Saccheraferious Thursday: Star Trek!

Alright you you Trekkie dorks out there, dust off your communicator, and glue on those Spock ears because this one's for you!

Nostalgia with Evan T: Time to Take the Physical Challenge!

Do you remember the golden age of Nickelodeon? When you were a kid catching up on the slime station while running in and out of your house playing. Yeah, that was good stuff. And I thought to myself I thought "Evan, maybe it would be cool to talk about some of those shows" So here I go.

Double Dare - Yeah, you remember it. The game show where two teams would battle in both trivia and the infamous physical challenge for a chance to make it to the Double Dare obstacle course. Now for the life of me I couldn't understand why you would ever answer the questions during the trivia portion of the show. Dare, double dare, take the physical challenge! All hosted by Marc Summers before he produced everything on the Food network.

Oh and what spectacular challenges they were. Where else, as a child, would you learn the skill involved in shooting four pies into your partners pants or soaking a cookie shaped sponge in a "milk like substance" and wringing it out into a bucket on your partners head all within thirty seconds? Nowhere, that's where! Then, if you won all that it was on to the obstacle course.

Devilishly designed, the obstacle course was an eight obstacle combination of doom and dispair. You would have to run through all these obstacles with your partner (and in later incarnations your family which I can only assume led to divorces and family splits) and after each station had a flag you needed to grab. Some favorites in the course where the one ton human hamster wheel where you would have to run in....well, a really big hamster wheel, lighting up numbers and lowering an arm with the coveted flag and The Tank which was.....a really big tank filled with packing peanuts or ball pit balls or whatever I think they could steal from the garbage of the local Chuck E Cheese.

Yeah, Double Dare really blazed the trail for all the other game shows to follow.

Legends of the Hidden Temple - Red Jaguars, Blue Barracudas, Green Monkeys, Orange Iguanas, Purple Parrots and Silver Snakes. No, it's not the worst bowl of Lucky Charms ever, it's my favorite old school kids game show.  Showing the reoccurring theme of education and physical activity, LotHT kept me entertained every week. I mean, between a temple of craziness and a talking Olmec head how could you go wrong?

The show always started of with the Moat which the teams had to traverse weather it was via inflatable raft or rope bridge. This process weeded out two teams. Then on to the Steps of Knowledge! Olmec, the giant talking head, would tell you some story about some weird ass object of historical importance like "Lawrence of Arabia's Headdress," "The Levitating Dog Leash of Nostradamus" or "The Adonis DNA of Charlie Sheen". Ok, so the last one was bunk, but the other two are real. Then you had to answer questions about the story. Again, two teams were removed.Then on to the Temple Games. A series of physical activities would ensue. Then the final team standing had proved themselves worthy of entering the hidden temple.

So now after all that you can go into the temple to try and find the artifact Olmec had told you about. Seems easy? NO! You had to go through the rooms but every room had a challenge. In the shrine of the silver monkey you had to re assemble the titular statue. Another room was the haunted forest room where you had to jam your hand into creepy trees looking for the switch to open the door of the room. All this and temple guards.

In the previous parts of the show you could win pendants of life. These were used to bribe the temple guards to leave you alone. The freakin temple guards would bust in on you in any room like they were the police, scare the crap out of you and if you didn't have a pendant of life drag you ass away to what I can only assume was a blacked out van.

Again this show really holds up for me having watched it recently.

GUTS - A few years ago me and some friends were hungover like champs and looking to do as little as possible. We all sat there and watched GUTS for three hours and would have watched it for twenty hours. What a fun show. Later on someone (Not me this time) did some Facebook stalking of one of the winners we watched. I'm not proud of that person but it happened, whatev.

GUTS, oddly hosted by Mike O'Malley, was almost like a children's version of American Gladiators. Three contestants would compete in a series of events, most utilizing the fantastic bungee harnesses Nick must have bought wholesale, in a mad dash to earn points. These points would determine the winner. But after all the regular events there was the monstrous mountain, the Aggro Crag.

The Aggro Crag was the grand finale to the game of GUTS. Each player had a identical side of the mountain to rush up, hitting actuators on the way up. The Crag would drop fake rocks on you, blast crazy confetti loads at you and force you to climb climb climb. The first to the top won and the winner of the whole shebang won what might be the greatest prize ever. A piece of the Aggro Crag.

Now if you have never looked on Ebay for a glowing piece of the radical rock, don't bother. I do on a regular basis and would be more than happy to miss a mortgage payment to own one of those things. There wasn't a kid I knew then or a late twenty something I know now who didn't want that thing. To hoist it high above your head and proclaim yourself champion.

Yeah, TV back then was awesome. Now I'm old and wondering what the hell a Fredburger is or why Charlie wants to go to candy mountain. SSSSIIIIIGGGGHHHH

Hot Nerd of the Week: Milo Ventimiglia!

Hello again everyone! We're back with a brand new edition of HNotW! This week I have chosen Mr. Milo Ventimiglia!

Milo is best known for playing the role of Peter Petrelli on NBC's doomed superhero show "Heroes". Throughout all of the ridiculousness of the four season run, Milo remained the one thing I actually liked about the show. Through the success of "Heroes" Milo developed his own production company, and is currently working on a number of projects.

His production company received a script, which they in turn, collaborated with the writer, and turned into a comic book called "Rest". The comic was picked up by Devil's Due Publishing in 2008. Milo's foray into the comic book world has made him as staple at most major (and some surprisingly minor) Comic Cons.

This guy seems to have it all going on right now. Besides his love of acting, he is also producing, writing, and directing a number of nerdy projects. "Ultraome" is his current project, which is a web-series that which will debate the comparative merits of science fiction characters. In the first episode Milo discusses the Lord of the Rings superiority over Star Wars.

Milo is also a contributor to a number of charities and organizations such as the USO, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and Heroes Against Autism.

His "go getter" attitude, paired with his love of comic cons, and his sexy smile are all reasons I've chosen Milo Ventimiglia as Hot Nerd of the Week!

Evan T. Goes to the Movies! Battle: Los Angeles

Movie season is kicking it up into high gear and the movies are coming quick out the gate. I'm going to give a little review of Battle: Los Angeles. If you will remember the summer movie rundown I did a little while back and this was one I was getting excited about. Standard movie reviewing will apply.

Action From the Word Go - Battle: Los Angeles (I'm going to abbreviate that to B:LA) does not make you wait long to get into the action. Much like the movie B:LA was being compared to before it's release, Black Hawk Down, B:LA gives you a quick, quick background and goes right to the Marines vs aliens fighting. it runs with that for the rest of the film so if you are an action junkie all you have to do is get through the first 12 minutes and you are going to be on the ride for the rest of the time. The fights are shot gritty, like a war movie. If this is the face of the new alien invasion flick I can't wait to see what else comes.


Everyone Plays Their Part Well - There is not any new ground being broken here, story wise. I will debate anyone, however, on the fact that all the cookie cutter roles are played well by the actors in those roles. Gritty seargant? Check. Green new lieutenant? Check. Tough as nails female? Check. Kid in a war who needs protecting? Check. All your favorites are there. The actors and actresses in the rolse really just make it all work for your viewing pleasure. No award winning stuff but noting that is bad bad bad.


America....F#&K Yeah! - This movie is a total 'Merica movie. I really dig that. I've been waiting a while for a military movie that is like something from the 80's where it was America rules, suck it! I might be in a total minority here but I totally loved that part so much, it was really really fun for me.


All told I loved this flick and I would see it again in a second. It's a great popcorn flick and if you go into it knowing that you will not be dissapointed, I guarentee it. Man, you are gonna have fun watching the movie, for sure. Aliens suck, go U.S.A!

Sucker Punch Sunday!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the mini-break I took yesterday! We had a down router, and I was unable to get you your daily dose of Carly. Thanks to The Editor's amazing electronic and mechanical prowess, we're back and running on all cylinders. I promised you a review, so here we go!

What can I say about Sucker Punch? I'm reading reviews online to try and help myself make a little more sense of it, but I feel like it's getting worse reviews than what it should. It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't THAT bad! Let's break it down a little further...

The Good Stuff

Visually, it was stunning. All of Zach Snyders movies are. I knew going into this that the story wasn't great, but I knew I'd be entertained, and I certainly was. The fantasy worlds were absolutely fantastic, and in the words of Evan T., I felt like I was watching a live action anime. The girls were all gorgeous as well, so that just added to the prettiness of the rest of the movie.

I know that people are shitting all over the story as well, and honestly, the more I started thinking about it, the more I liked it. The story is about a girl, Baby Doll, whose mother dies, and leaves everything she has to Baby Doll and her sister. This infuriates her step-father who thought it would all go to him. Step dad gets drunk, goes to hurt Baby Doll, and instead decides to go after her younger sister. The step-father kills the sister, and pins it on Baby, which leads to her going to a mental hospital.

In the mental hospital is where the story begins to get a litte confusing. There are two different dream worlds going on. Baby creates the dream worlds to escape the real-world and the abuse she and the other girls are facing at the hands of the employees of the institution. Baby comes up with a plan to try and help herself and some of the girls escape.

Through a series of "adventures" the girls try and acquire everything needed to leave the facility. In the end, only one girl makes it out, and it is her responsibility to then "live for the rest of the girls".

It sounds pretty good on paper, right? Now lets look at

The Bad Stuff

The movie didn't know what it wanted to be. Did it want to be a drama? An expose of mental institutions in the 1960's? A sweet action flick? It was all of those things, and that was a problem. It made the story incredibly hard to understand. It's almost as if Snyder had all of these ideas for what he wanted in a movie, and just decided to mash them all together. It tended to take you out of the story at times. It wanted to be a little Girl Interrupted, while also wanting to be a little bit Inception, and that is where things fell flat to me.

The Ugly Stuff

The girls were absolutely beautiful, however, some of them had a rough time with the acting. For the most part, I liked Emily Browning as Baby Doll. She was like a less-irritating version of Paris Hilton to me. She has a super sweet girl voice what could get a little grating at times, but generally I liked her. Abby Cornish (Sweet Pea), Jamie Chung (Amber) and Jenna Malone (Rocket) all did an awesome job. Vanessa Hudgens (Blondie) though? Yikes. She had the look down, that's for sure. She played a dirty-hot girl amazingly. However, I'm not sure of it's due to her Disney upbringing, but the girl can't act. There was more than one scene in the movie where it was her turn to take the spotlight and shine, and she was SO bad that it literally took you out of the movie for a minute. She is a gorgeous girl, but she should stick to bubble-gummy Disney stuff until she's ready to take on something a little more serious.

All in all, I would give it a nice solid B-. I wouldn't spend $10 to go see it in the theater, but it'll be worth the watch on Blu Ray. That way, if you like it, you'll enjoy the visuals on your HDTV, and if you hate it, you won't be pissed that you spent $10. I will continue to go see Zach Snyders movies because if nothing else, they're entertaining and nice to look at. Some film critics are saying things like "THIS is the guy the studios trust to make the next Superman movie?!" To that I say, it can't be any worse than the last one, and even if the story falls flat, there will still be lots of cool things to look at.

Programming Note

Due to unforeseen technical difficulties, there will be no blog post for today. We'll be back online tomorrow with a review of the movie "Suckerpunch" though! Have a great Saturday!

The Curious Case of the Pink XBox Controller...

So, The Editor and I were talking yesterday, and apparently, Microsoft is discounting their wireless controllers. The Editor managed to find them online through Walmart for $30 a piece, which is a total steal. Since our controllers are about 3.5 years old, and have probably 8,000 hours on them, we decided to order up some new ones. One problem: they only offer the controller in black.

While searching online I managed to find black, white and some sort of chrome color. I'm very particular about my controller, since it's become an extension of myself, and I absolutely TREASURE my pink controller. It seems that Microsoft no longer makes the pink or blue controller, and that makes me very sad.

My preeeeeecious....

Once again, I'm feeling like it's a boys world. You can go to Best Buy or Toys R Us or Walmart on any given day and see black, white, dragon painted, and Halo controllers, but what about something for the ladies? Not to make it sound like us girls COULDN'T use the black, white or Halo ones, it's just nice, as a gamer girl, to be be able to have something made specifically for us. Sure, I know I'm a sucker for marketing, but I'm a girl, and I like pink! I also like the fact that when we have people over, the boys aren't putting their grubby fingers all over MY controller.

Speaking of marketing, The Editor thinks that the reason they no longer make pink controllers is because they didn't sell well. I'd like to call bullshit on that one. Sure, they may not have sold well, but it's not because they weren't in demand, it's because most of us didn't know it existed. The pink controller was something that was special ordered through Amazon, and I can honestly say, I've NEVER seen one in a store. Every girl who has seen my controller is envious, and expresses that they would have bought one, had they known about it. Sony is doing the same thing. They offer a cotton candy pink controller for the Playstation, and to this day, the only place Cara M. and I have been able to find it is at Past Time Legends, a used video game store in Albany.

Even prettier pink than it's Microsoft counterpart...

The Editor and I did come to a solution with my pink controller problem however. We're going to pry off the pink case, and switch the guts out with the new controller. It would be nice if I could get an updated pink controller, and not have to pry the guts out of my old one, but until marketing departments realize that girls like to play video games too, I'll just have to deal. Problem solved.

Saccharferous Thursday: Indiana Jones Edition!

In honor of my new obsession with Lego Indiana Jones non-stop, here are some Indiana Jones cakes! Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday: Wonder Woman Edition!

Here comes another rant! Lets start with this article. How many times have I expressed my disgust with Marvel and DC's portrayal of women? I think about 3,000. As you all probably know, NBC has gone to pilot with a new Wonder Woman TV series by David E. Kelly. Here's the picture of the new costume.

Adrianne Palicki looks like a total asshole. Let's overlook the fact that she appears to be holding in the worlds largest fart, and focus on the WTF? pants. Yeah, lets give her pants so tight she'll have to wear Camelflage to "hide" a few things, but what the hell happens if she has to run fast? Either she's going to melt her pants, or she's going to fall because her legs get stuck together! And forget sneaking up on someone... *squeak, squeak, squeak*

I like that Davis E. Kelly says that they're going to portray Diana as "a real complex woman and not just a superhero." Grrrrrrreat. So, we're going to have to deal with "Melrose Place" Wonder Woman? I don't especially care about her feuds with other people, or her many man-loves and trying to balance her work with her super human-ness. I just want a kick ass lady who is confident, and down to earth.

In the new series, she is a CEO of some sort of pharmaceutical company. Why? What's wrong with her being in the military? Or even a boutique owner like the Mod 70's version? Oh, I know, because that would be too releatable for a real woman to understand. You know us women can't think straight, with our hormones and periods getting in the way all the time. Also, the main villain is another female CEO of a rival pharmaceutical company. Wow. That is original. Way to shoot for the moon jackasses at NBC, no wonder your television ratings suck.

I guess I shouldn't be too upset though, because NBC has a track record of making shitty superhero shows. Whether they kill it after one season (like "The Cape"), or drag it's dying carcass around for four seasons (like "Heroes") it will eventually be put out of its misery. If NBC wants a story that real people will like, try asking real people what they would like to see. Don't just throw shit against the wall and see what sticks, because by doing that, you're doing everyone a diservice.

For a *cough cough* FASCINATING interview with Warner Brothers on this show click here. After you read it,  take a moment to let it sink in and realize how unintelligent television executives think we are (OMG! Srsly guys! Katy Perry will be on an episode! We HAVE to watch!!). After that just remember, with any luck, it will be canceled after one season (if it makes it that far).

Hot Nerd of the Week: Walter Flanagan!

Okay, some of you may know him, some of you may not. You may have heard of his dog. This guy is better known as "Fan Boy" from the View Askew movies. Born in New Jersey in 1967, Walt Flanagan has been a long-time friend of Kevin Smith and was the person who first turned Kevin Smith on to comic books.

In addition to being in Kevin's movies, Walter has done artwork for a number of comic books. The list includes Karney and War of the Undead, written by fellow podcaster and friend Bryan Johnson, and Batman: The Widening Gyre and Batman: Cacophony written by Kevin Smith.

In 2010, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson and Brian Quinn began doing a weekly podcast. The podcast is called Tell Em' Steve Dave, and is recorded at Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey. Walter has been managing "the stash" since it opened.

There are so many things to be said about Walt Flanagan, but the majority of the best stories can be found on early episodes of "SModcast", and "Tell Em' Steve Dave" each week.

Walt's amazing sense of humor, and love of all things comic books (including that silly "Spiderman" musical) is why I chose him for Hot Nerd of the Week!

Upcoming Cons!

It's that time of year again! The time of year when the snow begins to melt, and the smell of nerd is in the air. That's right, it's comic con season! Below I'm going to provide you with a list of upcoming cons. Of course, some of the smaller cons may be left off the list, so be sure to check your local area for cons as well!

Wonder Con April 1-3 in San Francisco, CA

Albany Comic Con  April 17th in Albany, NY (suuuuper small local gig)

Boston Comic Con April 30th to May 1, Boston, MA

E3 Video Game Convention. June 7-9, Los Angeles, CA

Wizard World Philly  June 17-19, Philadelphia, PA

San Diego Comic Con July 21-24, San Diego, CA

Dragon Con September 2-5 in Atlanta, GA

Big Apple Comic Con September 24-25, New York, NY

New York Comic Con  October 13-16, New York, NY

Wizard World Austin November 11-13, Austin, TX

These are just a few of the more notable cons that I know of. As previously stated, there are probably smaller ones that are more local to you, so do your own research and see what pops up near you! If you know of any major ones that I left off, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail and let me know!

Slacker Sunday: Some of My Favorite Websites Edition!

Today, in my epic laziness, I've decided to share some of my most favorite websites with you. I know you all aspire to be as awesome as me, so this will help you with your quest!

io9- io9 is an amazing site for all things geek. They talk about comics and movies and TV and science and all sorts of geeky fun stuff.

Our Valued Customers- This website is a comic book store worker who creates comics out of the strange wacky things his customers say.

Lamebook- Like Failbooking but better. This site makes fun of all things Facebook, and the stupid things people say on it.

Regretsy- Where DIY meets WTF

That's just a few of them to hold you over for now, I'll be featuring more next week!

TV Review: National Geographic Nazi Hunters: Assassin of Rome

You may or may not know this, but I am a huge history geek. I mean HUGE. I pride myself especially in my knowledge of the rise and fall of the Romanov dynasty in Russia, as well as late 19th and early 20th century Russian history. Over the past couple of years however, I have become more and more obsessed with WWII and theories surrounding the disappearances of a number of Nazi soldiers and officers. This documentary is about a 1994 story that ABC broke, where the crew went looking for one person, and ended up finding someone much more heinous.

Since the end of WWII there have been many rumors about what had happened to a number of high ranking Nazi officers. Did they flee? Were they killed? If so, where are they? In 1994, a producer from ABC went looking in a small town in the Andes in Argentina to take a look at some of the rumors that there was at least one former Nazi officer living in the small picturesque town.

The producer hired a translator who also became his eyes and ears of the town when he had to return stateside. As the translator became bored, she began to dig into some of the history of the small town and uncovered a possible link to a man who ordered the assassination of 335 civilians in Rome during Nazi occupation. The person she uncovered was not the original target.

Once the news team had enough evidence that pointed at these two being war criminals, Sam Donaldson flew down to Argentina to confront them . Both men admitted to who they were and what they had done, and thanks to the report, both men were tried as war criminals.

The story is especially amazing and heartbreaking when family members of some of the murdered civilians in Rome come forward to tell the story of what happened that day. Also, when the interpreter discusses how nervous and scared she was for her life while doing her research is completely intriguing.

If you're a history nerd, I highly recommend this documentary. Also, if you decide you really like it, there is an episode of MysteryQuest on The History Channel that discusses similar events, called The Rise of the Fourth Reich. It's pretty amazing.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Today will be a rant, I'm going preface with that. Let me start off by saying that I don't get St. Patrick's Day. I really really don't. In my mind, all I see when I see a bunch of drunks together is a really really bad idea. Drunk people (boys especially) have a tendency to want to show off, and they want to fight when they've had too much to drink. Add in the fact that they've probably been up drinking since at LEAST 7 AM (Who wants to miss kegs and eggs? ewwww.....), and it's a recipe for disaster. Evan T. and the other Nerds were telling me of such a story that happened right here in Albany this past weekend involving a bunch of drunk college aged asshats, and way too much alcohol consumption.

Apparently, some of the kids attempted to start some sort of mini-riot in the student ghetto last weekend. The best part about it is that they really suck at trying to do it. I don't know what planet these jack-holes were raised on that they think it is okay to act like a bunch of coked up idiots and destroy property that doesn't belong to them. I take that back, because from what I understand coke-heads are in a generally better mood than drunks, so in the previous sentence replace the words "coked up idiots" with the words HUGE DOUCHEBAGS.

There was a huge article written by the local newspaper that was expressing it's concern about this incident giving the annual parade a black eye, and making Albany look bad. Hate to break it to you Times Union, but if the city had been doing a better job and keeping the order, it wouldn't happen. Also, thanks to the huge amount of drunk students downtown on a daily basis (walk Pearl Street on a Saturday night) and the fact that SUNY Albany is one of the top party schools in the country, you've already got a bit of a black eye. There are several times a year where there are "street fairs" and other occasions which street is closed down for essentially what becomes a big party. Here's an idea: ticket people for open containers. Or how about arresting people for fighting? A ticket for pissing in public perhaps?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for celebrating your heritage and whatnot, but I don't understand why it has to become "Wreck Other Peoples Shit Day". I'm not saying at ALL that we should suspend the activities that allow people to drink in the streets, all I'm saying is that a little personal responsibility would be nice. I mean, yaaaaaay, SUNY Albany has a rep for being one of the top party schools in the nation, but why do you need to carry that out into a public forum?

Bottom line is: have a good time. Shoot, have an alcohol fuled GREAT time, but be responsible. You are an adult, and if you want to get out of line, you should be treated like an adult. You know how to behave like a normal functioning member of society, so do it.

Below is a video from last weekend, showing theses jackasses trying and failing to flip a car. I mean, if you're going to get charged with trying to incite a riot, at least be able to flip a car. I'm just sayin'.... My personal favorite part is when they start chanting "assholes" at the cops. I think when you take a closer look at the video, you'll see that it is not, in fact, the cops who are the ones who are the assholes.

Wacky Wednesday: Inception Edition!

The Editor, Evan T., Cara M. and myself have been watching one of this years Oscar nominated movies every week for the past month now. It's a pretty fun experience, and we can't wait to share the results once it's all said and done. This week on the agenda is the movie "Inception". The Editor and I have watched it, and it's as amazing as everyone says it is. When I was looking for a "Wacky Wednesday" topic, this little video made its way over to me. It includes minor spoilers if you haven't seen the movie, but if you have seen it, this video will make you laugh. Enjoy!




It's pretty amazing, right? And this guy has a whole bunch of them that he's done. "Titanic" in 60 seconds is pretty friggen amazing too.



And "Gone in 60 Seconds" in 60 seconds...

Hot Nerd of the Week: Wil Wheaton!

So, I was asking Evan T. for suggestions this morning about who the Hot Nerd should be this week. He threw out an idea (which I will probably be using next week), and then it hit me like lightning! Why hadn't I thought of this person before? This week we will be celebrating the Hot Nerd known as Wil Wheaton.

This Hot Nerd was born and raised in sunny Burbank, California. His first big break came in 1986 co-starring  in the film "Stand by Me" which received fantastic reviews. "Stand by Me" also served as a launching pad for Corey Feldman, River Phoenix and Jerry O'Connell.

From 1987 to 1990, Wil played the role of Wesley Crusher on the television show "Star Trek: The Next Generation", which is the role that started his nerd cred. After "Star Trek", Wil moved to Kansas and heelped with the development of the Video Toaster 4000. In 2001 he was reunited with some of his "Star Trek" co-stars on "The Weakest Link", to compete for charity.

Wheaton has starred in a number of independent films, and has had many, many small roles in television since the STNG franchise, and has lent his voice talents to numerous cartoons and video games, including Teen Titans, Family Guy, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andres. in 2009 he lent his voice to the reading of "Fables: Peter and Max" for Bill Willingham. Wil also preforms with ACME comedy theater in Hollywood whenever he has the chance.

One of my favorite current roles for Wil has got to be that of Fawkes in season 3 and 4 of the webseires "The Guild", alongside other Hot Nerds like Felicia Day and Michele Boyd. He plays the leader of a rival WoW guild who is out to destroy The Knights of Good. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I will leave a couple of links to "The Guild" below.

There is so much more geekiness about Wil that I didn't even get to touch on, so if you'd like to do some independent research and check this guy out further, I highly suggest you do so.

A huge poker player, geek and comic-con staple, Wil Wheaton has accomplished more than a lot of nerds put together. This guy has a book, a blog, and a comic, and that, combined with his love of all things geeky are the reason Wil Wheaton is this weeks Hot Nerd.

Click here to watch The Guild

Help Japan!

Unless you've been living in a cave for the last week, you know that Japan was recently hit hard with a huge earthquake, followed by a tsunami that devastated their nation. To make things worse, there is a nuclear reactor that is leaking radiation due to the damage it too. It's an unimaginable horror which has left thousands without homes, and looking for their family. All you have to do is look at these before and after pictures to see how bad the damage is.

There are ways you can help the search and clean-up efforts in Japan, and because Japan has contributed so much to the world, here at Carly on Comics, we'd like to give you a few ideas on how to help.

Worldvision is a charity that helps mostly children affected by the tragedy. This organization will help give out food and medical supplies to those who need it, and if they exceed  donations for this tragedy, they will use the overflow money to help in the next disaster.

Mercycorps will help provide shelter to those who are homeless due to the disaster.

Connect To Charity is wonderful because it allows you to look at and compare different charity's and figure out which one you'd most like to donate to.

The Red Cross  is a charity that we're all familiar with, that helps provide aid and medical care for those who need it.

There are so many options, and you can donate as much or as little as you can. Every dollar helps, and these people certainly need your help.

Slacker Sunday: I Love Toy Trains Edition

Yup, that's all I've got. I hope you errrr... ummmm.... enjoy?

Happy Faux-Patricks Day!

On this joyous of all drinking days, please be careful, and remember to report any and all scary leprechaun activity to the proper authorities. Erin go bragh or whatever (soooo not Irish)!

Things You Should be... Friday!

Things You Should be Listening to...


The Adam Carolla Podcast- Adam Carolla, of "Loveline" and "The Man Show" fame has his own podcast, and it's awesome. It's a daily show and every day he has a different guest. Jerry O'Connell, Dr. Drew and Brett Ratner to name a few. Adam and his staff will keep you laughing every day.

Things You Should be Watching...


Dexter- The Editor and I just finished up the series up to the current season, and it was awesome. He's the most lovable serial-killer ever. Dexter is a forensic scientist for the Miami police department, and because of things that happened to him as a child, he is now on a mission to kill bad guys. The story discusses his struggle to keep a "real life" while hiding who he really is. The show is filled with twists and turns, and guest stars like Jimmy Smits and Julia Stiles.

Things You Should be Reading...


Air- Air is a fantastic limited series comic written by G. Willow Wilson and drawn by M.K. Perkins. The story is about an acrophobic flight attendant who is conned into transporting blueprints for a terrorist attack. The story then takes a weird turn as you're trying to figure out who it is that conned her. The story drifts into fantasy and sci-fi elements with the use of teleportation and featuring characters such as Amelia Earhart and Quetzacoatl. It's an amazing, fun to read thriller that won't leave you disappointed. 

Sacchaferious Thursday: Transformers Edition!

I chose today's cake theme because I thought it was fitting considering the events of last night. There was a lot of "transforming" happening. Evan T. brought over Four Loko, and it transformed him and The Editor from normal functioning human beings into complete crazies. In turn this behavior transformed me from the sweet, innocent Carly Bug into somewhat of a bitch. Piece of advice? No Four Loko during the week. Period.

Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday: Justice League XXX Edition!

Okay, sooooo, this may be considered a little NSFWish based on content. There will be a video, but it's totaly work safe.

So, apparently there is a new porn studio in town, and their specialty is going to be XXX comic book parodies! I know all you nerds are pretty excited! Not going to lie, they did a pretty good job with the costumes. Once you watch the video you'll notice a cameo from Mr. Ron Jeremy as The Penguin, whose make-up is totally great! I mean, these guys have come of the cos players I know beat hands down.

The first movie that they are putting out is "The Justice League: A XXX Parody", and for those of you who are Marvel fans, don't fret because they are putting out an Avengers movie soon as well! Below is the trailer for "Justice League: A XXX Parody", please do enjoy!



To visit the Extreme Comixxx website, click HERE

Hot Nerd of the Week: Chris Evans!

Chris Evans gets the Hot Nerd spot this week because of the amount of nerdy roles he's taken over the years. This very handsome 28 year old from Sudbury, MA was originally planning on attending NYU after high school, but changed plans after interning at a casting agency. The connections he made allowed him to be in a few small television roles before landing his first movie role in 2001 in Not Another Teen Movie. 

 After gaining recognition for Not Another Teen Movie, Chris went on to take a variety of more grown up roles, most of them being incredibly nerdy. In 2005 Chris jumped in on the new Fantastic Four film, opposite Jessica Alba. He played "The Human Torch", Johnny Storm in the first and second installment of that franchise.

From 2009 until now his nerdy work has included Push, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and The Losers. His biggest (and nerdiest) movie debut will come this Summer with the release of Captain America: The First Avenger. Chris was cast in the title role as Steve Rogers AKA Captain America.

Chris has admitted that he is not a big comic book reader. Despite this fact, I still find him to be one of the most handsome, most talented, and most able to pull off a comic book role. That is why Chris Evans is our Hot Nerd of the Week!

Crazy Carly's Weekly Rant...

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a better day than we are here in Upstate New York! I spent the first 20 minutes of my day trying to pry The Editors car door open with no success. After the warm, but rainy day yesterday, of course Mother Nature feels the need to squash any feelings about nice weather we might have but dumping like, an inch of ice and 3 inches of snow on us. YUCK. I've decided that once The Editor and I need to upgrade house size, we are sooooo moving this show to California. Sure, they may have a crap economy just like New York, but at least they have nice weather there, so it doesn't make you feel quite as bad about it. And I know, you're like "But Caaaaarly, they have EARTHQUAKES in California!". To that I say, at least I don't have to own a snow brush.

As you can see, I'm on quite the ranting roll already this morning. The past two days I've just woken up crabby as all heck, and it hasn't gotten better. I blame it on cabin fever and progesterone. Today, we're going to talk about the movies, and why I prefer staying at home to going out to a movie 100 to 1.

Saturday night The Editor, Cara M., Evan T. and myself went to see a movie. We're kind-of nerds, so we thought we'd start watching all of the Oscar nominated films of the past year, starting with the winner: The Kings Speech. My review of the movie is as such: It was wonderful. I love British things, I LOVE Helena Bonham Carter and Colin Firth, and they has Corgis in it. Corgis are the best dog ever, so I was happy. The movie centers around King George IV and overcoming his speech impediment before he becomes king. It's a fantastic movie, that in my opinion deserved the Oscars it won. If you're a history geek like me, you'll like it even more.

There were a few things I didn't like. Not about the movie, but about the movie going experience. There are reasons that the "old way" of Hollywood trying to make money is failing, and I would like to touch on those reasons just a little.

1) Limited Seating- Okay, so , we show up at the movie about 20 minutes in advance for the 6:10 show. I think that is a perfectly reasonable time to show up for a movie that has been out for give-or-take 2 months now. Anyhoo, we show up, and of course, there is like, no seating. We quietly take our seats in the lower section closer to the screen, and get ready to be King's-speeched. Well, riiiiiight about the time the movie starts, an usher announces that they've sold out the show, so we're all going to have to squish together. Yeah, $12.50 for a ticket where I have to sit right next to a dude who not only picks his face, and bites his nails through the movie, but also feels a need to crack his knuckles and take up all of the arm room too. I. Hate. Awful. People.

2) Commercials- Ugh. I don't have to deal with these at home, why the 'ef do I have to deal with them at the movies? I don't even pay for cable, yet, I pay to watch commercials before a movie. Remember the good ol' days when they just ran trailers for like, 45 minutes before the show started? That was awesome.

3) Movie Placement- Please, for the love of God, don't ever put an action movie next to a drama. The Adjustment Bureau was playing in the theatre next to us, and it was suuuuper hard to concentrate on a dialogue based movie when you could hear the explosions happening in the theater next to you.

4) Children in Inappropriate Aged Group Movies- You run into this ALL the time. The worst offender I can remember is when a man trotted his toddlers into The Dark Knight and they proceeded to scream and cry the whole time. For real? You couldn't get a babysitter? You couldn't just wait the two months for the Bluray? As cute as you think your kids are, there is a time and a place for kids. If they're under 10, that place is at a PG movie. No exceptions. I don't care if you think your kids can be "intellectually challenged" by this movie, the rest of us just put up half a tanks worth of gas to see this movie, and your child should not have to be tolerated. Furthermore, The Kings Speech received an R rating?! WTF?! There was no nudity, no violence, and the only cussing was done in a way that was part of his therapy. I love our puritanical society...

Don't get me wrong, I love going to the movies for the most part. To me, it's less about the commercials, and the ticket prices, and more about the people around me that can totally ruin the experience. I love being able to get out of the house with my friends, and seeing something on the big screen and all of that. However, with ticket prices through the roof, and the fact that I have an 55 inch LCD TV in my living room, I've decided that my house is a much more desirable location to watch a movie. No screaming kids, no commercials, and no gross strangers sitting next to me. Just me, some reasonably priced snacks and the people I love. Oh, and I can pause the movie if I need to pee.

Slacker Sunday: Charlie Sheen Edition!

In honor of Charlie Sheen's decline in sanity, I thought I would give the train wreck his own post this week! This song will get in your head and stay there longer than Antione Dodson's "Bed Intruder Song" so consider yourself warned... Evan T., this one's for you!



Can't get enough Sheen? Well, HERE are a few fantastic quotes presented by super heroes.

What's that? You want MORE you say?! Live the Sheen Dream Here

Mustache Party!

Hello out there in internet land! Once again, it's that time! What time? Roller derby time! Tonight my lovely Hellions of Troy take on the Providence Killah Bees! Miss Ida will be announcing and fun will be had by all! If you're in the Capital District this evening and looking for something to do, you will not be disappointed! Tonight's theme is mustaches, so make sure you have one when you get there!

Video Games!

I was thinking about today's "What You Should be... Friday", and since I've been sick all week, I haven't really done a whole lot of research. Instead, I've decided to give you a couple of video game recommendations, since I've been playing a lot of those lately. Enjoy!

NBA Jam- We bought the updated version of the 1993 game about a month ago, and it's sooooo much fun to play. We're not huge sports fans, and we're certainly not NBA fans at all, but this game is a blast to play. It doesn't take a whole lot of time to get through a season, and like the original, you can play with any team you want. After you play "X" amount of of games, you start unlocking "Legends" like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. There are also a variety of other games you can play within the game such as dunking competitions and "HORSE". It's a pretty fun game and the nostalgia factor is through the roof.

 You Don't Know Jack- After Microsoft decided to discontinue "1 vs. 100" from Xbox live, we needed a new trivia game to play. It's super fun to play, however, unlike 1 vs 100, instead of playing against a bunch of people in the online world, you're playing against a few of your friends. The reason I prefer the 1 vs 100  model is because it gives the whole room an opportunity to shout out an answer. However, from what I understand, you can play "Jack" online, and get the same type of deal. You Don't Know Jack, is superfun if you are like me and enjoy fast paced trivia.

 Dance Central- Let me just tell you... I friggen' LOVE my Kinect. Dance Central is one of the most fun games out there. You can play it alone, or with a group, and the results are always hilarious. I like this game because it's a good workout, the music is great, and they have a "training" program to help you learn the moves, so you aren't doing it completely on the fly if you don't want to. They also have dance battles, if you're someone who thinks they can do well with that. Basically, you select a song, an avatar appears on screen, and you do what the avatar tells you to. It's kind of like Rock Band or Guitar Hero in that, it will let you know when you make a wrong move. In every song there is a 10 second or so pause where you just get to make up dance moves, and it replays the ridiculousness when you're done preforming. So. Much. Fun!