Something Awesome #23 - NOT Geek Squad

Today we have something of a reverse Something Awesome. Let's just say that, after a few days dealing with Geek Squad in regards to my computer repair, because of the various little mistakes that they keep making, and the things that they keep forgetting to tell me, my happy bias toward them has worn off and I hope that I never have to deal with them again.

What, that doesn't count as Something Awesome? Okay, how about hindsight, like the hindsight which now tells me that I would have been better off paying a group of monkeys to fix my property? That's Somthing Awesome, even if it isn't very useful to me right now.

Something Awesome #22 - Cheeseburger Pizza

I love cheeseburgers. I love pizza. I think Papa John's pizza is pretty tasty. So, when hunger crossed paths with a well-placed commercial for Papa John's' new Cheeseburger Pizza, I just had to order one. Its unconventional, but pretty freakin' good. Try one for yourself, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #21 - Ben 10

Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been gone for a few days. Sorry. I got procrastinate-y. Anyway, trying to hastily make up for my lack of content, I've decided to throw some content at you! Yay! For the week's long Something Awesome, I decided to talk about one of my favorite animated shows of the past decade, which has, in one form or another, been on TV for almost that long. Ben 10 first aired in 2005, running for four seasons spanning three years, and starring my favorite voice actor, Tara Strong, as ten year old Benjamin "Ben" Tennyson. On a summer-long road trip with his enigmatic but wise grandfather and his intelligent, responsible, opinionated cousin Gwen, Ben discovers a device fallen from space. The device, which resembles a watch with a control dial instead of a clock face, latches itself onto Ben's left wrist, bonding with his DNA, preventing its removal. Using this device, known as the Omnitrix, Ben can flood his body with energy which mutates his DNA, transforming him into alien versions of himself based on the alien DNA samples stored in the Omnitrix database. He uses the powers of these aliens to defend himself, his family, and planet Earth from threats both terrestrial and otherwise.

Updates Again!

I did an update post a while back where I updated people on how I felt several weeks after first viewing some of the shows which I had reviewed here, and I figured now was as good a time as any to do this again. This will be a quick update, because I mostly want to touch on just three shows: Dad's, Marvel's Avengers Assemble (henceforth known as AA), and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Do you put another period after an acronym if it's at the end of a sentence?

Anyway, on to the updates! Beginning with Dad's, I've stopped watching it pretty much completely. I think its season ended, I dunno, but I got over it pretty quick. I still stand by what I said in my review, that the dialogues are pretty good, especially between a few specific characters, and that it is worth taking a look at, but just know that I stopped looking on, like, week five.

As for AA, I've given up on that one, too. It became very clear after a few episodes that the high expectation of a continuing storyline put in place by the pilot was not going to be the reality. The stories are episodic and fast-paced and way too silly and simple. I think what killed it for me was the episode about week four or five where the team finds out that Captain America knows Dracula from WWII (yeah, you read that right) and now he has to go fight him. So with no other exposition or character developement, they go fight Dracula. Witty phrase, witty phrase, punch punch, Hulk Smash, episode over. It's a shame. I'd really hoped that this show would live up to the promise that it would be a faithful seccussor to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and it has not. I reduce my rating for AA to a 4 out of 10. It's decent, but it's not great, and I won't be watching it anymore.

Which brings us to S.H.I.E.L.D., which was the first show that I gave a 10 out of 10. Actually it's the first anything that I've ever given such a good score. I did, however, say that I did expect it to level out to being a more typically imperfect show down the road, and in this case my expectations were right on the money. While I still love the show, and I can't wait to see what happens next, it ties into entities from the known Marvel continuities far less often than I originally expected it to. While I understand why it does this (that being so that it doesn't step on the potential future toes of the Marvel movies, and so it can build its own world), I still wish we saw things like A.I.M., Hydra and the like in this show, rather than new entities created for the show itself.

There have also been some shocking reveals as to the events which led up to Coulson's return after The Avengers, where is frackin' died, and while they have been interresting, I don't like them. Hopefully as more is revealed on the subject, I'll get over it, but as of now it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and kinda makes my brain hurt (watch the show and you'll be able to tell the exact scene which brought about this brain pain). I still think it's a good show, just with its own share of flaws, which any show is bound to have. It's as I always say, nothing is perfect, and it just so happens that S.H.I.E.L.D. is no exception to that rule. However, despite my newfound issues with the show, I still give it something between a 7 and an 8 out of 10, and highly reccomend it.

As for these update posts themselves, I'm going to keep doing them periodically, so get used to them, because they're here to stay.

Something Awesome #20 - Geek Squad!

I got a call today, much earlier than I expected, by several days, that I believe to be from Geek Squad letting me know that my gaming computer is fixed (fingers crossed)! I'm at work, and so I can't really check for sure, yet, but I have high hopes. On the chance that it is Geek Squad with good news, I wanna praise everyone's favorite computer repair-people with the tricked out VW Bugs. I mean, I'm super happy with them right now, so I may be biased, and seeing as they are people who aren't me, I'll likely go back to not trusting them in a few days. For now, however, I'm feeling generous enough to declare that Geek Squad is Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #19 - Having a Computer

Its been months since I've had a home computer. Months, as in since early September. Like a doofus, I let my security software expire and promptly caught a malware, and because I'm stubborn, I tried to get rid of it myself and made things worse. It needed to be taken to be serviced, by Geek Squad or somebody, I didn't really care, but that strategy required one key component that I did not yet possess: money. Now it's tax time, and with tax time comes tax rebates, and with tax rebates comes the means to get my computer repaired, and have enough left over to upgrade my ASUS Eee tablet to the new ASUS Notebook PC! Now I have a computer for typing and surfing the interwebs, and in a couple of days I'll have my bigger, better, badder ASUS gaming rig for the Skyrims. Dear glob I miss playing Skyrim...

In this day and age, computers are an integral part of our lives. Almost everyone carries a computer in their pocket, and uses a computer to some extent to do their job. Without computers, our entire world would change overnight. Not to mention all of the tasty, tasty, computer games (admit it, you totally expected something else to follow those tasties, didn't you?). If you love your computer, or you just appreciate the computer age, drop a comment and let me know, and come back later for another Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #18 - The Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer!

I don't know if you picked up on it, but I'm a pretty big fan of the Marvel movies from the Avengers continuity. So today, when the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy was finally released, I was super psyched. Now, I want to say that my knowledge of the incarnation of the Guardians used in the upcoming film consists of an old cameo in one of the few Avengers comics that I've actually read, and an episode of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, so I don't know the tone of the typical Guardians comic, but this movie seems to be going for a tone similar to that of the first Iron Man film, that being comedic with serious undertones, only in space, with a hero who reminds me of Mal from Firefly, and I'm completely okay with that.

So far, this looks awesome. I mean, there's a talking raccoon in it. A talking raccoon. Seriously, just...just watch it. It's, like, all over YuTube. Look it up. I think you'll thank me if you do, and you might even come back again tomorrow for another Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #17 - One Direction

I grew up in the '90's, and I am therefor part of the Boy Band Generation, and I'm not ashamed of that fact. I still believe that 'NSync is one of the best musical groups of all time. Knowing this, it should be no surprise to you that I enjoy the music of modern boy band One Direction. While it's mindless pop stuff, and I would catagorize it as something bordering on a guilty pleasure, its still an awesome guilty pleasure, and I think that anyone who grew up with the same music as I did should check them out.

I wonder, though, if she doesn't know she's beautiful, and that's what makes her beautiful, wouldn't telling her that make her less beautiful?

Oh well, ignore that last bit, and come back tomorrow for another Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #16 - Movie Review - The Lego Movie

So obviously, if I used it as a topic of a (admittedly late) Something Awesome, then I did like The Lego Movie, so I'll skip the usual quickie review. I may have mentioned at one point or another on this blog that I like toys. While I mostly collect action figures, I have a fondness for Legos. I had a lot of fun playing with Legos growing up, occationally design Lego models on the free software Lego Digital Designer, and one of my favorite collectables ever is a giant Lego model of the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean. When this movie was announced, I was excited, and when the first trailer was released showing that the movie would feature characters from virtually every brand associated with Lego, my excitement grew. I had no idea what the movie might be about, and I didn't care. From what I could tell, this movie looked to be a parade of awesomeness from beginning to end. As long as it kept with this expectation, it could have a plot flimsier than a Super Mario game and I wouldn't care. To my surprise, however, it did have a pretty good plot, and it was still, more or less, a parade of awesome, so I guess I got all that I wanted and more.

Something Awesome #15 - Snow!

I love snow. The white wonder brings me endless moments of joy whenever I leave the uncomfortable warmth of my house and step into it's biting embrace. When I feel it leaking through the small holes in my shoes, I smile every time, because I know that in a short time I'll certainly be shivering. And when I go outside and see my car burried under snow, its battery drained by the cold, it leaves me with a sense of true wonder, despite the fact that it means that I'll need to find a ride to work. Snow, I love you, and I can honestly say that you will never outlive your welcome

...

I'm lying. Snow, go away and leave us alone now, seriously...

Something Awesome #14 - Health!

So I'm far from a healthy person, anyone who knows me knows that, but recently I've been even less healthy than usual (hense why I have been gone from here for several days). I wasn't, like, pukie sick, but I was really bad cold that makes you super-miserable sick. I even had to miss work (blugh!). I am happy to say that, while not back to 100%, I only feel about as bad as I do when my allergies get bad (so how I feel most of the time), which I consider a triumph. While I doubt there will be a big post this week, expect several catch-up Something Awesomes in the next few days, and a possible review of The Lego Movie next week!

Toast your good health, your improving health, the health of your friends and family, and come back soon for another Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #13 - Creepypasta

For the thirteenth entry of Something Awesome, I just had to talk about something creepy, and there are few things creepier in the modern age than creepypasta. Creepypasta are the urban legends of our time, utilizing the technology of today to tell stories that are just believable enough that they get under the skin of the reader/viewer. The best creepypasta will take elements of real life, creating compelling characters such as the modern boogeyman, the Slenderman, or turning the innocence of classic childhood video games into something surreal. There are good creepypasta, great creepypasta, and dowright bad creepypasta, which can be fun in their own way. There are creepypasta which take the form of diaries, electronic correspondence between long lost friends, and video records of a desperate investigation. There are entire websites dedicated to reading, writing, promoting, and spreading creepypasta. Creepypastas are the mythology of my generation, and despite the fact that we live in a rational age where urban legends are much harder to believe than they once were, it is nonetheless fun to allow yourself to get swept up in a great scary story. So set aside some alone time, turn out the lights, lean in close to your computer monitor and give some of these great works of fiction a read, and come back tomorrow for another Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #12 - Superbowl Commercials

I don't particularly care about the Superbowl. Yeah the game can be exciting, and the halftime show is usually pretty fun, but I don't really follow pro sports, and it becomes clearer every year that no team I support is ever going to make it to the big game anyway. So why, then, do I watch the game each year, going so far to record it when I'm not going to be home? Why, for the commercials of course!

People wait a whole year for these commercials. Viewers wait to watch them because they have a quality above and beyond regular commercials, and some TV shows (cough, prettymuchallrealityTV, cough), and companies and advertisers wait for them because this is their chance to make the biggest mark that they can, by advertising during the biggest televised event of the year. These commercials have been known to make us laugh and cry,  and to bring back cherished characters from the past once more. People comment on and analize these commercials. They set the stage for the next twelve months of TV advertising. Not to mention the inevitable kick ass trailers, like the awesome trialers this year for Transformers: Age of Extinction, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, all of which I couldn't be looking forward to more.

Superbowl commercials, whether awesome or terrible, we love them. We list them, we rank them, we talk about them at work for days to follow. No one can deny their impact on our society, which is why they've made in onto this site today. Shout out your love for Superbowl commercials, and come back tomorrow for another Something Awesome.

Something Awesome #11 - TV Review - Stan Lee's Mighty Seven

So this past Saturday saw the premier of an animated movie pilot for a new TV series on The Hub, which I mentioned earlier in another Something Awesome. Now, I want to preface this review (and it is a review) by saying that I know nothing about the Mighty Seven. I don't know how long Stan the Man has been working on it, if the story has ever been a comic book, or anything. All I know about the story is what I saw in this TV movie. Since it was an origin story, I specifically avoided learning anything else about the story and characters than what was already in the trailers. That way I could review the movie as an origin story on its own merits. Quickie review: overall I thought it was pretty good. Long review: strap in, because there's quite a lot to say.

Sorry One And All

I simply don't feel up to typing up Something Awesome today. I have the entry planned out, but I just can't focus on posting it. Don't worry, though, I plan to have two entries for you tomorrow.