What If Wednesday: Space Crew

The movie Prometheus is coming out just over a week from now and as a movie geek I am hoping that it will mark a new chapter in sci-fi films. Set in the same universe as the Alien films this film could potentially be one of the first stages that lead to the film series that is loved by movie lovers.

In my group of friends this movie has been a bit of a talking point, us being sci-fi fans and all. Well in the bar on Saturday Kenneth the third decided that we should participate in a little exercise. This is an exercise that is done by geeks all the time especially when it comes to geeky films coming out. The idea is to fill all of the positions a deep space exploration ship would need for a full crew with you playing the role of a civilian scientist.

Here it is: IF YOU WERE ON A SPACE EXPLORATION TEAM WHO WOULD MAKE UP THAT TEAM (movie casting couch)

Captain - Hugh Laurie

This grizzled looking man has the charisma to entice anyone to do his bidding as well as his attitude demands respect. Think of Dr. House's genius when he is not pumping drugs into his veins commanding a ship. The only thing is I would want Hugh to use his true British accent that he has been repressing all this time.

Ex O - Angelina Jolie

The stunning Mrs. Angelina Jolie would make an excellent ExO her firm attitude off put by her sensual looks. She has already played a role like this once before in the very steampunk film "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and let me tell you she did awesome.

Navigator - Matt LeBlanc

Yes he played the dumb but lovable Joey on friends and that is what he is best known for but don't count him out for sci-fi just yet. For those who don't remember he played Major Don West in the 1998 remake of lost in space he did pretty good in that flick and I think playing the navigator would be right up his ally.

Warrant Officer- Vinnie Jones

This Soccer hooligan is one of my favorite cult actors and has a tendency to play gruff take no attitude kind of guy. As a warrant officer aboard the ship he would scary anyone who tried to step out of line. I would probably make sure there is an Exoskeleton Suit called the juggernaut, just for fandom sake.

Chem Eng - Robert Downey JR

Don't think of the brilliant but boozy Tony Stark think more like the drugged up Sherlock Holmes, ether way he seems to be type cast and does it very well. As the ships mandatory chemical engineer he would work closely with me the civilian scientist and be a mediator between me and the others.

Tech Officer - Ryan Reynolds

First off this cast needed a Canadian that is for sure, so why not the sexy and witty Ryan Reynolds. Now every crew needs a smart ass who fixes everything when it breaks down and I think the Ryan and his smokin abs are perfect for this job.

Love Interest - Scarlet Johanson

She is the military assigned scientist on this trek to discovery, she is cute and geeky. She is not a fan of having to share her lab with me and we start off on a very wrong foot, but after some humbling moments and a couple of near death experiences we begin to fall for each other.

Med Officer - Sigourney Weaver

What is science fiction without it's queen, nothing! Therefore it is a must that we have the fantastic Sigorne Weaver on the grand stage as the Med Officer. For fun however and the pure irony of it she will have to probably die second just to screw with people.

Synthetic - Alan Rickmen

What every sci-fi film needs is a sense of AI, be it a computer or a cyborg it needs to be there. As geeks the robot is usually one of the favorite characters, and using a cult British actor seems the perfect fit. That and his monochromatic tone is just perfect for a synthetic life form.

Dungeons and Resources: Imaginary Wars

It is Tuesday and this is the day I like to put some time aside to think of all the fantastic kinds of geeky and non-geeky games there are in the world. I like to find those games, expansions or little extras that make the games more fun and interesting but alas there is very few geekdom shops in my area of Calgary. But wait Great news everyone there is this new geek shop that has opened it's doors up to the public in the south east of Calgary. This haven of geekism goes by the handle IMAGINARY WARS.

Located on the corner of elbow and southland this is a fairly central location in the south east of Calgary and a hop, skip and a nice walking distance from a train. Situated right behind a good old Timmie Hoes so all the geeks can get their caffeine fix easily, and a giant tiger is in the perfect position (being just down the parking lot) for easy stocking of snacks.

The customer service is spot on, the staff is very knowledgable of the products carried which in the geek kingdom not being so could mean your demise. On top of that I had a very excellent experience when I went in to the shop with some friends, one of us purchased munchkin a game non of us had ever played. It was not busy being a Friday morning and the gentleman behind the counter offered to let us play in the store if we wanted. We took him up on his offer and he helped us learn how to play so we could teach our friends.

If you are a geek in Calgary this is a place to check out. They are a new shop right now and a bit of an underdog so let us show them that we appreciate the little guy and give them our business.

Cooking Concoctions: Spring Yummy

It is Friday and that means that I go and take a gander through my list of recipes I have found online that I would like to try out. I have started to collect all sorts of recipes that look yummy and will increase my skill base. It has been a crazy couple weeks for me over here and I have unfortunately not gotten the chance to get into my cooking groove. Then in the last couple weeks one of my friends asked me why I stopped and my main reason was because I hate cooking when I am the only one enjoying it. Then he volunteered to be my food guinea pig and so this week I was joined by my favorite ginger, so for the weeks where he is kind enough to be my test subject I will start calling those segments Cooking With My Favorite Ginger!

So this week since I have been absent from my poor lowly kitchen for so long that I decided that I needed to double dose my recipes this week. So we have creamy zesty shrimp skewers and a sweet potato salad. This Week I was joined by two of the Monstars, who opposed bugs bunny and pals in the masterpiece of my child hood space jam. They were kind enough to pose for photos as well as join us for dinner.

lets start with:
The Creamy Zesty Shrimp Skewers

 Ingredients:
3 1/2 table Spoons of Light Mayo
2 Table Spoons of Chopped Chives
1 1/2 tbsp of sweet with heat (or any thai chili sauce you like)
1 tsp of chili powder
2 tsp of my favorite spice, rooster sauce (Sriracha Sauce)
about 30 De-viened shrimp

 
so this dish takes a little prep work to make but turns out freaking delicious, but you should start by skewering the shrimp. I put about five or six of the slippery little devils onto each skewer, it helps to heat up the skewers a little bit so that they slide straight on through. Once you have stabbed your fair share of crustaceans with thin wooden sticks then in a small bowel mix all the rest of the ingredients together.


Apply the mix to the shrimp sticks and throw another shrimp on the barbie. use your better judgement to tell when they are done cooking.
 

Next up

Sweet Potato Salad

Ingredients:
 1 Yukon Gold Potato Cubed
1 Sweet Potato Cubed
half a cucumber Cut
1 cup of apple cider viniger
Honey Mustard (to your own taste)
1 tbsp Dill Weed
 

Start by boiling both the kinds of potatoes in a large pot of water until they are soft enough to poke a fork through them, this takes about 20 min. Then drain the water away leaving the soft potatoes

Next the easy part.... add every other ingredient to the potatoes, mix and chill for 10 min then serve.

This is a very light meal and is great for the summer months, I made up some green beans to partner up with the shrimp.

I'm on a BOAT

Earlier this week I told a brief summary of my adventures on the long weekend with promises of more detail on the trials of my down time. I have been waiting to get my grubby little hands on the photos of my future father in-law and myself building a boat. At this point we have only completed about seventy five percent or so but we are well on our way to having a wonderful water-fairing ride.

This is a photo at the thirty three percent complete, as you can see it is the starts of a pontoon boat. Once complete this boat will be a fun and fantastic party boat, for those days when people want to sit on the water and have a good time. At this point it is merely the frame work of what wonderful things it will become.

Here we see me putting up the last of the guard rail that runs along the sides of the boat. Putting these up was filled with plenty of its own challenges and after some swearing, a trip to totem and some outside the box thinking we were able to move forward. By this point we had already laid down the all weather carpet which put us at the over half way done point. With the carpet down I began to wish I had mustered the forethought to wear long pants because all the kneeling and hoping up and down off the carpet caused me to get rug burns on my knees. Which just sounds dirty if you have a mind in the gutter like me and my friends do, trust me that stating your knees are rug burned gets a lot of laughter and ridicule.

Here are some photos of the furniture in place, but not yet affixed. We were just putting them in place to make sure that everything worked out accordingly. That's where we called it a day, we are in the home stretch with twenty five percent left to do but it will get done.

What did I Just Watch?: Chronicle

With all these hero movies coming out it is hard sometimes to think about hero films that don't revolve around men in tights and perhaps all these super films are ruining us when it comes to darker takes on heros and villains. These past couple years where the geeks have finally come out of the woodwork for their chance to shine has shown a significant increase in the production of sci-fi and fantasy films. Yesterday I was in timmies with Kenneth the Third and he stops conversation mid stride to tell me that there is this amazing flick that I need to watch called Chronicle that he bought on a whim. We then promptly finish out coffees and swiftly rush to his place to pick it up.
Back in my own fortress of solitude we pop it into Heir Thurs my playstation and begin watching an abused boy who has started filming his life. I feel sorry for this lad being a victim of bulling as well, I cannot relate to the being abused by a parent luckily enough. Then the terrorized kid, his stoner cousin and the schools popular jock find a cave with some crazy glowing rock formation.

Then boom the three get crazy telepathic abilities and are able to do all sorts of crazy things. I won't spoil to much about this film and this is all things that you would find out about if you watched the trailer.
What I liked about this film is that every camera angle is explained, wether security footage or handy cam, all of has purpose. Also the camera angles become better as the main troubled teens abilities increase because he is able to move it around with his mind. This isn't the first film that has used this style, for example cloverfield, but this is the first time that I have found that it actually works very well and unlike the other films it is not just shot from one camera.
One other aspect of this film stands out to me, it is how real the characters feel. I found myself grow attached to these characters and as things escalated I was truly upset and felt unsettled by what happened to them. To me strong character development is what makes good films stand apart from a terrible film.
If I have not made it very apparent yet I tend to give away things unintentionally, but I am trying to be ominous right now. The thing about this flick that I liked the most was that the ending was left open but it still felt as tho you got closure about everything.
This film blew my mind a little bit and all I can say is if you ever get the chance to watch this flick do so.

What if Wednesdays: Tattoos

I find it challenging to come up with these what if questions every week, and more or less I use them as a creative exercise to flex my mental muscles. To come up with these I downloaded an app to make things a little easier so that I can focus more on my answers then on what questions I should ask. That being said some times I get questions that for me are a little ridiculous for example the question was "if you had to get a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it?" for me this is ridiculous because I already have four and am planning a whole bunch. Truth be told I have a sitting scheduled for later next month to colour one of my current pieces. I decided that I would tailor this question to fit my personality, so instead the new question is more of a list and less of a what if

What are my next five tattoos going to be

1. The weekend following my wedding this August my Wifey and I are getting puzzle pieces tattooed on our ring fingers. The puzzle pieces will be set so if we interlock our fingers the pieces will look like they fit together. I think this really represents us as a couple because with her I feel like I found my missing piece. Trust me I am very aware of how cheesy it sounds but it is the truth about how I feel.

2. On November 15th the day after my birthday I plan on getting a pair of wings tattooed on my right ankle because it will be the two year anniversary of the suicide of my best friend growing up. I am trying to think of something to say on a banner stretched between the wings but right now I am drawing a blank, something hopefully to remind me of him and express my remorse for not being a good friend in the last couple years, Perhaps a Marley quote.

3. On my right forearm I plan on getting an tattoo depicting Aries the Greek god of war to battle against Poseidon on my left fore arm.

4. A lot of tattoo parlors around the city have events where for a donation to charity you can get a small tattoo for a very cheap price. I plan on utilizing these to get a ring around my right bicep with the crests of the digidestened inside the ring one crest at a time.

5. A flaming bucking bronco on my right upper arm to represent the city of Calgary, where I have lived and grown in since I was four years old.

My life is getting crazy

My posting has been fairly erratic as of lately and this I am very sorry of but it is for two major reasons that this is happening. First off there is so much for me to do and so little time to do it all I feel as tho I am starting to wear myself thinly. The second reason is because I tend to be a little lazy and a bit of a procrastinator, I am great for conning up with grand ideas but my follow through is terrible. Then again I don't know many people who are not procrastinators. Some times I wonder if we became this way because of television, I do find myself yawning fairly often.

I do not like to use this outlet as some where that I go to complain about all my woes, I had hoped that is would be a creative and positive source in my life. On that note let me switch gears on to positive things such as the cool "adventures" I have had.
Let's start with the long weekend that just passed for all us polite igloo dwellers here in the great white north. What holiday granted us an extra day of weekend with pay those who don't live Canada may find themselves wondering, well let me answer that for you it is Victoria Day. This is the day where we Canadians celebrate the queens birthday, because us being the peaceful bunch we are asked to separate from Great Britain rather then revolt against. Thusly we say thank you to the royal family by honoring the Queen by taking time of work to consume beer in her name.
For the long weekend I did not just spend the whole time swilling beer down my gullet, no I in fact did a great many other things.

On Friday (because I got that day off paid as well) Brudar, Mr. Devo and myself met for a splendid Denny's morning feast headed to our new favorite geek store Imaginary Wars. I was in look of paints for my minis and Mr. Devo needed some new dice because his were misbehaving and rolling bad. We shall be melting them into a bowel for the problems they have caused. Brudar however decided that the big purchase he was going to make was the extremely geeky game Munchkin. Upon his grand purchase he ripped it open in the store and like any good gamer store they allowed us to sit in the store and play.
A Fantastic time of hilarity ensued as we struck alliances and broke them. We enjoyed it so much that we called up our fellow geeks and played again in the evening. With a yummy stew and plenty of caffeinated beverages the laughter lasted till well after midnight.

Saturday my services of were commissioned by my future father in-law to help him in the construction of a pontoon party boat. A day of mild labor in the sun was a great way to spend my Saturday and the boat is starting to look real good. I can not wait for it to be finished and to take the boat out to the lake and have some fun with it.

It began last week one of my favorite seasons, the season where people open they garages and the hunt begins that is right GARAGE SALE SEASON. This is probably one of the few reasons I want to subscribe to the news paper just so I could look up where some are.On Sunday me and the wifey went to a parade of garage sales near our neighborhood, and trust me we made some pretty good finds.

Then the day of the queen came and how did I celebrate, by doing nothing because my weekend was so busy almost all my energy was drained. I will try to upload the photos of the weekends events once I get home but for now this is what has been happening to me

DS Gaming on the Go: 358/2 days

This is something new I am going to try to blog about what I am playing on my DS. As a gamer with a life I find sitting down to play through console games to be a fair bit of a challenge. This leaves me with a dilemma of how to be a gamer and continue to play games whilst having to move about the city. See I tried at first to set aside time to show my controllers some loving but this was also cumbersome and felt more like a chore then fun.
Then I remembered how I use to love road trips because it meant that I would have many hours of almost zero interruption quality time with my gameboy. To me it was the best part of traveling anywhere because unlike at home where my mom would tell me to go outside and play in a car I am stuck. It dawned on me gameboy I how I shall continue to carry my gamer title. So I picked through my collection of games and picked one that I had always wanted to play but never found the time.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days

I am going to pull the most cliche thing that anyone who rates anything does... I give this game 4 out of 5 Keyblades. To keep this fair I played through the game on a medium challenge level not to easy not to hard but just the right amount to keep it interesting. In total the game took me 40 hrs spread out across three weeks I put a good chunk of effort into making sure I completed the game.
My favorite part of the role playing kinds of games is the extensive story that goes into them. Story is where Square Enix games shine an stand heads above the rest of gaming companies the characters are alway very interesting, even if they tend to be super anime characters.
The actual cut scenes that broke up the game were amazing and made it feel like it was a real console game. However the talking scenes in between every mission seemed to be endless with walls of very frivolous text that I had to force myself to read through and not just mash the A button. While playing Brudar and myself began to read them aloud and give the characters ridiculous voices. Also to keep ourselves amused any time Axel or Roxas conversed we played the fortune cookie game and added "in bed" after every sentence.

( I picked this photo cause my lucky number is in the upper left hand corner)

The controls were pretty straight forward and made the gameplay like that of a console game. I however found the "panels" system to be frustrating and interesting at the same time and I found myself having to use long dormant Tetris skills to squeeze in every ability that I wanted.
In the end it is a great game and really bridges the gap between Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. You don't really need to play the console games to enjoy this in fact of anything you should play 1 then this so things don't get too spoiled for yourself. Give it a shot yourself and see.

What if Wednesday: One Food

It is that time of the week once again and here we go again, answering a hypothetical question. I chose a question relating to food because due to un- foreseen circumstances I have not been able to cook on my Fridays like I prefer to do for the past two weeks. So I hunger to start cooking once again and create some wonderful concoctions in my kitchen. I am hoping this week I will be able to resume my joyous position in the galley of my humble abode.

The question of the week is, drumroll please

Badadadadadadadadadadadadada

If I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life what would it be?

For starters this is assuming that in this strange situation that eating this will not affect my health in anyway.

1. Pizza

Mmmmm tasty delicious pizza, anyone who knows me knows that this is my go to quick food. This makes my list because luckily I am not a picky eater and like to put many interesting toppings on my pizza. In fact I ordered a set of pizza dice off of amazon a couple months ago and enjoy using them when I get the chance.

Order them here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003WZDHIM/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1336568982&sr=8-1

Lots of fun if you want to mix things up a bit.

2. Burgers

I am not just talking about eating at McDonalds every day for the rest of my natural born life that would be gross. Home made burgers where the meat has been hand fondled by myself and prepared to my likening. The burgers also have a wide verity of types besides your basic beef there are also turkey, chicken and veggie there are others as well but those are the ones that come to mind first.

3. Sandwiches

I am not Joey from friends but I would enjoy a good old Dagwood any day of the week. For a fact I have been craving a sandwich for the past two weeks and thusly it makes the list because I yearn for one currently.

4. Salads

This bowl of greens is a healthier choice on the list but I enjoy my salads and salad dressings. This is also open ended because almost anything can wind up in a chefs salad if you are willing to get a little creative. There are also a bunch of other types of salad including but not limited to pasta salad, potato salad and the ever wonderful desert salad ambrosia.

5. Crackers with toppings

This is vague I know but I always love dipping my crackers into things like hummus or salsa. I use to come home from school every day and make a plate of triskets with cheese and what ever deli meat or leftovers I found in the fridge. Those were my favorite thing to eat.

Hopefully I get a chance to cook this week I have been dying to try out.

How to survive a Zombie Apocalypse: the Holidays

So I know that I have been falling behind on my posts but I am trying to keep up as best I can, however life is super crazy as of lately so I am finding it challenging to keep on posting. I had a couple very interesting tips and topics that I thought about doing for today's segment but decided that I wanted to do a bit more research on all of them before posting them. My theory is the more you know the more informative you can be, and I guess I have to face the facts and be honest that I have been a bit unorganized as of lately and have fallen a bit behind on my day to day things.

So here is a fun Video in hopes of making it up, although I know that it is not the best I can do.

What did I Just Watch?: The One

Not many people I know don't enjoy a good martial arts film, if people didn't like a punch them up then names like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee or Jet Li would never have become household names. I always enjoyed the films with Jet Li in them I found them to be a little grittier then say Jackie Chan Films which were always a little too much slap stick. I was browsing through Netflix earlier this week when I came across "The One" and thought why not.


So as always SPOILER ALERT

The plot of this film starts with Jet Li as a rat in prison being transferred to avoid harm from the inmates he narked out. As they transfer him suddenly he gets shot through the head and I am like whoa kill of main character right of the bat crazy. Then the guards open fire on the vents and who pops out and kills them, Jet Motha Fucking Li.

The new Jet Takes off like a bat outta hell out running the armored rent a cops in their SUVs. Then in an unmarked cop car rolls up Jason Stathum and they chase him down and capture him. Turns out that this secondary Jet has been jumping from reality to reality killing himself to gain power, he has but one left. Cue the exploding mouse and he escapes to try and become god.
Ultimate show down of good Jet Li against bad Jet Li. Raising a question in my mind, if you kill yourself in an alternate reality is it murder or suicide?
Cheesy sci-fi plot an all not a bad film albeit predictable, but for an action film not the worst in the world. If you don't care about cliche plot devices and enjoy a good old beat-um-up this film is pretty good and worth seeing if only once.

What if Wednesday: Avengers Assemble

Tomorrow is the midnight release of The Avengers movie, a film I have been waiting for since Joss Whedon graced the stage and announced it was being created. Now I myself would not dare to brave such an event but I do know of a few brave souls who will be. I however figured to make the event of a spectacular geek film such as this happening, especially the week after the grandest gathering of geeks in the Calgary area, should do a question pertaining to such an event.

The Question Is:

If I was a super ( basic strength and durability ) which avenger would I want to fight?

I am an actual comic reader albeit that the Avengers is not my favorite series I have read for this topic I will be listing off according to the comics not just the new movie.

1. The Hulk


In the comics any battle with the Hulk is fantastic multiple comic battle that is sure to level an entire city. To be apart of a brawl of that magnitude would be fun I believe. My brawn being put to the ultimate test to the death against a pair of giant green meat mitts, it would be the kind of battle that would be told of for generations to come, children would be told of the epic with the moral of the story being... "don't bite off more then you can chew".

2. Thor


Combat against a God, not just any god mind you but the master of thunder. To try to match my hand and might against Thor and his powerful companion Mjolnir would be a battle that long afterwards I could say "it was awesome", even if I lost. The son of Odin himself faced off against a puny mortal such as myself in an all out battle for honor.

3. The Ant-Man


What happens when an experiment goes wrong and changes the scientist forever into a super being, but the scientist isn't evil, you get The Ant-Man ( and the hulk, mr fantastic, and many many more). His ability to change size and the control he has over giant ants would make him a worthy advisory.

4. Hawk-Eye


My good friend Mr. Devo has an affinity for heroes who wield bows and Hawk-eye is no exception. The challenge here is to be quick and dodge his swift arrows but none the less a strength vs speed battle is always intense. Hawk-Eye may not be a super but he is still quite the match for any one with powers, his cunning and speed makes him able to deal blows to even the most powerful of foes.

5. Captain America


I hate CA so much and the only reason he makes this list is because I want to beat his "patriotic" face in. Sorry normally I have good reasons for my lists but I just always want to throttle this little pricks throat. Seriously who thinks this jack ass is cool and how does he continue to have comics about him, he is the type of hero who needs to fade away. Don't get me wrong Chris Evens does a fantastic job portraying him in the movie and it is the first time I have ever said wow about anything involving captain America but I really hate the character.

So here's to watching The Avengers and enjoying the geekdom made main stream.