No, this is not Abe Lincoln fighting a Sperm Whale. I know as of late he has become quite simply, the Chuck Norris of American Presidents and this would only solidify this fact. This t-shirt by splitreason.com combines two of my loves literature and fighting games amazingly, into one shirt. The shirt is a basically what if the epic battle between Captiain Ahab and the great white whale took place in a Midway or Capcom arcade fighting game. To tell you the truth (Spoilers!) my money is on the whale, I already know how this one ends and it’s a fatality.

If you ask me the one thing that always bothered me about the new Transformers movies, and no I am not going to rant about plot acting or anything else I think Dustin covered that pretty well and honestly whenever Hollywood remakes anything it’s almost guaranteed to screw it up. The thing that always seemed l like a “I can believe you screwed that up” is Bumblebee is supposed to be a yellow Volkswagen Bug hence the name, Bumblebee. He was not a 2008 Camaro! I am sorry why would you name a 2008 Camaro Bumblebee was there a rights issue with Ladybug?  With a Camaro I would have named it something a bit more masculine like Snake or since it’s yellow, Yellowhammer that may be a really cute breed of bird but you have to admit, it sure sounds manly. I know they got a bucket of cash from Chevy for what basically amounted to product placement but they could have at least changed the name and left my childhood out of it.

One man in California has taken matters into his own hands and created a an 18-foot-tall, 1200-lbs. statue of Bumblebee, the REAL Bumblebee. Tom Rhodes and a friend spent a year making the statue out of a real Volkswagen Beetle. While doesn’t look quite as polished as Michael Bay’s Bumblebee you have to admit it’s pretty impressive for a guy who built it in his yard. Rumor is the next project will be made out an old semi. I can’t wait.

More Pics after the jump!

(more…)

Google is once again proving that they are cooler than your average company. In celebration of Chrome expanding into other languages they released a Google Chrome Manga drawn by Yutanpo Shirane (Let’s English, hon-nin) on their blog. This 9 page manga commission by Google Advertising and Information services is an addition to the previous Chrome comic done by Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics).

From what I have read on The Anime News Network, “The manga explains the major issues that the Japanese developers on the Google Chrome team faced in ensuring that multilingual web pages are displayed quickly but accurately. For example, the web browsers tries to automatically and quickly determine which fonts to use in different Asian languages, without needing the user’s assistance. The manga also highlights the contribution of one Japanese team member, software engineer Masanori Harada. Harada and his team developed the Navigational Suggest feature which suggests which web sites to visit as the user types.” Wow, I just thought it was talking about some forbidden martial arts techniques involving web browsers. You can read the manga here free of charge.

Via Anime News Network

The final interview for my 5 quick questions at Wizard World series is none other than Admiral Adama Himself, Edward James Olmos. Olmos was already a legend in sci-fi due his role as Gaff in Blade Runner and because of this and his award winning performance on Miami Vice, he was offered the role of the captain in Star Trek the Next Generation during pre-production and turned down the role.

He then went on to act in the film Stand and Deliver for which he was nominated for an Oscar for best actor. After his nomination he tried his hand at directing with American Me which has come to be a classic in the gangster film genre. Olmos then returned to television first with a reoccurring role on The West Wing then to American Family: Journey of Dreams which he was on from 2002-2004. I also found it interesting that he was noted as making an appearance in in Snoop Dogg’s music video Vato, featuring B-Real from Cypress Hill.

I would have to say the experience of interviewing Edward James Olmos was surreal to say the least and I was a bit nervous as well. Upon sitting down to start the interview and looking across the table I suddenly forgot how to work my H2 recorder, and after a bit of fumbling with it and getting that same look I have seen given to Starbuck on numerous occasions on Battlestar Galactica I quickly regrouped and figured out “the red blinky thing, yeah that’s record”. After passing this obstacle he relaxed and I got to ask “Eddie” a few questions.
Check out the interview after the jump.

(more…)

If there was a person I interviewed this weekend that least embodied their Battlestar Galactica Counterpart that would have to be Michael Hogan, who played the drunken curmudgeon Saul Tigh on the show. A Canadian actor as well, Michael had done various television and movies prior to landing his role on Battlestar Galactica. A bit on the quiet side but super friendly in person the first thing you notice about the man is his voice. Full of energy and upbeat, this voice I couldn’t recall hearing on the show and I think that shows how hard he had to work to play the tortured second in command to Adama who eventually found out he was the thing he hated most.

I have to say Saul was one of my favorite characters on the show and one I rooted for even when I found out he was supposed to be the enemy. He brought a certain balance to Adama, because of their friendship it rounded the character of Adama out quite well, that and their fighting like an old married couple was one of my favorite parts of the show. I still long for the day when Michael Bay bored with giant robots, announces his next film will be a epic space buddy cop movie starring Michael Hogan and Edward James Olmos. Hey, it could happen.

Check out the interview after the jump.

(more…)

Today’s 5 quick questions will be from Nicki Clyne the Canadian born actress who played Cally Henderson on Battlestar Galactica, whom I was lucky enough to interview Sunday morning at the con. She was definitely in my opinion the surprise fan favorite of the con, stealing the show at the Battlestar Galactica panel with her articulate thoughts on femininity in the Battlestar Galactica universe, her character and the show in general.

The day before the interview Nicki had ran into our very own Bianca, and upon seeing my card when I introduced myself recognized the blog and asked about the girl she had met the day before, and told me to tell her she said “hi”. The fact that she remembered these kinds of details at a con of all places really struck me as thoughtful. Whereas I lost my car Friday night.

After the jump check out her great interview.

(more…)

This is the start of my 5 quick questions interview series from Wizard World 2009. For the next four days I will be posting a different interview each day with a celebrity I was lucky enough to have the chance to ask a 5 quick questions.  For those of you that read my Waiting for Wizard World article you know one thing I was excited for was the chance to see Max Brooks author or World War Z do his “What’s your zombie plan?” Panel. I arrived at the con Friday sneaking out of work early and stopped by his table to pick up a hardback copy of World War Z to have signed. I told him I was a huge fan and asked him if I could have an interview sometime that weekend and he said “I am kinda slow now” luckily my friend Scott who blogs on 13visions.com had his H4 handy and me and Max snuck off to do the interview you see before you, check it out after the jump.

(more…)

I love zombie movies, and way before they were the new sparkly vampires mind you. While most kids were watching He-Man I was comparing the overlying thematic elements of Day of the Dead to Dawn of the Dead. I always saw the bigger picture that the movies while seemingly being about the rise of the undead from their grave were really about the human struggle, to not only to get along with one another but to survive the ordeal as well.

After spending almost my entire life watching different interpretations on this theme, sometime after Land of the Dead was released things started to get a bit stale. It seemed as if George Romero himself had run out of ideas. Now just for the record I won’t acknowledge the possibility of fast moving zombies. Not only do I find it hard to believe that the dead are not just simply re-animated but imbued with super-human speed and strength but if these zombies existed we wouldn’t stand much of a chance now would we? I had basically given up on the genre at least in American media up until I ran across World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

More after the jump!

(more…)

Next time you have your significant other over why not show your sensitive and geeky side at the same time, by setting the mood lighting with this designer Lego-like candle. Now due to certain understandable legal issues they are calling it a “knob” candle and not Lego, and for the low price of $91.41 you too can can dine to the light of a glowing red, yellow or blue brick. Sadly these are not stackable but are made from plastic molds to ensure a ‘toy-like’ finish. The brick measures 7-1/2″ x 3″ x 3″ and can be ordered here.

If you have been out and about in the city no doubt you may have seen these stickers on the sides of news paper vending machines, or as posters in stores and various other places in the city where humans tend to go. This is the start of the viral marketing for the movie I think might be the salvation of a summer filled with remakes sequels and rehashes and other re-treds that have become a staple of the summer movie season.

The movie is District 9 and it’s produced by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, and directed by first timer Neill Blomkamp. Neill is best known for his work on HALO Land fall a short film that was meant to be viral marketing and a warm up with Weta for the Halo live action movie, that he was supposed to direct until that project was sadly derailed. But what we saw in that 7 minutes was some of the best sci-fi warfare I have seen since Starship Troopers, and the general opinion was if he could do this with a shoe string budget imagine what he could do with a real budget and a real film.

See Landfall and more after the Jump!

(more…)

Wizard World Philadelphia is next weekend, and we here at Geekadelphia are starting to gear up for what is promising to be a really great con. One event that I am really looking forward to is an advance screening of Chris Nohan‘s live-action film adaptation of Production I.G‘s Blood: The Last Vampire, a month before the July 10th release date! Regular readers of Geekadelphia will recall me writing about this back in May and news of this screening is starting to circulate on the various anime and manga blogs. This sneak preview is a Philadelphia exclusive and will be on Friday June 19th at 7 pm in room 201A.

More after the Jump!

(more…)

Going with the theme of Personal Effects: Dark Art and Zach Taylor being a art therapist working at Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital we thought we would do what I am calling “Comment Therapy” here on Geekadelphia.com.  Thanks to J.C. Hutchins we are offering a free copy of Personal Effects: Dark Art, all you have to do is comment and tell us what sends you to the “Brink”. You get to tell us about that weird guy or girl who is always looking at you funny on SEPTA and you get the chance to win a signed book all about crazies. How therapeutic is that? Contest will run 2 weeks and we will pick and announce the lucky winner June 24, 2009. If you can’t wait you can pick up Personal Effects: Dark Art on Amazon HERE or start off with the prequel Personal Effects: Sword of Blood HERE. Good Luck!