Tag Archives: Sci-Fi

Happy Mother’s Day to One Heck of a (Nerdy) Mom

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Posted by Rob on May 8, 2011 – 6:27 am
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I wasn’t planning on writing this, but as I just finished my previous blog, it made me think more about what my mom’s meant to me over the years. I don’t mean this to be sappy or anything, but I think she deserves a ton of credit not only dealing with me, but for also cultivating the nerd within me. My earliest “nerdy” memory of my mom is her trying to read The Hobbit to me when I was like five years old. I wasn’t into it at that age, but I soon got into Star Wars from watching the family VHS tapes, and I think that’s where my nerd really started. But I didn’t get my full nerd on until my teen years, and when I was ready to embrace it, my mom was ready to help along also.

Below are a list of things I would like to thank my mom for on this Mother’s Day:

  • Going with me to see all three Lord of the Rings movies, as well as the Star Wars movies (both the prequels and the “special edition” theater release of the original trilogy
  • Playing the Star Wars, Middle-Earth, and X-Files CCG with me, despite the fact that I cheated and blew up her planet with the Death Star when it actually should have failed (though she wouldn’t play for awhile since she was mad after she caught me cheating)
  • Introducing me to the works of Tolkien by lending me her copies of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion
  • Watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. I never got fully into it, but by sitting down and watching it whenever she was, I learned that maybe “Trekkies” weren’t so bad after all, and had an idea of what good sci-fi was
  • Buying me a PS3 game each year for Christmas even though she wasn’t supposed to know I went out and spent my money on it (cause she would say that paying off your student loan is more important than a PS3)
  • Not killing me when coming home drunk that one time and puked in the driveway and in my car
  • For just always being there to support me, whether it was on the best day of my life or I was doing some of the stupidest things I’ve ever done

Thanks mom, and Happy Mother’s Day! Read More »

Just Saw Battle: Los Angeles (contains spoilers)

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Posted by Rob on March 20, 2011 – 3:17 pm
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Once I saw the trailer, I knew that I wanted to see Battle: Los Angeles in the theaters. It was one of those movies that appeared to be “epic”, in that it had to be seen in a theater, and it reminded me of Independence Day. Heck, I’m a sucker for most alien invasion films. The trick was convincing Shell to go with me, and in the end she agreed. So despite the bad critic reviews it received (which I ignore anyway) we headed to the local theater to check the movie out.

Battle Los Angeles is a very fast-paced film which focuses on a group of Marines during an alien invasion of the city of Los Angeles. Like Independence Day, it is a global invasion, and there are alien drop zones at twenty world cities, but the movie concentrates on Los Angeles. The group of Marines endure heavy casualities, amongst themselves and civilians they are escorting, as they try and fight their way through the ruins of Los Angeles in an attempt to get to a military safe zone. Eventually the remainder of the squad find the “mother ship” and attempt one last strike to take it down, in the hopes that with its destruction, the other alien forces will be lost (also like Independence Day.)

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Getting into the Riverworld Series

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Posted by Rob on December 6, 2010 – 1:12 am
Filed under Books
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After finishing up book four in the Song of Ice and Fire series (since Martin has yet to finish writing book five,) I was looking for a new fantasy/sci-fi series to get into…and I do believe I found it. After researching online, I went to my local library about a month ago and picked up the first book in the Riverworld series, written by Philip Jose Farmer. I am currently on Book 2 (The Fabulous Riverboat), and I’m enjoying it so far.

For those not familiar, the book starts right off the bat with every human being ever born suddenly all resurrected on a mystery planet. The adults, regardless of their age of death on Earth, are all reborn into twenty year-old bodies. There are children, and they appear as they did on Earth. All humans are born naked and hairless, and no one knows what’s going on. What’s really interesting is that this allows humans from all walks of life (including different countries and time periods) to mingle together. Some of the characters are an 19th century British explorer, a caveman, a German Nazi officer, Prince John (of Robin Hood/Magna Carta fame), an alien who visited Earth in the mid twenty-first century, and others as well. While most humans get to creating civilizations and warring against one-another, a small group decide to set out to see if they can solve the mystery of this odd planet they are on.

Oh, and did I mention that if you die on this strange planet, you will be resurrected, but in a totally different part of the planet?

Just the basic plot of the storyline is insane, not to mention all the ridiculous details that it gets into as answers are uncovered. It’s a really great read, and I totally recommend checking the first book in the series, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, if you’re on the lookout for a new series to get into.

360 Review: Mass Effect 2

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Posted by Rob on September 2, 2010 – 7:11 am
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It’s not very often where the sequel to anything, be it a video game, movie, book, or some other medium, surpasses the original. Mass Effect 2 is one of those rare cases where everything good about the first game is included in an improved way along with some new features that make it better than the first time around. Whether you carry over your character from the first game or create a new one from scratch, the continuing adventures of Shepard and Co. prove to make a great story and amazing game.

The game picks up weeks after the first one, but Shepard’s adventures are briefly cut short when his ship is ambushed and he is left for dead. He is picked up by a mysterious company and over the course of two years his body is healed and he is ready to stand on his feet again. A new alien menace known as the Collectors are threatening the galaxy, and Shepard joins up with the company (who is headed by someone called the “Illusive Man”, who simply reminds me of the “Cigarette-Smoking Man from the X-Files), recruits his own hand-picked team, and prepares to take the fight to these new enemies on their homeworld. Along the way, Shepard will also have to gain their trust to make them completely loyal to him and their overall cause. To do this, you will need to talk to your new allies a lot, and also go on special “loyality” missions for them. These missions consist of helping that squad member deal with some demon from the past, which, upon successful completion, technically brings them at peace with their past so that they can give 100% devotion to the mission.

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360 Review: Mass Effect

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Posted by Rob on August 11, 2010 – 4:26 pm
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Ahh, my first 360 game review. Playing games only on the PS3 until about  a week ago, I missed out on a lot of great RPGs designed by Bioware…the two that come to mind are Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. I got my first taste of Bioware when I played through Dragon Age: Origins FOUR times (I did get a nice Platinum trophy for that one, too), and I loved it. So when I received my 360 last Thursday, I quickly popped Mass Effect onto the top of my Gamefly queue. I’ve had a few days to check it out, and so far I am totally loving it.

What Mass Effect does is that a fast-paced third person shooter and add to the gameplay possibilities by making it into an RPG. The story is basically about a human who is drafted into an intergalactic organization and must stop an alien from unleashing terror across the galaxy. First off, the main character, last name Shepard, can be a male or female, and there are a variety of different classes to choose from. Like an RPG, the classes are all distinct, ranging from warriors (the soldier, with automatic weaponry and heavy armor) to the “mage” characters, who are able to manipulate machines or create force fields. You can create a party of three out of seven characters (three human, including the main character, and four different alien species), but you can only directly control the main character. However, you are able to bring up a menu during combat to order your allies on which action to take. So it’s basically your typical fantasy RPG in a sci-fi environment, and the combination is pure awesome.

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Movie Review: Avatar

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Posted by Rob on January 17, 2010 – 8:48 pm
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Ive been looking forward to finding time to see Avatar with Shell. It was one of those movies that looked so visually stunning that I really wanted to see it in the theaters. Today was one of the first free weekends we have had since before Christmas, so we headed to the mall for an afternoon flick.

The basic plot of the movie is as follows. Humans head to a planet called Pandora, which is home to an extremely valuable metal called unobtainium (which I thought was a pretty stupid name.) As the humans wish to strip mine the planet for the precious metal, they come into contact with an indigenous tribe of humanoids named the Na’vi. The corporation manning the mining operation wants a peaceful solution to the problem, so they create “avatars”, which is a genetic clone of a Na’vi that a human can control from a remote location by basically moving his mind to that of the avatars. One of the men who controls an avatar ends up realizing that the Na’vi life is better and that the humans are a threat, and he ends up becoming a leader to them.

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Movie Review- Fanboys

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Posted by Rob on June 4, 2009 – 11:28 pm
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Ive been wanting to see Fanboys since I first heard about it sometime last year, when it was in production. I had been waiting for it, but never saw it reach the theaters. Then last week, I saw it in Best Buys ad for its DVD release, and that movie jumped to the top of my Netflix queue. I got it in yesterday, and Shell and I watched it tonight.

The movie is set in 1998, six months before the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode I- The Phantom Menace. Basically, a bunch of Star Wars “fanboys” are eagerly awaiting the release, but then one of them becomes terminally ill, and will not be alive for the release. Thus, the friends decide to go on a cross-country road trip in which they plan to break into George Lucas’ house (Skywalker Ranch) and steal the rough copy of the movie, so their friend can see it before he dies. An insane amount of Star Wars humor and other wacky circumstances follow.

So since the movie is about Star Wars fanboys, there is obviously a crud load of Star Wars references, all of which are awesome. One of the greatest parts of the movie is that, since its set in 1998, there is no prequel jargon tainting the Star Wars universe, so all references are based around the original trilogy, which is very awesome. The friends have debates over whether Luke and Leia  were incestuous, how cool Boba Fett is, and that Vader is a bad ass even though he has asthma. Also, the movie has the characters show an extreme hatred towards “Trekkies”, whos paths they cross at several points, always leading to hilarious results.

The movie is also full of great cameos. William Shattner plays himself, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher are on hand, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes are ridiculously awesome for their 30 seconds, but the best is Seth Rogan. Rogan plays three separate roles, and at one point two of these roles collide; one being the leader of the Trekkies, and the other being a die-hard Star Wars fan. One of the best parts of the movie is when Star Wars Rogan pulls his shirt off, revealing a tattoo of Jar-Jar Binks on his back, after which he says “Jar-Jar is going to be the shit.”

But the movie is funny even to the non-Star Wars initiate. Shell enjoyed the movie a lot, and Im sure she did not catch the inside Star Wars jokes and whatnot. Its hilarious whether you’re a sci-fi nerd or not. Just watching the antics of the five friends as they head cross country is genuinely awesome. While being funny, the movie also has a heart-warming touch at the end, in which we see the genorousity of Lucas (though Lucas himself makes no cameo).

So all in all, Fanboys was an awesome movie. Its a must-see for any Star Wars fan, sci-fi fan, and just for anyone who enjoys pointless, funny movies. Like I said, its a real trip seeing the friends relate to a Star Wars universe that had not yet been tainted by the prequels. I think the final scene of the movie says a lot too: the friends are at the theater for the theatrical release, and one of them turns to his friends and says, “But what if it sucks?”…after which the credits roll. Purely awesome. Definitely check it out.

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