Top Hat Sasquatch

Things have been quiet around here again. Sorry about that! I’ve been busy launching a new business and the only thing I’ve had the energy or time for resembling blogging lately has been maintaining the THS Instagram account, but hopefully that’s changing soon. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching geeky movies, playing video games, etc, I just haven’t had the energy to blog about it.

That said, it’s been a pretty eventful few weeks for us geeks. I’m sure you all are wondering if I’ve seen the new TMNT movie, but I haven’t. I’m really divided on seeing it (at the least I could write a bad review) but being so busy and also having so many awesome things I’m excited about has made me strangely at peace with the idea that there’s a new Turtle movie out there that I haven’t seen. The opinions I’ve read from the people I trust basically let me know that the movie is terrible, and honestly all the people I’ve had telling me it’s good have had to preface their recommendations with things like “If you don’t think about it…” or “It’s just the Turtles…” which is bullshit to me. I’ve gotten called out on Instagram and Reddit (ugh, don’t go to the TMNT sub) for being whiny for wanting a good TMNT movie, and I’m kind of over the whole thing. I’ll torrent it when it comes out on video to make sure I don’t contribute any money to Bay’s production company, and maybe write a late review.

Anyway…

Meanwhile, I’ve seen ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ twice

And it’s amazing.
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I’m sure you’ve heard of the failed ’90s Tim Burton film ‘Superman Lives’ that was supposed to star Nic Cage, right? I’ll always remember it because as a kid I was completely obsessed with Superman. This was also the time where I started reading magazines like Cinescape and Wizard, devouring movie news and also experimenting with this new Internet thing, checking out sites like Ain’t It Cool News. Everyone was talking about the Tim Burton Superman movie. Hell, I even had a hardback ‘History of Superman’ type book that mentioned the film being in production at the very end. For better or worse (probably for better), the movie never got made.

Over the past few years there have been some costume tests leaked and concept art, but the whole story has never been told. Luckily, a while back, some plucky geeks took to Kickstarter to fund a documentary called The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?, and they’ve just released the first trailer. I can’t wait to see this. They scored interviews with Tim Burton, Kevin Smith, and a lot of other people who were involved. The filmmakers have now launched another crowdfunding campaign to get the money needed to finish the doc, and as someone who missed out on the Kickstarter, I’m going to jump on this.

With Superhero movies becoming such a big part of our culture it’s almost just as entertaining learning about the movies that never happened. Superman Lives definitely tops the list and looks worthy of it’s own documentary, but I wish someone would make a documentary that collects stories of all the other Superhero films that got lost in production hell. The Jack Black Green Lantern comedy, the James Cameron Spider-Man movie, George Miller’s Justice League, and all the rest probably have pretty interesting stories behind them too.

Via The Verge

I’m a sucker for the design aesthetic of the NES. The color scheme, the shape and layout of the controller, and everything else. I also love emulation. I’ve written about OpenEmu a couple times, and I’ve been using a Wii U Pro controller with it a lot lately. It’s great and pairs easily with computers, but this NES-styled Bluetooth controller looks awesome.

Sure, it’s got four buttons (and shoulder triggers) instead of the classic two-button NES layout, but that just means you can use it for more than NES games. The NES30 looks very well built and sells for around $40. You can use it with your phone, tablet, or computer, and it would look cool just sitting on your desk. I’m going to pick one up and hope that they release a SNES-styled version sometime in the future. I’m more nostalgic about the NES controller, but the SNES had the best controller of all time, in my opinion.

Via Gizmodo

“Spend your money at the show, not on admission.”

That’s the marketing hook that got me to bite on this year’s Indiana Toy and Comic Expo. I’ve long ignored the city’s preeminent geek event, Gen Con. I’m not a tabletop gamer so I never bothered to attend.

Indianapolis’s two latest comic conventions, Pop Con and Indiana Comic Con, didn’t appeal to me either. Their admission price and three-day schedule were too much. Conversely, I had been a few times to the Ash comic show held regularly on the city’s east side. The tiny show always left me underwhelmed.

In the words of Goldilocks, the ITCE seemed just right. In its second year, ITCE looked to be the right mix of inexpensive, condensed, and substantial. The one day event promised lots of vendors and a few extra frills. The event was held this past Sunday at the Wyndham Hotel on Indy’s west side.
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DuckTales will always be one of the things I am most nostalgic for, along with classic Nintendo and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It just always reminds me of my childhood and I love getting my hands on anything DuckTales related. I was looking around online for obscure bits of DuckTales history yesterday and found this cool promotional folder that was used to get Disney licensees pumped about their new animated TV show.
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