While Geekadelphia blogger Corey Hulse was registering a new Google Account, this was the Word Verification.

Really, not much else to say. Awesome.

Today marks the closing of the National Constitution Center’s latest acclaimed exhibit, Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon. The exhibit, which ran all Summer, gave visitors a fresh look at our country’s first president. Not just as a leader, but as a family man, farmer, and entrepreneur.

To wrap up his stay in Philadelphia, the NCC sent George around town, snapping pictures at historic landmarks, posing with statues, and treating himself to a cheesesteak and beer.

The folks at the museum were kind enough to share these hilarious pictures with us. So scope them out after the jump, and stay tuned for the next great exhibit at the National Constitution Center. I can’t wait.

Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with Shawn Smith, former video game journalist for EGM Magazine, and creator of the character design studio Shawnimals.

In the world of Shawnimals lies Ninjatown, featuring a wide selection of ninjas with their own unique story and design. Ninjatown has been everything from toys to videogames. You can even read about Ninjatown on your various Apple devices thanks to the Ninjatown: Adventures of Wee Ninja comic book App available in the iOS store.

I had the chance to talk to Shawn about his background, how Ninjatown came to be, and some of his favorite games from the past year.

For those not familiar with the world of Shawnimals or Ninjatown, could you tell me a little about its creation, as well as a little background information about yourself?

Shawn: Sure thing, Shawnimals is a character design studio that believes in the power of unbridled, astonishing, ridiculous joy. Each Shawnimal comes with its own story that starts in the Shawnimaland universe, but is then given over to you to continue each unique creature’s adventure in your own universe.

Our huggable friends appear as designer toys, lifestyle accessories, apparel, comic books, video games, and as anything that fosters companionship. We believe that the best artistic experiences are participatory and affordable, and that – with an open heart – friendship can happen between you and just about anything. Even facial hair.

We have a staff of four: Myself, my wife and biz partner Jen, Monte and Eric. And two rotating intern positions.

As for me: I’m the creative force behind Shawnimals, and started the company before I even knew it by watching cartoons, drawing pictures and playing video games as a kid.

Fast forward to my job at EGM magazine as a game reviewer (1996 – 2000), I made the difficult decision to leave and focus on my first love: Art and design. I had the opportunity to explore my various characters and the countless sketchbooks on my shelf filled with hundreds of unused characters. In a way, Shawnimals were born shortly after. Without a doubt I have pop culturally-inspired aesthetic: Simple, compelling character designs, strong narratives, and a healthy dose of humor. All of the stuff that makes great pop culture great.

With Ninjatown you have found success with an all ages title, a genre that seems to elude the bigger comics companies. Do you think it’s hard to find that balance of kid friendly entertainment that also appeals to an older audience?

Shawn: Yeah, it is definitely a balancing act. It’s cute and simple enough to appeal to kids, but not so simple and so cute to turn off adults. There’s also a level of inherent weirdness some of our characters have — or at least a level of absurdity — that I think a lot of adults can appreciate. We don’t necessarily want to be everything to everybody, but we are thankful that our characters seem to transcend the usual boundaries.

Piggybacking on the last question, what were the influences behind Ninjatown and Shawnimals in general?

Shawn: Anything and everything. Pop culture at large, for sure, but beyond that I love the idea of personifying things that would otherwise be common or even pointless. Objects, food, etc. Then there’s the character like Wee Ninja that obviously inspired by ninjas, or still other that are completely make believe.

Will Shawnimaland expand beyond the lands already discovered, or will you continue to populate the existing lands with new creations?

Shawn: Absolutely. Creating new characters, lands and stories is what we do. We love it. We’ll also continue populating our existing lands, too, because working creatively within parameters is as fun as it is challenging.

Working with Ninjatown as a digital comic, are you enjoying the new format and presentation?

Shawn: Absolutely. Apples devices (and really, smart phones in general) lend themselves incredibly well to reading. With regard to comics specifically, the displays handle the bright, saturated, detailed visuals so well.

Speaking of digital comics, have you been reading comics on the iPad or iPhone, or do you still pick up the physical copies? Also, do you have any favorite titles that you pick up regularly?

Shawn: Maybe it’s my background in publishing but there’s something really nice about picking up a physical copy of a comic or mag. Digital is a fantastic supplement, but shouldn’t be a replacement.

Finally, knowing your background in video games, what were some of your favorite games were from last year, and what games are you looking forward to this year?

Shawn: Rock Band 3. I’m a sucker for fake rocking. Outside of that, being limited to a Wii, I’ll go with Black Ops, GoldenEye and Epic Yarn. 2011 is going to be insane, though, and hopefully my wife will increase my allowance and I can finally get an Xbox and/or PS3. If not, I’ll stick to my other pastime: Drinking beer.

Thanks for the taking the time out to chat with us Shawn.

Shawn: My pleasure!

What can I say? Here on Geekadelphia, we like our cars.

Last year we were part of the Fiesta Movement. You might have seen us, driving around town in a super fancy decked out Ford Fiesta, throwing parties, giving away iPads to Sean Blanda our loyal readers at events, hosting movie screenings, etc… all in the name of an automobile we liked. And just last month, Mikey Il took a spin in the brand new Chevy Volt, thanks to their PR team reaching out to us.

Well, our love affair with Chevy continued, blossoming into a week-long loan of a brand new Chevy Camaro. Equipped with all the fancy gadgets you could want (XM Radio, Bluetooth everything, heated leather seats, a HUD display), it was one hell of a nice car, and we were thrilled to have it for a few days. And by we, I mean Mikey.

Mikey was fortunate enough to zip around town in the car for a week. He took some photos, Tweeted about his experiences, and perhaps, most importantly, drove us to White Castle.

There aren’t any White Castles in the Philadelphia area, so a long drive was required to score those tasty little morsels known as Sliders. We shot a video of the fun. You can see the inside of the car, watch how it handles, and at the end, experience the thrill of watching my girlfriend pretend to steal the car, leaving us abandoned in New Jersey.

Big thank you to Chevy for unofficially sponsoring our trip to White Castle. Those burgers were delicious.

As the year draws to a close, I realize that a lot of my time was spent in Brave New Worlds buying a ton of comics, or just standing around talking to Brian and/or Rob. Before we ring in the new year I wanted to take a look back at some of my favorite comics throughout the year.  Some of which have been completed and collected into trades while others continue to roll out monthly, or if your Mark Millar or Grant Morrison, whenever you get it finished. So let’s get started!

1. Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour – Bryan Lee O’Malley’s awesome series concludes with Vol.6 and is without a doubt the best in the series.  After five books of Scott being hilarious and often at times an idiot, he evolves into a, dare I say it, mature adult. Looking back on his past interactions with his friends and family, Scott faces the reality of his actions. Not all of which were that heroic in fact. What may have been my favorite moments of the book were moments that happened off the page when Scott was so busy with his own problems, and failed to see what his closest friends were going through.

2. Batman and Robin – Bruce Wayne is lost in time, many people thinking he’s dead. In the wake of his absence, former boy wonder Dick Grayson takes the mantle of the bat, while Bruce’s son Damien, becomes the newest Robin. I really didn’t know what to expect from this book, but I got some of the best Batman and Robin stories I could have imagined. Not to mention the revolving door of artists such as Frank Quitely, Cameron Stewart, Andy Clarke, and Frazer Irving. Each bringing their own unique style to the story but never sacrificing story to show off their talent.

While the series is ongoing, I’d say you can’t get any better than the first 16 issues, which dealt with Bruce’s absence and the new dynamic duo working out their own personal issues to accept their new roles in protecting Gotham City.

3. Ultimate Spider-Man - Ultimate Spider-Man is probably the only series I started with from the beginning. While I dropped off around the time the Clone Saga was re-introduced, I jumped back on when artist Mark Bagley left and was replaced by Stuart Immonen. Let me just say that for his short run on the series, Immonen set the bar for Ultimate Spider-Man. Coupled with Bendis’ stories,  USM was on fire and I thought it couldn’t get any better.

Then came David LaFuente.

While I would suggest picking up the trades that featured Immonen’s beautiful work, in terms of a jumping on point, LaFuente’s run may be easier. Taking place directly after the events of the horrible event series Ultimatum, USM was given a new life with LaFuente’s manga influenced style and and energy. Never have I enjoyed a Spidey book as much as as I have with LaFuente on the art. Also, bonus points to LaFuente and Immonen for drawing this 16 year old Peter Parker like a 16 year old. The series continues to roll on with new artist Sara Pichelli, who is also becoming an instant favorite of mine.

4. Secret Warriors – Jonathan Hickman has made me fall in love with Nick Fury. One part James Bond, all parts Badass, Nick Fury pulls together his own covert team of  super powered beings to take down some of the biggest threats o the world. All the while staying under the radar and hiding in the shadows. I can’t reccomend this book enough. Hickman writes the series like a tv show with each issue ending on a hell of a cliffhanger. As this series draws to a close (ending with issue 25) I can’t wait to see how Hickman wraps everything up in 2011.

5. Batwoman Elegy – I picked this up in trade form and I kick myself for not picking up the indiviual issues. This series is awesome!  It took me a couple of issues to really get into the groove of this story, but once I got hooked there was no going back. While the story itself, written by Greg Rucka, could have kept me coming back on its own, it was J.H. Williams III that sealed the deal for me. Every page had me drooling all over myself, which I normally would be doing anyway, but the art made me do it this time!

6. Thunderbolts – Luke Cage is given the unfortunate task of rehabilitating hardened criminals and getting them to turn their lives around. It’s kind of like the A-Team, but with the Juggernaut. And really, who could hate Juggernaut? See, you love this book already. Reading this and Secret Warriors back to back is a treat, if only to see how Fury and Cage both deal with having to run their teams. Neither one of them have an easy task.

7. TURF – Ok, I may not like vampires all that much, but put vampires in 1920′s prohibition era New York along with gangsters, and aliens, and I’ll give you my money instantly. No questions asked. Not to mention Jonathan Ross packs each issue with so much dialogue that it feels like I’m reading a short story more than a comic. I am not complaining about that at all.  Along with the writing, Tommy Lee Edwards artwork  makes my brain cry from the awesomeness.

8. American Vampire – Remember when I said I don’t like vampires? Okay, maybe I lied. I don’t like vampires that are written poorly apparently. American Vampire, now on it’s second arc, kind of came out of nowhere for me.  I wasn’t expecting it, much less liking it.  Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque create a different tone than TURF, giving American Vampire a quicker pace and keeping the dialogue fairly light.

9 Ex Machina – The final trade of Ex Machina threw me through a loop. For one thing it ended. On op of that it ended beautifully. However it ended in a way I didn’t see coming. It was a natural progression of character, but still it felt as if my brain refused to accept the outcome, no matter how much sense it made.  But I’m getting ahead of myself. If you didn’t read Ex Machina, I’d suggest doing so. Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris have created one of the best comics of the last decade. You owe it to yourself to read this book. Might I mention that this story is so rich with characters, I’d have to nominate it as the next comics series to be turned into a television show. It is that good.

10. The Last Days Of American Crime – Can I just say that if you spend enough time in Brave New Worlds you are bound to pick up books you never would have found on your own. This book is one of them. Written by Rick Remender and drawn by Greg Tocchini, The Last Days of American Crime takes place in the not too distant future where the government is days away from putting in place a broadcast system that stops citizens from breaking the law.

Enter Graham, a less than model citizen who puts together a group of ragtag criminals to pull off the last big heist before the new broadcast goes into effect. What follows is violence, double crossing, violence, sex, and did I mention violence. Very entertaining, but most definitely not for the younger crowd.

11. Blacksad – I used to stare at the pages of Blacksad and feel depressed. Not because the art was horrible, far from it. I used to get depressed over the fact that I couldn’t read it because it was in french. Until this year, when Blacksad was published in english (!), and also included not one, but the original three trades in a nice hardback collection (!!). This anthropomorphic film noir series follows detective John Blacksad as he takes on various cases and criminals in his city. This book is great for those looking for a good crime series. Watching a black cat have a close quarter fight with a gangster lizard  has never looked so awesome.

And finally, my favorite comic of the year…

12. Thor: The Mighty Avenger – This is without a doubt one of the best mainstream books out there. Well, it was one of the best until it got canceled last month. Nevertheless, you owe it to yourself to pick up the trades, the first of which dropped two weeks ago. Thor: TMA is so much fun. It’s got great action, an unbelievable amount of comedy, and a nice touch of romance that is sorely lacking in my superhero titles.  All the credit goes to Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee. They made a character I haven’t bothered to care about and made him my favorite super hero of 2010. Here’s hoping Thor: The Mighty Avenger gets a second chance.

So there you have it! My incredibly long list of comics that I enjoyed. While most of these books are definitely more in the mainstream vein, there are tons more that I may have missed. So let me know if you agree or disagree with anything on this list. Are there any books you would suggest I pick up? What were some of your most pleasant surprises this year in comics? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!

Last Saturday The Trocadero theater in center city hosted Kaiju Big Battel, which was an official after party event for the Wizard World Philly 2010 convention. Truthfully, the awesomeness of Kaiju Big Battel is a bit difficult to describe with mere words, but I’m going to give it a try.

Remember all those incredibly bad Japanese monster movies from eons ago? You know, the ones where it is clearly a guy in a rubber monster suit stepping on little cardboard miniature cities? Okay, so take that and make it a live event, add a wrestling cage, throw in some music and clever scripted dialogue, and you have an inkling as to what witnessing Kaiju Big Battel is like.

As one of my good friends put it: “It makes no sense. I love it.”

More after the jump!

The premise for this Kaiju Big Battel event was a series of awards being given out by the host, Louden Noxious, for various superlatives. However, the ceremonies kept being interrupted by the evil Dr. Cube and his many minions. After each epic battle, the “city” was swept clean of debris and new buildings were put in place. There was even a large bridge spanning the stage (which was also totaled by monster mayhem before the event was over).

By the end of the night, there was not a single building standing, and Dr. Cube had been defeated! Not surprisingly, Philly ultimately won the award for best audience, and little silver chalices (cardboard ones anyway) were tossed into the adoring crowd. There was much celebration.

The Trocadero was a great location for this event. The downstairs area was large enough to erect a pretty good sized wrestling cage and yet still have plenty of room for spectators. A large screen on the stage gave the crowd a way to watch the fight even if they were back at the bar (or stuck behind someone really tall). The balcony provided additional seating, and allowed for an overhead view of the fight.

Overall, Kaiju Big Battel was an incredibly fun and entertaining way to end Saturday’s Wizard World Philly festivities. There’s just nothing quite like a bunch of guys in foam rubber monster suits beating each other up on top of cardboard cities.

Kaiju Big Battel was open to all ages, with tickets running $18.50 for adults and $11 for kids 14 and under. This was the second year for this incredibly entertaining event, and given the crowd’s positive reaction, I am betting it will be back next for 2011 as well.

For more information on other Kaiju events and videos of battles, visit www.kaiju.com.

For more information about The Trocadero, visit www.thetroc.com.

Illustrator Rosemary Trevale is currently asking for submissions for Picard Day, starting June 16th and running through June 23rd. Sure it’s a weeklong  celebration instead of one day, but whatever, it’s Jean Luc Picard.

For those of you who have never heard of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jean Luc Picard is captain of the Enterprise and is played by Professor X from the X-Men films. He’s awesome of course, and that’s why you should go to Rosemary’s Picard Day Blog and send over your illustrations, comics, or any other Picard celebrating items you may create. Head over to Rosemary’s Picard site here, and submit your work.

Illustration by Rosemary Trevale / Picard Day Blog

The folks over at Titan Books were kind enough to send me a copy of their book Yipee Ki-Yay Moviegoer!: Writings on Bruce Willis, Badass Cinema, And Other Important Topics written by Vern. If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Vern is well known for writing reviews on the Aintitcool, one of the most popular movie sites out there.  The book is a collection of reviews and essays, many of them have been published online. But instead of digging around the internet, the best of the best have been collected for your reading pleasure.

Review continues after the jump.

The book is is split into 13 chapters ranging in topics such as  “Blow Things Up Real Good” featuring reviews and thoughts on Predator and Predator 2, and the chapter titled “Tangents” in which Vern starts off reviewing a film but takes a detour and discusses topics that happen to pop up in his head, ultimately returning back to the subject at hand. One chapter in particular that I found very interesting was titled “It’s Not Supposed To Be Hamlet”. This chapter is dedicated to discussing how people defend a movie from legitimate criticism by exclaiming “It’s not supposed to win any Oscars.” Vern obviously has a problem with this thinking as he believes a good film no matter what genre should be able to stand such criticism and while it is true it may not win awards, it’s a legitimately good, maybe even great film.

To kick off the chapter, Vern unleashes a scathing (which may be too nice of a word) review of  Transformers. What I enjoyed about this review was that I originally liked the film.  Reading the review I realized I was excusing the film’s shortcomings. Now I may not have as much  hate against Michael Bay as Vern, but I found myself  wondering how I even thought the first Transformers was any good. As much as I hated Transformers 2, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the first one really did lay out the blueprints for its sequel.  After that essay, Vern goes back and actually reviews previous summer blockbusters that didn’t sacrifice story for silly action.  Included in this list are Terminator and T2: Judgment Day, Aliens, The Dark Knight (which of course won Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for best supporting actor), and E.T: The Extra Terrestrial 20th Anniversary Edition which he criticizes for using a digital ET in some shots, and switching guns for walkie talkies. Otherwise he thinks ET is an okay film.

The Final chapter, titled “Bruce”, is dedicated to the work of, you guessed it, Bruce Willis. It starts with a discussion of the birth of Die Hard, which I had no idea was based off of a book called Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. Vern compares the book to its film counterpart revealing that much of the action beats were in the book already. It is no secret even from the beginning of the book that Vern LOVES this movie and constantly uses it as a reference point for all the action films that followed. A good section of the chapter deals with Die Hard. My favorite is a collection of anecdotes that lead up to the review of Live Free Or Die Hard.  It begins with Vern’s passionate rant over the idea that Die Hard isn’t Die Hard unless it’s rated R.  This leads to Vern receiving comments from someone named “Walter B” that leads into an awesome revelation and a fairly positive review of the fourth Die Hard that doesn’t gloss over the shortcomings.

As someone who loves movies, I wondered why I hadn’t read many of Vern’s reviews prior to this book.  He’s sensible in his adoration of film while holding them all to his own guidelines. He’s the guy a lot of folks think they are when they review films. I can see Vern being someone you could sit around, have a few drinks with, and just spend hours discussing why Bruce Willis is so awesome or following up on his comparison of Mary Poppins to Batman. I very much enjoyed the book and was surprised at how quick the book was to read.  Clocking in at 420 pages, I think this weekend would be the perfect time to reflect on films of the past.  Memorial Day weekend is usually reserved for  a big tentpole summer movie, and this weekend seems to be lacking. Instead maybe read this book, and afterwards pop in your Die Hard dvd and hope we start getting more awesome movies once again.

Vern’s Website – http://outlawvern.com/
Titan Books Website – http://titanbooks.com/home/us

Black Widow hates Spoilers too!

A few years ago, I used to enjoy spoilers of shows and movies. It wasn’t out of a need to be the first person to know the ending to a film, or the last five minutes of a tv shows finale. I just liked having the information. It’s not like I went around blurting out crucial plot points that some fans may be patiently waiting for. I just enjoyed them every now and then.

Nowadays it’s a whole different ballgame. Spoiling a films ending, such as the after credits sequence to Iron Man 2 (Don’t worry, no spoiler in the article), or revealing the final crucial minutes of a television show has gotten to the point of being silly. There’s no fun in it. Nobody wins anything, except maybe the satisfaction of being the first person outside of the creators of the show/film to know what’s going to happen next. I think our growing impatience with either waiting for a film’s release, or waiting for a tv show to end its season is ultimately ruining the initial impact of going into a film or show with as little information about it as possible.

More after the jump.

Last season’s Dexter had one of the most incredible, and heartbreaking finales of the shows four years on television. What made it work so well was that you didn’t know how it would end. In fact, that’s been the shows greatest strength. If you walk into the show blind, with no idea where it will take you, it ultimately rewards you for your patience.

Hopefully the upcoming Christopher Nolan film Inception will have the same effect. At this point there has only been two trailers and a couple of interviews here and there with Mr. Nolan. However, there hasn’t been a clear explanation as to what in the world is going on in the footage that’s been released. To be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way  because knowing too much beforehand would lead to me hypothesizing and building up on a story that isn’t mine, culminating in a bunch of disappointment because the end product was nothing how I imagined it.

When it comes to television, the biggest problem people have is a word I’ve used a few times already; patience. You see, now we have TV on DVD, Netflix, Hulu. It gives us the option to watch whatever we want, when we want, anywhere we want. All without that pesky waiting problem. While many people applaud this option, I have to say that I’m very much a fan of watching a show week to week, letting the show unfold as it is intended. This past December and January I watched Lost to catch up to the new season. While it was convenient to have the previous five seasons at my fingertips, I quickly suffered “Lost Fatigue”. Essentially I burned myself out on the show and it took longer to finish than I thought.

When the new season of Lost started, I enjoyed the fact that I got one episode a week, and then had to wait until next week for the next issue. It lets you think about the episode for a bit. Let’s it breathe before moving on to the next chapter of the saga.  As the show enters it’s final four episodes, Lost has entered a territory where there is nobody outside of the creators and actors who know how the show is going to finish up. While there are people who believe wholeheartedly that the show will deliver a satisfying conclusion, there are just as many people who have decided the show will in no way live up to it’s own hype and mythology. From here on out for those watching the show like I am, I think the best thing to do is realize that the creators have an idea of what to do and they’re seeing it to completion. Anything you may have thought or wanted to happen may very well not happen. At the end of the day, it is their show, not ours. No matter how much fan ficiton and online speculation we put into it.

I had made it a personal choice to not actively seek out spoilers for anything from here on out. I’ve found that my overall satisfaction of a show or movie came from my lack of information on it. Recent examples are the aforementioned Dexter, and the sci fi film District 9. I’ve encountered more hits than misses and I’m quite certain you won’t feel so bad dropping 10 bucks at the theater if you don’t watch every clip and read every forum post on the internet before going to the movies.

The question I’d like to leave with you, dear readers, is this; Have you found that knowing as little about a film or TV shows plot proved beneficial to your overall enjoyment? Or do you like to know what you’re getting into before spending your time and money? Also in answering this, please don’t spoil any shows or films for anyone.

A Night of 140 Tweets is probably the most interesting things I’ve stumbled upon in quite a while. It boasts one of the most impressive and unusual collection of celebrities I’ve ever seen. There’s comedians, actors, musicians and even porn stars. Notables include Sarah Silverman, Rainn Wilson, Bob Saget, Will Ferrell, Dane Cook, Justin Long, Nathan Fillion, Ben Stiller and even some of our favorites from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Each performer took the stage on the evening of March 2th at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles to read one of their signature Tweets. Said tweets range from bizarre or inappropriate to absolutely hysterical. One of my favorites came from Rainn Wilson, delivered in a way only Rainn Wilson can, “Every morning when I poop, I quote Liam Neeson from the trailer of Clash of the Titans and say, ‘Release the Kraken!’”

They even show TwitPics on a projection screen. All in all, when put together they made for a truly enjoyable half hour.

The show is available on Amazon or iTunes [opens iTunes store] for only $2.99, a small price to pay. Why? 100% of the proceeds go to Artists For Peace and Justice to benefit the Haitian School Initiative. There’s also a DVD being released on March 30th for $10.99 which you can pre-order on Amazon. Check out the trailer. (NSFW language in the immediate beginning.)