9 Reasons to Watch Avatar: The Last Airbender
9 Reasons to Watch Avatar
If you read any kind of internet blog, or use any website similar (Like Tumblr or Reddit) Than you have heard about The Legend of Korra. TLOK is a continuation of the american cartoon Avatar the Last Airbender. Aang, the main character, is the avatar – a guide to everyone on the earth, but he’s been missing for 100 years so the world has fallen into chaos. One of the four nations of the world, the fire nation is trying to take over the world through war, and Aang and his friends have to stop them.Since I saw the first episode of Korra, I have started rewatching the Avatar series. I enjoy it partly because i watched it religiously as a kid, but also because it is just a fantastic series in it’s own right. Here are nine reasons(cause ten is just too much) you should watch Avatar.
Devin’s Best and Worst of 2011
My list is going to be a bit strange considering most of the time I get to things a little later than most people. So I spent a good part of the year watching old doctor who episodes, and reading back issues of Fables instead of getting to the new stuff. So because there is still a ton of stuff I want to get too and since this list would be pretty sparse with out them I’m going to include a few things that did not come out in 2011. Also keep in mind these are not compiled into a specific order, I can’ t choose my babies, or brats in case of worst.
Worst: Let’s get this crap out of the way!
Stupid Autotune pop radio songs
I don't even know what LMFAO stands for but I bet its stupid
Yes! Every bodies booing this song tonight… Seriously, you guys stop listening to this shit. I’m subjegated to stuff like Party Rock Anthem, Sexy and I know it, and possible the best(ie worst) Moves like Jagger. Wasn’t Maroon 5 an actual rock band at some point? For those of you out their that like this music. I’m not attacking you, I’m just saying their are better songs in these genres, and that they get waaaaaaaaaaay over played on the radio. And no I’m not choosing to listen to the radio. What kind of person do you think I am.
Christmas time stage productions
Yep, look how hip these penguins are!
Yes, I think its time for the stage production to go the way of the dodo. If your not Broadway or an actual professional British theater then I don’t think you belong any more. Yes its a bit harsh but they just can’t compete with TV or Movies. I’ve yet to go to a production that wasn’t under or overacted. You know why? Because you have to overact in theater, you have to almost scream everything. But what am I talking about specifically here? Well for the past few years I have been dragged along to Christmas time…things. The first was Zoozoo. Yep Zoozoo. What is a Zoozoo? Well I’m glad you asked. Basically its a group of gymnasts or something that dress up as animals and…move around. Either I’m crazy or I just read a quote from the New York Times saying “delightful…just watch!” . Maybe I’m just missing what makes this such a “delightful” experience, but to me watching dudes jump around in frog suits for over an hour, at the nice fee of $25 is just crazy. I mean whats the internet for?
I really wish I could have found a different picture, especially since this one could make one think something else is going on
Ok so now we get to the second production was an actual play. The Christmas Carol. Oh a classic, they can’t mess it up can they? What am I saying of course they can! I wish I could find a picture of their poster, because if you saw it you would think, “Hey, that looks like the Christmas Carol. Its got the knocker, man is that like blood, looks kinda dark.”
Then you would get to the play, and your treated to what is basically a) a mockery of the creative proccess, and b) akin to those really bad really dumb dreamworks animations where you cringe at each joke. And its like 2 hours long. At least Zoozoo had the decency to let me leave after about an hour.
My own god damn ambition
As you can put together this ones my fault. And I don’t even think its that bad of a thing, except it tears me in all these different directions. So over the course of 2011: I have started this blog(yes the one your on right now!), started 5 let’s plays(2 unrealeased and still not very far in but still), swam in the swimteam 10 out of the 12 months, taking mostly advanced classes in highschool(there are some that don’t have an advanced option, like health and its Laserdiscs for example),started to write a novel(la?),started to learn the C programming language, and I think finally start to learn pixel art at the very end of 2011. We will see what sticks around in 2012, and I’m planning on posting about what 2012 holds for us here at WeGetGeek.
Best: Whew let’s get to the good stuff
The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim
Ezekial looks out to the survey the land. All for the taking.
What is it about the Elder Scrolls games that makes them so damn fun? Sometimes I wonder that myself. It doesn’t have an amazing main story, or great combat, or super stunning visuals(unless your talking about those vistas, cause damn). No in one of the best years in my video gaming life its almost in spite of these things that Skyrim is such a spellbinding experience. The way that the world is presented, as a living breathing world is something you just don’t see in any other game except maybe the other games that Bethesda has worked on. The scope of Skyrim while being intensely captivating at the same time is almost too much at times. I’ve played a rough 50 hours in my main character not to mention the time I’ve spent with Ezekial everyone’s favorite gray Orc and I have yet to even enter some of the major cities. That’s right and each city has dozens and dozens of quests to complete. As an example I just entered the hold of Windhelm, and picked up a quest about solving the murders of three girls, by questioning witnesses and collecting evidence. There are no other quests like this one as far as I know. That’s super cool!
Also Colonel Tigh is in it as, you guessed it a general. Poor guys going to be typecast for the rest of his career.
Bastion
Bastion is an inspiration. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever played and it was made by five people. The art is beautiful, the game play snappy and fun, and the music FU**ING awesome. It’s a cool, surprisingly emotional story narrated brilliantly to respond to the players actions. I seriously can’t say enough about this game, its one of the smartest games I’ve ever played.
Mass Effect 2
Tust me, I'm a doctor, scientist, warrior, alien, biological warfare researcher
What is there to say? Mass effect may end up being my favorite sci-fi universe when its all over. It’s got the crazy looking aliens from star wars, along with force like powers without all the spiritual crap. All the alien races have interesting developed cultures, and histories, and science. That’s right if you want to there are hundreds of pages on breeding, development, technology, species relations…you name it they thought about it and its in the game. But enough about the fiction, what do you actually do? Well, early in the game your put on a task to assemble the greatest team in the known universe. So you fly around recruiting these guys like Mordin up their. At its core its a shooter, with RPG mechanics backing it up. Besides guns characters also have tech powers, and biotic(see force like) powers to throw around. The gameplay doesn’t get in the way of what’s really important, and that’s the characters and setting.If I’ve not made my point clear Mass Effect is awesome. The first game is pretty clunky, and you can skip to the second and piece together what went before without losing out on too much, so do it.
The Morning Stream
A morning show? No thanks. That was my response upon hearing about the Morning Stream even though I listened to a bunch of other podcasts done by the host Scott Johnson. So I didn’t listen to it. Finally after I kept hearing about it on their shows, I decided to give it a chance. I’m glad I did, four days a week Scott and Brian take me through the day with stupid news stories and “celebrity poop”. I love hearing their stories like Brian’s son, who got his ipod stolen. Then Brian tracked the phone, staked out the place and discovered it was his kids friend from school. Tell me that didn’t sound like a sitcom’s plot. They are geeks to the biggest degree, and are the reason for me getting into A Song of Ice and Fire. Their nearing their one year anniversary so you can bet some crazy stuff is about to go down.
Fables
So bringing updating fairtales for the modern times is nothing new, especially after the recent glut of them, however Fables did start over ten years ago. Plus its so much better executed then everything else. The fables have been exiled to the human, or Mundy world and have to try to keep a low profile while fighting off an impending invasion from the Adversary, and no spoilers but apparently there are hints as to who it is withing the border of the first few issues of the book. I’m not their yet, but I think that the Adversary was revealed around issue 100, if that’s not good foreshadowing then what the crap is. Always surprising, always entertaining Fables is a must read.
A Song of Ice and Fire
Winters...actually already here, kind of a bummer huh?
Did somebody say must read? This one slides in close, because I didn’t finish reading the book till late December. Plus I have yet to see the show, because I don’t have HBO and they take forever to put out their dvds. A year…seriously? Whatever it just gave me time to catch up with the book, and figure out my own pronunciations of the characters names, so that when I watched it I could yell about how my pronunciations are better. The book has one of the best mid-book twists I can think of, and the only think I can really say bad about it is that it doesn’t really end. It just stops. But whatever there are four more ~700 page books out and I can’t wait to read them.
Super 8
Even the poster is not safe from lense flair!
I saw this movie in the theater, which is pretty rare for me, but I’m glad I did because there are moments that just don’t play the same outside of the theater. Like the train sequence, it was just soooooo loud it freaked me out. Not in a bad way. I love the feeling this movie gives me. It’s not a dark, depressing movie and I love it for that. And come on its the Goonies meets E.T.
Fiasco
Thats right. Poor impulse control is probably the most important skill.
Like the sign says Powerful Ambition and Poor Impulse Control. I’ve played this game once, and it was one of my favorite roleplaying experiences ever. Plus its great for anyone out their who is afraid of RPG’s because of their genre trappings, or because you don’t know anyone who can DM. Fiasco is generally set in modern times, and there is no DM! The rules are simple and are only their to facilitate your groups crazy antics. Let me tell you what happened at my game. Now if I remember correctly I died at some point, my mom’s character thought she was psychic, two people were animal right activist radical terrorists and I think one of them turned out to be a vampire at the end. That’s just the kind of minds we have I guess, but it all started as a group of researches at an Antarctic research facility.
Community
Don't let it die people!
The first episode I watched was the D&D one. I watched it again pretty much right after I had finished. Then all of season 1, hooked Tim, and Season 3 started coming out. Still haven’t seen all of Season 2 but the discs should be here any day. Season 3 has been pretty great aside from what I thought was a lackluster halloween episode especially after the first two. But you should know that Community is awesome, and if you don’t now you do. So don’t let them cancel it. The second half of the season is going to be airing sometime this year(people are predicting summer) so tune in. Go Human Beings!
The site
Yes, the music swells and we all get teary eyed…but seriously this.THIS right here has been one of the best consistently fun things this year. The relationships that I’ve acquired(You know who you are, and yes you can say you were on a best of 2011 list now) from doing this here thing have been great, and I have more faith in the internet because of it. I’ve done a lot of crap over the year and shared a lot of the crap up here, and…here’s to another year of crap!
My Thoughts on Being Human Series 1(BBC)
This is a review of the BBC Being Human not the American remake.
Being Human almost reminds me of a British Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The keyword is almost, you won’t find action or magic, but you do get a drama about supernatural people trying to fit into the normal world.
The three main characters are as follows: Mitchel, a vampire trying to “get off the wagon” – vampire slang for not killing, George, a Werewolf who locks himself up on the full moon, and Annie a ghost who died in the house that they now residein.
The main conflicts over the course of the 6 episode season are how the three of them deal with being non-human. Mitchel has to deal with someone he sired, and the temptation to feed. George still has to accept what he is, and protect the people he loves from what he is. Annie is trying to find out why she hasn’t passed on, and she has to watch as her fiancé continues to live his life with another woman.
Each roughly 60 minute episode sticks to these conflicts throwing in a twist here, or a supporting character there. It may not sound like it but there is enough story potential here, but the Toby Whithouse does a good job of keeping the goal of “being human” just out of the characters reach.
Of course it wouldn’t be a modern drama without an overarching story, which in this case is about Mitchel’s sire trying to make a vampiric utopia. The individual episodes bleed together into one story seamlessly while retaining compelling, complete stories within each episode.
Bringing it back to the Buffy comparison, it knows how to mix drama with light comedy very well. That said it can get pretty dark and nasty. There are multiple somewhat graphic sex scenes, and when vampires kill people, it gets bloody.
I think that the short season lends itself well to Being Human because it allows the season to feel like one big story without feeling stretched, or having filler episodes; another great thing about Being Human is that there are no filler episodes, in other words they are all great.The season ends on a good note, and with a bit of a cliffhanger, which is alright with me because I know there are at least 2 more seasons worth of episodes. I will continue to watch this program excitedly because it is good enough to compare to Buffy.
Christmas guide of…well christmas gifts
There’s not much time left, but if your like my mom then you shop on the night before Christmas anyway. In which case this list might spark your ehem, credit card finger. This list will focus on internet geekery mostly.
Keep in mind these are not reviews.
Munchkin/ Munchkin Axe Cop
Specifically the Axe Cop version, as it is the newest and undoubtedly most awesome version yet. I own the classic version and have played a few other types in the past years. It’s grown to be Steve Jackson Games’ flagship game and with good reason. It’s a fast paced multiplayer competitive card game with a sense of humor. It’s a race to be the first player to level 10. You do this by battling monster cards, and certain treasure cards. Sounds easy right? Well not when your four best friends are trying to stop you any way possible. If your a wondering why I say that the Axe Cop version will be the best yet, I would respond with another question: Have you read Axe Cop? Seriously Do IT . Just as a side note, the Axe Cop trades, and t-shirts would be a great present for the Axe Cop fan in your life. I have the first volume and its got lots of bonus commentary.
DC COMICS: THE NEW 52
Rob Kirkman Comics
Of course the Invincible (More expensive because its color) and Walking Dead Compendiums are wonderful bargain collections of some of my favorite books.
A Netflix Subscription
Everyone has different TV tastes so why not get something with a big selection and let them decide what they want to watch. Plus I’m sure they’ll share their password with you!
Apocalypse World
This was on my list. It’s written by Vincent Baker the indie darling behind such hits as Dogs in the Vineyard, and kill puppies for satan… Yes, you read that right. Anyway its met universal praise for its GM advice and hard hitting system. He’s dropped the price of the PDF to $10 and included some bonus material until the 31st(act quick) in response for winning the Indie RPG Awards, the Lucca Games Best of Show, and the Golden Geek Game of the Year. Quite an accomplishment huh?
Mouse Guard
For that Video Game player in your life:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Something like this could happen to you!
Surely you’ve heard about it? Not only is it the biggest bang for you buck, with an estimated 300 hours of gameplay, but its just straight up fun. See if you can get someone else to play it as well because its always fun to swap stories about the crazy things that will happen to you. I’m partial to the PC version because it not only looks better then its PS3 and 360 counterparts but it has modding potential!
Bastion
If you don’t have a good gaming rig, and don’t want to plop down the investment money there are still options for you. Bastion is an critically acclaimed(and beautiful) indie developed downloadable game, for the 360 and PC. It’s a 2-d action rpg game in a very vibrant world. And its recently been ported to the Chrome web browser… I don’t know how they got it to work but they did so as long as you can run chrome on your computer(mac, pc, linux) you can run the game. Pretty nifty huh? There is a demo you can download as well to see if your interested.
That’s it! Got any suggestions? Leave your tip in the comments section!
Devin’s thoughts on Once Upon a Time Pilot
This is partially a response to Bex’s post on Good Girls Gone Geek because I probably wouldn’t have watched it without her breakdown of it.
Let me start by saying that I didn’t really enjoy my viewing experience. It’s not all that bad, however it did not leave me wanting more. You should know that Once is about the fairy tale kingdom being trapped in the real world by the wicked witch, Storybrook Main(ugh), and their only hope is Snow Whites’ Daughter, Emma, who they sent off before they got trapped. Now none, of the residents know that they are fairy tale characters. So you end up with Snow White as a teacher, Witch as the town’s mayor and so on.
This is all well and good, but my problem is that they are exactly what you would expect. This wouldn’t be such an issue for me but at the very beginning of the episode they say “There was an enchanted forest filled with characters we know…or think we know.” But then it goes on and turns out we knew them. This is one thing that Fables does so well, and if you’ve been following the site for a while you know I love Fables.
Apart from that I found it all to be just to cheesy. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for something this, I don’t want to say cheery because it certainly isn’t, but it also wasn’t dark. It just felt bland to me. You have the fairy tale flashbacks which are pretty CG heavy, covering how they got in the real world. The witch is just too evil for me. She is not scary and I don’t see her as having a motivation, although you could say revenge. But then, I ask why would she want to go into the real world her self? And with people spouting “the final battle” left and right it was just hard to take it seriously at all.
I think the show is a fun distraction but unless I hear that it improves as it goes, and that could be it as it’s not the first great TV show to have a bad pilot, or really bad first season or two. Just look at Star Trek: TNG. It’s remembered fondly but most people hate the first couple of seasons. I’m hoping this is the case for Once because the fairy tale concept can be done so much better. Of course they could just make that Fables TV show and I’d be happy.
Review: Doctor Who – Planet of the Dead
The DVD for “Planet of the Dead” is an hour-long special originally aired on Easter, but if your familiar with the Doctor Who specials then you know that they have very little to do with the holiday they land on. Also included on the disk is a 60 minute making of featurette, with standard behind-the-scenes stuff.
The scene is set with a robbery of some high security museum. We don’t know what’s stolen but we do know it was very valuable with our robber running from the cops and onto a bus. This is when the Doctor shows up. He sits right next to the robber who we find out is Christina (Michelle Ryan).
The Doctor is tracking a hole in space and time, which the bus quickly drives through and into a barren desert planet. The Doctor — left without his TARDIS — has to help the people on the bus get home before a mysterious sand storm that one of the passengers calls “Death,” hits them.
The Doctor is helped to lead the passengers by Christina, and while they work together, they learn that they are a great pair. And they really are: Christina is a welcome change from the Doctor’s usual companions. She has a rebellious attitude, and doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty, plus she shares the love of adventure that all of the Doctor’s companions have.
The episode is chock full of great Doctor Who moments like when the Doctor is able to inspire the group to believe in him, and you do to, or when the Doctor is talking to a UNIT scientist and makes fun of him for naming a unit of measurement after himself. This episode is full of what makes Doctor Whogreat, minus the Tardis.
If you want a taste of Doctor Who then this would not be a bad way to go because it is self-contained and represents the show well.
Article first published as Review: Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead on Blogcritics.
Review: Torchwood Season 2
The sister show to Doctor Who, Torchwood matured a great deal in its second season, boasting some truly great episodes.
This five-disc collection holds all 13 episodes, a few deleted scenes, and a disc of special features known as “Torchwood Declassified.”
Torchwood spun out from Doctor Who several years ago, and although it shares the same universe, it sports a very distinct feel. It has a larger cast, and a more standard format.
The show centers on the group Torchwood which is described as “outside the government , beyond the police…”. This has always been a problem for me because I can’t rationalize an organization in large part run by the government being somehow above it. It’s just a nitpick I have with the show, and an opening that I feel the show could do without.
In the group you have Captain Jack Harkness, the mysterious and charismatic leader who cannot stay dead; Owen, the doctor; Gwen, the forensics and general investigations specialist; Tosh, the computer wizard, and Ianto, the butler (although he gets to do a lot more this season). The standard episode runs about 50 minutes, usually following a specific formula, beginning with the introduction of some alien or alien-induced problem. The rest of the episode is spent researching, and addressing it. This is usually balanced very lightly with the team’s lives (or lack thereof) outside the job.
The pacing although slow at times however it is an improvement over the first season mostly dull plot lines that would not get going until the 35-minute mark. The acting in season one season is just okay, with some actors giving poorly delivered lines, and unconvincing emotions. For instance Tosh’s squeamish flirting with Owen can be hard to watch at times, as the actress simply can’t pull off the emotions required for these moments. Jack, arguably the protagonist, sometimes has a hard time of selling his lines, with a drab monotone delivery. These fumbles are a very small issue when looking at the show as a whole, but it does distract from the viewing experience.
That said, by the second season, the characters are written better with some real arcs in their storylines. The writers are good at showing the characters having fun, cracking jokes and doing secret agent speak, but they fall flat when it comes time for the really dramatic moments. The writers also work to give more depth and background to the characters with episodes like Gwen’s wedding.
Rhys, Gwen’s boyfriend, gets a much larger role this season after he learns about Torchwood. This creates a new, and more important a much more interesting dynamic to Gwen and Rhys’ relationship.
The series starts of with a tremendous first episode, bringing a character from Jack’s time agent days back to haunt him. This character, John (played by James Marsters of Buffy) plays wonderfully off Jack, and the episode, like the rest of the season throws in some surprises about Jack’s past.
Owen dies halfway through the season, but he comes back with a new twist on death, a theme that has permeated Torchwood since the first episode. This gives a chance for the character of Owen to really shine, and unsurprisingly it changes his relationship with the team.
Doctor Who‘s Martha Jones puts in an appearance in for a few episodes and takes over for Owen physician while he is unable to perform his duties. Her appearance is not especially notable; there are no new insights into her Doctor Who character. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but she doesn’t bring anything new to the team either so her appearance feels like a way to get Doctor Who viewers to try Torchwood.
The season finale is surprising and satisfying end to the season, that truly feels like an ending. Plus it made more sense then most Doctor Who finales.
Besides the first and last episodes, season two highlights include “Meat”, which puts humans (and not the aliens) in the bad guy role. “Adam” features a villain that can change the memories of people with a touch, and it is very frightening at points. “A Day in the Death” is a touching, optimistic look at death.
Of course you have a few cheesy and generally bad episodes namely “To the Last Man”, and “From Out of the Rain”.
The second season of Torchwood is a major improvement of the first, but it is still not a must-watch series. If you are a fan of Doctor Who and have been wondering if Torchwood is worth a watch, I would skip the first season and move straight to this one to see if you like it. If the idea of aliens in a cop procedural type show sounds like fun to you, then this might be for you.
My Thoughts on Doctor Who Series 4
This DVD collection includes the 14 episodes of Doctor Who’s fourth series. A separate disc presents several bonus features, including “Doctor Who” confidential, a series of behind the scene featurettes on the making of the show. The set includes a smattering of commentaries, as well as deleted scenes.
This series starts off right where the third left off – with the Titanic crashing into the TARDIS. In this Christmas special we are introduced to a whole new cast of characters traveling in a space cruise ship modeled after the Titanic. But this time the earth is the iceberg. This first episode has its moments but I did not think any of the new characters are that interesting, and none of them continue past this episode.
Included on the first disc is the comedy special “Time Crash” which is only about five minutes, but if you’re a fan of Doctor Who, it is worth it. In it, the tenth and fifth Doctors’ time machines (the TARDIS) converge and they have to work together to separate them. It’s really funny, but it’s also really weird when you find out that Peter Davison’s daughter Georgia Moffett (who plays the Doctor’s daughter in “The Doctor’s Daughter”) is engaged to tenth Doctor David Tennant. Weird huh?
The series proper starts with a re-introduction of the character Dona from the third series Christmas special. She has been looking for the Doctor by investigating strange happenings for which the Doctor might show up. They finally meet up in the whimsical episode “Partners in Crime.” Surprisingly enough, Dona and the Doctor have a great chemistry with no hint of a romance at all as they continue through time and space for adventure.
If you’re not familiar with the standard format of the show, it’s is simple. The Doctor and his companion, this time Dona (although occasionally others join in), travel through time and space pursuing adventures. They usually encounter some sort of alien creature that either needs the Doctor’s help, or wants to eat him. Pretty simple monster-of-the-week formula, but it works because of the leads’ charismatic performances, and the wild creativity of the writers.
This whole series seems to be about doing everything Davies wanted to do before he left the show as the showrunner. That is certainly not bad but it defiantly jumps out, especially in the finale, which not only brings back almost every character from the past three series but also an enemy from the old Who of whom Davies is clearly very fond.
The highlights of the season are the aforementioned “partners in crime,” “The Doctors Daughter,”and “Silence in the Library.” “Silence in the Library” is an amazing two-part episode where River Song gets introduced, and she becomes a very important character in series five and six.
Just like in every other series in the show’s history there are a few episodes that cannot match the quality that the series as a whole offers, but I would never call them bad, or boring to watch.
Overall the fourth series is a great end to Tennant’s run in the series proper. Series four all but ties up the companions’ story threads, which have been going on since series one, although not always satisfactorily. There is really nothing like Doctor Who on TV, so if you’re a fan of fun fast-paced science fiction then this is your cup of tea.
Article first published as <a href=’http://blogcritics.org/video/article/dvd-review-doctor-who-series-four/‘>DVD review: <i>Doctor Who Series Four</i></a> on Blogcritics.
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