What’s better than Season 2 of The Walking Dead ? Season 2 of The Walking Dead WITH DRINK SPECIALS.

Enter the Irish Pol. You’ve got the chance to see the show on a HUGE screen with $4 Rogue Dead Guy Ales and $5 “Zombie Brain” shots in addition to their already killer selection of on-tap brews.

The best part is these specials run through The Walking Dead AND the 2 additional times that AMC plays it (so if you can’t make the 9pm viewing, head over at 10!). Every Sunday at The Irish Pol. Zombies and the Irish Pol. Two great tastes that taste great together.

On the surface, the Saints Row franchise appears to be little more than a GTA clone (both are sandbox adventures with a serious bent towards graphic violence), but the latest entry in the series has a serious amount of polish, is ridiculously funny, and most importantly, a ton of fun. It’s far and away the best Saints Row yet, and a worthy holiday season release even with gaming juggernauts Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and Battlefield 3 competing for your hard-earned dollars.

While the story isn’t exactly a Puzo-esque tome, it’s good enough and has some legitimately funny moments. You’re the leader of the 3rd Street Saints gang, and are the most popular and powerful posse in Steelport (a much more interesting version of Pittsburgh blended with NYC). The Saints celebrity has gone out of control (passers-by ask you for pictures and autographs while you’re in the middle of boosting a car, etc.) and your gang must keep away contenders to the throne. That’s about as deep as it goes.

What makes Saints Row great, though, is the slick gameplay, extensive character customization, and unparalleled outlandishness of the game. Whether you’re tasked with causing $250,000 worth of damage in a neighborhood while rolling around in a tank, or beating up an old lady with a giant dildo-bat after base jumping off of a luxury high-rise, it’s consistently engaging. The controls are intuitive, and the updated combat system – which rivals Batman:AC in terms of smoothness and combo-linking – are a joy to behold. Aiming weapons still sucks ass, but never becomes a serious hindrance. The number of WTF moments in the game is off-the-charts and includes: getting a sex change, participating in a murderous Japanese game show, and dismembering Mexican wrestlers. I spent two hours perfecting the look of my playable character, who ended up a spitting image of Walter White from AMC’s hit show, Breaking Bad. (more…)

Everyone knows that I love local music. I also happen to like Sci-Fi. Well, I found a local band that mixes those two fantastic things together! AND they add an element of theatrics to each performance. They’re called S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D., and they’re pretty much one of the coolest things to hit the Philadelphia music scene in a long time.

Not only is the music complexly structured and dramatically theatrical; the theme that accompanies this band is out of this world (quite literally in fact). Sent back in time from the year 2776 AD, moments before the human race invades and destroys his home planet, S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. prototype G7ANGEL591S: “Gabriel Starwood” has come to planet Earth. Landing before the dawn of man, Gabriel Starwood is entrusted with the mission to alter the course of Earth’s history in order to prevent his planets destruction.

I had a chance to sit down directly with Gabriel Starwood in order to understand his mission further. He (errr it?) was happy to oblige.

What does STARWOOD mean?

S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. is the acronym for my make and model. I am a Sociopathic Time Altering Robot Warrior Of Organic Design from the planet Vitrus. I am capable of entering and controlling the human body by transferring my CPU’s Neural Network to the brain of my choice through my self-replicating nanite-infused sperm, ultimately providing total control over any and all who come in contact with my ejaculate.

The “Main Host Body,” currently an unemployed 30yr old West Philadelphian entertainer, will be inhabited by the S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. Neural CPU until the body is found lacking in usefulness, at which time I will find yet another “Main Host Body” for my yocto-sized processor to inhabit. (more…)

From February 17-September 3, 2012, never before seen pieces of Rock N’ Roll Legend Bruce Springsteen’s life will be on display at The National Constitution Center.

Philly will be the only stop on the tour of “From Asbury Park to The Promised Land,” the comprehensive Springsteen exhibit, which features early audio cuts and newspaper clippings of The Boss’ time with forgettable acts such as Child and The Castiles, long before he hit it big with The E-Street Band and going solo. The coolest listening station making the tour, though, is the successful 1972 audition recording that secured The Boss a contract with Columbia Records.

While Springsteen was officially a Jersey boy, he’s part of our local DNA, on par with our cracked symbol of liberty and the goddamn cheesesteak. For those of us in our mid-thirties to forties, The Boss was part of our musical heritage moreso than Mick and The Stones ever could be. Most notably, Springsteen found a way to compose music based around Americana and the concept of patriotism without sounding like an asshole, which is an achievement unto itself.

The exhibit will feature more than 150 Springsteen trinkets, like the Fender Esquire that graced the cover of his timeless record “Born to Run,” his Academy Award for “Streets of Philadelphia,” his 1960 Chevy Corvette, and the saxophone used on “Jungleland,” once owned by the late Clarence Clemons.

Tickets for the exhibit will set you back $24.50 if you’re an adult, and only $12 for little Bruce fans age 4-12 (who were probably conceived to the sweet sounds of Born in the U.S.A. in the back of your Dodge Omni, anyway).

For more information, visit the Constitution Center’s official website.

Mike Kennedy is a name that is probably familiar to make video gamers out there. He has done work for the likes of EA, Namco and Activision as both a writer and producer. But what you might not know is that Mike Kennedy is also quite the comic book writer, having written titles such as Ghost, Star Wars, Alien vs. Predator and Superman.

His most recent work is the graphic novel Bleedout from Archaia Entertainment, for which he is also the publisher. Mr. Kennedy was nice enough to do an email interview with me where he talks about working on Bleedout and his plans for his creative future.

When working on Bleedout, how did it feel to climb back into the comic book writer’s seat again?

It feels like I never really left that seat, but only because of all the writing I was doing on other, similar productions and video games… I completely lost track of how long it had been since I had a book on store shelves! A lot of those other productions incorporated comic-book narrative devices, motion comics, animated sequences, etc, so the comic book writer’s fix was constantly fed. But having a solid, physical, printed product on the shelves again is really satisfying!

Working with this particular lineup of artists just made it that much more exciting. Nathan Fox, Glenn Fabry, Vince Proce, Ben Templesmith, Tim Bradstreet, Trevor Hairsine… man, everyone brought their A-game, and it was a real rush. I’ve been friends with some of these guys for a while, fans of all of them, and working with them together on this book was a singular thrill. Howard Chaykin was a huge influence as a writer growing up, and to have him illustrate one of my scripts was surreal and awesome. That’s the kind of welcome back lineup everyone should experience at some point in their career…

Bleedout is distinctive in its origins as part webcomic/part graphic novel. Did this present any unique challenges in the writing?

Yeah, and it was even more complicated than that, actually. The story was initially conceived as cutscene material for 10 weekly “episodes” of downloadable content for the online MMO CRIMECRAFT. The script was structured to not only provide the player with background info for each week’s standalone portion of new gameplay, but to educate the player on the game’s mysterious backstory in cliffhanger-chunks that slowly grew, week-after-week, to reveal an engaging conspiracy that explodes into civil war inside the game realm. (more…)

If you live in Philly, then you already know all about Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison.

The two, along with their regular cast of characters, have been making the morning commute to work that much easier for Philadelphians since The Preston & Steve Show debuted on 93.3 WMMR in 2005.

But what you may not know is that Steve Morrison is one of us; yes, he is a geek. He is an avid lover of video games, a huge movie buff and often talks about it on the air. As he and Preston prepare for the annual Campout for Hunger, Steve was kind enough to answer a few questions for me via email.

You have been a part of Philadelphia’s radio landscape for a long time. For you, what is the best part of being a radio personality in Philly?

The people! Funny, colorful, loyal, generous, quirky, salt-of-the-Earth and a hundred other adjectives; Philadelphians are the real deal and I owe them everything.

Your love of video games is no secret. Are you a Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Wii kind of guy and what games are you currently playing?

I have two of all three systems because I’m a lunatic. The system I end up using the most is the Xbox 360 especially when it comes to first person shooters; the controller is just more suited for them. However, the PS3 is a mofo especially when it comes to the exclusive titles such as the “Uncharted” series and “God of War.”

What was your favorite superhero movie from this past summer and how excited are you for The Avengers movie?

I loved “X-Men First Class.” I was not expecting much and they did a very solid reboot on a series that really didn’t need a reboot. The first hour is some of the finest Marvel related movie stuff that I’ve ever seen. As for the “The Avengers” movie, I am insanely stoked especially because I have extreme faith in Joss Whedon.

If you could replace your co-host Preston Elliot with anyone, living or dead, for one show, who would it be and why.

While Preston is clearly irreplaceable, I would love to bring in Steve Jobs. He was always my number one interview choice when he was alive and, since you made this living or dead, I’m going to maintain that.

Really, how hot is Kathy Romano?

We originally noticed Kathy because she was the hot traffic girl on NBC 10 and now she’s just like a sister so the hotness thing has diminished for me. Besides, we’ve all seen her go to the bathroom and that really kills it. Okay, that’s not entirely true.

To me, nothing says the holidays like the annual Preston and Steve Campout for Hunger. How are you preparing for living in an RV for a week?

Believe it or not, I’m sort of training for it this year by dropping weight (we always end up eating like shit during that week) and by regulating my sleep a little better. Will it help? Absolutely not, but I’m enough of an a-hole to pretend that it will.

Any final thought for some of your geekier fans?

Fellow geeks, we are living in blessed times; the sheer volume of stuff to geek out over is staggering and the amount of women now getting on board means there just might be longterm hope for our species.

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You can hear the Preston & Steve show weekday mornings on 93.3 WMMR or download the podcast at wmmr.com.

Glen Abrams, Manager of Policy and Strategic Initiatives at the Philadelphia Water Department, Office of Watersheds during his lecture

You could feel the collective, bundled energy amongst both friends and strangers standing outside of the Temple Performing Arts Center yesterday morning. We were all excitedly sipping our coffee and taking the sights of the morning in, waiting for the doors to open for 2011 TEDxPhilly: The City.

After receiving our badges and event booklets, the growing crowd was still a-twitter. Except, we actually weren’t entirely “a-twitter”: After a cheerful welcome (with lots of applause!), the charismatic host– Chris Bartlett– politely presented the first proposal of the day. It was a respectful and appropriate request: for participants to ‘unplug’. No handheld technology! Also off-limits: live tweeting, mobile devices, recording devices, etc. He encouraged us to enjoy the experience of the event this way, and to meet the other participants sitting around us.

Making quite the splash, Mayor Nutter dropped by– praising TEDxPhilly and this year’s theme. “You are watching the renaissance of a great American city,” he commented, after taking a few minutes to discuss how the local government system is creating opportunities for citizens, elaborate on recent transformations in our own city (including federal-level grant work for clean energy technology, Get Healthy Philly, etc) and discussing the merits of our most basic civic duty: voting.

‘The Fractory’ lounge in the downstairs of the event where attendees could use electronic devices and watch the live stream

In the all-day event, participants were presented with nearly two-dozen TED talks; food for thought as part of an active dialog about the challenges, opportunities, realities and innovations that shape and are shaped by inhabitants of a city.

Along with the incredible professionalism of the TEDxPhilly staff and the beautiful venue, it seemed that all of the speakers were well-equipped in their own way to discuss perspectives of many different issues throughout the day– making the event, in entirety, quite lovely to experience.

The talks were separated into different theme tenets: Engage, Transform, Converge and Reveal. (more…)

Our friends over at NextFab Studios (the folks responsible for that epic mustache trophy at our Halloween party w/ Indy Hall) are running one hell of an awesome contest. Sure, we giveaway a lot of gadget swag, but this amazing set of speakers from NextFab are pretty special. See, they’re handmade.

Crafted by University of the Arts alum Jesse Gerard and his company Carrot Grant, these Symphony Cricket speakers are handcrafted by him and his creative team. They normally retail for about $400, and NextFab is giving you a chance to score a set for free.

All you have to do is give NextFab Studios’ Facebook page a like. Seriously, that’s it. They’re trying to build their community to over 1,000 fans. You can get more information here.

What are you waiting for? Go like ‘em! You’ve got til December 15th at midnight, but come on. You really don’t need that much time, do you?

It’s looking like NBA 2K12 is the closest basketball fans will get to an actual season this year. The league may have failed you this season but 2K Sports has created a worthy successor to last year’s sleeper hit. Regardless of genre, I believe that immersion is a necessary component to an enjoyable gameplay experience. NBA 2K12 acknowledges this while actually improving upon where its critically acclaimed predecessor left off.

The game essentially draws on nostalgia, dream match ups and competitive gameplay to create an accessible, fun product for fans of all ages. This years installment is a lot more than last years addition of Michael Jordan. 2K12 sees the playable debut of 10 new basketball legends including Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell and a host of others to create modern-era matchups. NBA fans will surely nerd out at the attention to detail in 2K12. Select to play as circa 1960’s Boston Celtics and witness the transformation of modern day gameplay to a black and white television broadcast throwback with genuine announcers in uncanny detail.

Speaking of the graphics, many of the players have noticeably improved from 2K11’s somewhat extraterrestrial looking player aesthetic. Lebron James and Dirk Nowitzki are crafted meticulously as you control them rather fluidly up and down the court. New players will feel a slight learning curve with the sequence of controls. You can essentially micromanage everything that is going on in the game while on the court, both offensively and defensively. (more…)

For the 10th year in a row, First Person Arts is presenting the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, November 10th through the 20th in and around the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia. It will include events by both local and national artists that all have one thing in common; they are all based on real life experiences.

One event that will have you looking at memoirs in a decidedly different light is Arthur Jones and Starlee Kine’s (of the Hulu series Starlee and Arthur Review) latest collaboration, The Post-It Note Diaries. A collection of essays by some of the top authors and artists around, what makes it different is that Jones illustrates them all using nothing put a stack of yellow post-it notes and a black sharpie. The two provide a multi-media presentation while bantering back and forth in their trademark humorous way.

Sound like a good time? You can check it out starting at 5PM on November 19th at the Painted Bride Art Center, for just $15. You may just never look at a post-it note the same way again.

For more information on the rest of the festival, visit First Person Arts’ official website.

The First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art
www.firstpersonarts.org/programs2/2011festival

This week we look at the return to greatness of Swamp Thing, Blair Butler’s debut in the pages of Image’s Heart and how the New Mutants are dealing with Regenesis. All in this little thing I like to call The Comic Roundup.

Swamp Thing #3
By Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette

While I love Alan Moore’s work on Swamp Thing and do consider it a bench mark of modern comics, I have always thought that Mark Millar’s criminally overlooked run was actually a better read. So when the guy who was doing such great work on Batman was announced as the writer of the newly relaunched title, I went in with an open mind, without the baggage of the Moore era weighing me down. (more…)

Halloween may be over, but the zombie zeitgeist shambles on. Games, TV shows, comics… they’re still just about everywhere. I’ll say this, they’re a versatile bunch of baddies. One thing I think we too often overlook is what we can learn from the impending z-pocalypse, and what the shambling horde can teach us in general.

You know, things like teamwork. Wilderness survival skills. Disaster preparedness. And, um… love of books? Well,  if Chris Conduit has his way, at least. Chris is hoping to create a series that appeals to younger kids, still has a bit of the campy  creepiness we all love, and at the same time instills a real love of  good, old fashioned paper bound books. An explanation of the plot of the first story from Chris himself:

As Zombies Ate My Homework: A Jasper Trout Adventure opens, we are immediately introduced to Jasper:  an 8 year old boy who lives a seemingly normal life in small town America. Jasper enjoys watching scary movies, reading comic books, and using his considerable imagination. He however, does not particularly enjoy school; mostly due to his rocky relationship with his homeroom teacher:  Ms. Pottyworth. She is a woman who seems to spend all her time directing her anger at her students, particularly Jasper.

From the moment Jasper wakes up on this October morning, things just aren’t right. Not only does he find that his parents are missing, but there is a less than welcomed guest in his kitchen: a hideously hungry ghoul rummaging through his backpack. Our hero runs out of his house and makes his way frantically to Beedlebop Elementary, not knowing the type of day that lies ahead of him.

As the zombie invasion envelopes Jasper’s school, his classmates, and the town of Beedlebop; everyone’s courage is tested. However, it is young Jasper who truly rises to the challenge and rallies the rest of the children in an attempt to stop the attack. Finding strength and confidence he never knew existed within himself, and friends in unlikely places, Jasper uses his creativity and cunning to outwit and outsmart the monsters and restore peace to his town.

Blending together action, adventure, the power of teamwork, age appropriate humor, and eye-popping illustrations: “The Jasper Trout Adventures” is intended to be a source of enjoyment for all those who read it.

The art style for the books is really great, and Chris’ passion for the story really shines through. The project is well on its way to being funded, but why not support a local author, and zombie education (and love of literacy) for young geeks everywhere.

The Project: Zombies Ate My Homework, A Jasper Trout Adventure

Creator: The Conduit

The Sweet Spot: $20 will get a signed copy of the self-published book, as well as a Jasper print. There are a handful of high-end rewards ($100) still available as well, which gets you 2 signed books, a Special Thanks in the book, 1 of 10 hand drawn, 5×7 Jasper sketches from artist Brandon Wilt, and a character named after you or your child In the next book: The Beast of Beedlebop Bay.

Funding Deadline: December 2nd, 2011

More Info: Check out the main Kickstarter page for more details on the story, or the The Conduit’s main website.

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Every Monday Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by locals. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com