuff where its either bad effects or a bad costume or something and it turns out super cheesy. 

i'm no opposed to dramas or documentaries, but too often i feel like i have to be in a certain mood to want to watch it. like emotionally prepare myself. 

no one gets a group of friends together for pizza and says "hey, anyone wanna watch schindler's list?" lol, that would be so bizarre.

so yeah, anything with will Ferrell, zoolander is always good, super troopers, those are always alright with me. 

i know they show the harry potter movies every other weekend, but if that's on i'll usually turn it to that channel even if its just for background noise. and oh yeah, luna is the best! team ravenclaw bitches! :P

6 I never took you for a Potter fan, are you one?

i'm not any kind of SUPER fan, but i do like it a lot. again, when most fantasy stuff turns to being low budget/terrible then when something really good like the HP movies come along you kind of have to embrace it a little bit more in hopes that you'll get more good things out of it.

it's given me a better understanding of why people go to comic conventions and things. if there's no audience for something then the studios won't make the movie, but if you prove there's an audience then you can at least force their hand into making something (hopefully) good.

i think the other reason that i (and others) like the HP movies are that they weren't dumbed down to be "just for little k**s". everyone grows up, learns things, makes mistakes, and they become more like real people.

7 so what type of sci-fi are you into?

to be honest i'm not too much into the "sci-fi" realm of geeky things. i have watched battlestar galactica (the new one) and that was pretty cool, but i liked it more for the stories/interactions with characters as opposed to the special effects.

my interest in them tends to drop off when people start getting hyper critical over small things. like, i'm aware of the whole star wars "a parsec is a unit of length not time" debate but i just don't give a crap about why it's a problem. 

people are ready to accept a universe where you can control people/things with your mind but if some space jockey in a bar says the wrong thing about quantum physics that albert einstein could barely figure out then suddenly its a 30 year debate. to me that's just insane, lol

i dont mind space/science as a setting, but i'm much more interested in character interaction. i kind of want to get back into dr. who for that reason. they don't seem to be overly concerned with explaining the "science" part so much as just making good stories.

8 that is the very reason im into Sci-fi, for the charator interactions, Special effects are there to enhance a story not "be" the story that is why films like the Star Wars Prequels failed to live up to the original which where about the Journey of Luke,Leia, Han and the Redemption of Darth Vader. 
so your a fellow whoian who is your favourite Doctor?

i originally started watching when it was david tennant, but then Nova told me i needed to watch when it was christopher eccleston and i was more of a fan of him as the 9th doctor. he seemed a little more badass i guess. and i know everyone likes to point at matt smith and say "look how cute he is with the little fez on!" but i'd rather have someone who looks like they can kick some butt.

9 Side note my Favorite Doctor the 3rd the Actor playing him Jon Pertwee was in the Special forces during world war II and was one off the men who James Bond was Based on. Do youu like the James Bond series?

hmmmmm, for james bond i like the "bookends". so its connery or craig, and that's it.

all the middle ones are a little too..... silly i guess. they got too far into the "this special gadget is a watch that shoots a laser and controls your car that turns into a space ship so you can intercept the missile before it hits london."

10 Back to Battlestar Galactica, one of my personal favourites btw, what is it about it that makes you enjoy it?
i liked that there were a lot of strong characters, especially the women. starbuck could hold her own against anyone, and she didn't get all apologetic when people confronted her. i liked boomer a lot too, especially how conflicted she was and always seemed to fight to prove her humanity. i won't say too much more about them to avoid any potential spoilers for people who haven't seen.

captain adama was really interesting too, he had so many tough decisions to make, but you could always still understand why he was so harsh with some of them. that's one of the things that annoys me about the star trek stuff, its always "this is a billion to one shot, but we have to try it" and then everyone ends up happy and back on the ship. with battlestar there were real consequences, and it was very rare that everyone made it back from a mission. 

final thought, i liked that the series had a clear story throughout and that they never lost sight of their overall mission to get home. too many times shows try to keep adding seasons to them because they're trying to make money, and the plots just keep getting worse and worse. 

like lost. i tried watching that because a friend told me to, and then they were like "we have to go back to the island" and i was like "how many more seasons of this??? no thank you. you got off the island, its over" lol

11 I liked the Relationships between people on that Program, every one had there own problems and issues with others around them Lee didnt talk to his father at first but they grew to respect and eventuely love each other. talking about Lost what did you make of the New J J Abrams Star Wars movie?

i liked the new star wars movie alright. it seemed like it was a step in the right direction, getting away from so much cgi stuff and making it more about the characters. 

honestly though, to me it just felt like a "stepping stone" movie in the sense of like "okay, we know everyone hated jar jar binks, so we're going to make it seem a lot like the old stuff to let you know we're not going to have any more jar jar moments".

stuff happened in this new movie that will have long lasting effects (han solo, etc) but in the end there were a few too many loose ends left hanging around. they're really going to have to prove themselves with the next movie, and its only if the NEXT one is good, then i think it validates the force awakens. that's why i say it's a stepping stone movie. if the giant hologram emperor guy turns out to be some space turtle that got mad because he blames luke for his turtle mom dying 30 years ago then everyone watching is going to be super pissed.

the thing that i still dont understand all the time is the internet hype that goes with the star wars movies. everyone was so excited about things like "oh there's a female storm trooper! she has silver armor, she's so cool!" and then she was in the movie for like 2 min and got thrown in a garbage chute. how is that exciting? lol

12 and that last point is why for the 3 months before the force awakens came out I stayed away from Youtube and told my friends not to mention star wars :P. you seem to like turtles can you give us some insight into that?

haha, i dont know. seems like in space movies someone always has to be some kind of space lizard/reptile/turtle/infected with a virus.

13 ive heard it though the g**** vine that you like the Ninja Turtles, tell me bit about that?

when i was little growing up i used to get babysat by some family friends until my dad could come pick me up after work, and they had 2 boys who were a couple years older than me. ninja turtles was one of the few shows that could be agreed upon that everyone could watch. for them it still had ninjas, and for me it was still a cartoon, so just through like, sheer force of exposure i became a fan, haha. i dont resent it, but that's how it happened.



14 so where do the ninja turtle panties fit in?

i saw them at walmart and they were on sale, lol

15 any other geeky clothes?

not really no. because of living in alaska most of my clothes have had to choose function over fashion. things like matterhorn snowboots don't come in star wars prints, and north face doesn't make a goretex harry potter winter jacket, lol

16 mores the pity :P do you collect anything?

i suppose you could say i collect books. like i said before, i read a lot and i actually do like to go back and read things more than once. i also hate having to give them up because the second i loan it out/give it away i'll want to read it within 3 days, lol i dont hold on to EVERYTHING, but if i read it between junior high and now then it's still on my bookshelfs.

17 how many books do you have?

not counting textbooks for school..... somewhere in the 250-275 range

18 do you have a particular way of stacking them?

i usually just group them together by author. other than that, there's no real system to it. there's too many other things going on in life than to sit around arranging books, lol

19 I would say your well stacked

hahaha, thanks :P

20 Tell me some off the books that are in your collection?

other than the ones i've already named? hmmm..... a lot of stephen king stuff, agatha christie novels (i like a good mystery now and then), phillip roth, tolkien, sylvia plath, tales of edgar allen poe. i have a lot of "the classics" or what some people might say "summer reading" books, lol. those are usually the ones on sale where you can get 2 for 1 deals or bulk discounts, so they're east to pick up. basically, if you had to read it in high school or college then it's on my bookshelf. lol



21 what stephen king books have you read?

hmm lets see

the stand
carrie
the eyes of the dragon
different seasons
dead zone
the shining

i read the first few dark tower books a long time ago, and i hope to get to the rest of them. it was just annoying to be like "ok what happens next?" and then 5 years later you get the next book. 

if you people think it's torture waiting 2 years for the next star wars movie, try waiting on the next dark tower/gunslinger book, lol



22 welcome to the world of a George R R Martin fan, for someone who does'nt class themself as geeky you sure do have a large a varied knowledge of geekdom

haha yeah. like i said, i dabble in a bit of everything. plus i pick up on things from talking to people geekier than me :P

23 Like you Humble narrator

exactly ;)

24 is there any geeky things you would like to get into?
such as?

25 I dont know,is there any tv shows or books you feel like trying to watch or read?

always yeah, but with school going on and cutting into my free time there's only so much i can do at once.

plus a girl still has to get out and party on the weekends to stay sane, haha

26 Sanity is an overrated concept ;) just look at all the Doctors

sanity is maybe subjective, but not overrated.

27 WIBBLE

wobble

28 don't watch Blackadder I take it?

i have, just not in a long time

29 cause WIBBLE was what Blackadder said when he was pretending to be mad to get out off the war

blackadder isn't quite the cultural milestone over here as it is there

30 the very last episode of Blackadder goes forth is the Only time I have ever cried while watching a Comedy, the image of a Generation of men going over the top, the shells and the gas and the theme tune playing much slower than useaul and getting quieter and quieter before fading into Flanders field today

i cried a few times while i watched the office. like when jim and pam got married, when michael left, and then when he came back again for dwight's wedding.

31 so kelly if you could spend a geek filled day with 3 geeks from xhamster (no names) what would you do?

i dont know that i'd want to do anything particularly "geeky" necessarily, lol. i mean a movie or something along the way would be fine, but honestly it would just be fun to hang out and drink and have some good food.

32 have you ever been to any conventions and is there any conventions in Alaska?

never been to any conventions,none that i know of up here

33 well Kelly thank you for taking the time to come and answear my questions, Ive had a great time and I hope youve had as much fun as ive had, hopefully we can do it again and with that is there anything you want to ask me?

why is a raven like a writing desk?

cause you can do messages with them?

no, haha

why is it like a writing desk then?

there's no answer, lol

its just a quote from alice in wonderland

34 final bonus question is Highlander the greatest film ever?

it only won the academy award for greatest film ever - ricky bobby



Final thoughts

thank you all once again for Joining in on my rambleings, special thanks to Kelly for her interview and anyone who finds my phrase of the week gets a free Boobie hug from Kelly