Alright, here's the deal, WOTG-ers. As you all know, SDCC was last weekend, so every bit of nerd news there was to talk about was announced then, leaving us very little (nothing, if I'm being honest) to report this week. To fill the gap until we start seeing more news coming out again, I thought I'd do a brief 'cool things' special edition of Week of the Geek. These are some of my favorite things on the internet right now — hope you all enjoy!
Hands of Gold
If you enjoyed Ed Sheeran's appearance on Game of Thrones (I did, though apparently plenty of people disagree), you'll love this. Peter Hollens is known for his music covers, and he took the snippet of song we heard and expanded on it beautifully.
Pop-Culture Covers
If you enjoyed that video, you might like these guys — Jonathan Young and Caleb Hyle. I've been following Jonathan for a while, and his concert with Caleb at MomoCon was one of the highlights of our weekend there. They collaborate a lot on songs (like the one below) and both have an extensive catalogue of covers. They have a huge range, from more classical sounds to punk rock covers, and they're both also on Spotify!
News, Quickly
We're busy — that's why I started this newsletter, with quick chunks of info to make it easy for everyone to keep up with geek happenings. What about news out in the real world, though? News programs take too long, and what we see on social media is often biased based on who we choose to follow. It's all too easy to fall into the trap of only reading news that supports our own biases. That's where Philip DeFranco comes in. Philip does quick stories on the biggest news stories that you need to know about. I've found him to be incredibly well-researched and he works hard to remain unbiased. He doesn't shy away from giving his opinion, but he's decidedly neutral in how he actually reports stories, which has led to me changing my perspective on things more than once. You can find him on YouTube and Facebook.
Tabletop Horror
If you enjoy tabletop RPG-style games and horror, boy have I got a show for you. Geek and Sundry's Dread completely took me by surprise. The game mechanic is interesting — every time the characters want to do something, the GM makes them pull and replace a brick in the ever-growing giant Jenga game, adding an extra layer of suspense to an already out-there story. The characters and acting are fantastic, and the set is amazing, unlike anything I've ever seen for a gaming show. I'm not gonna lie, though, the story gets intense by the 2nd episode; this show is not for the faint of heart.
Now, the downside is that the show is only available on Alpha, which is a paid service ($5/month). However, the site does have a free trial, which I highly recommend everyone try!
That’s all I’ve got for recommendations this week. If you didn’t find me through it, check out the fandom-inspired soap I sell. Lots of cool new stuff coming soon!
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