Solo Things

Posted on October 21, 2017October 21, 2017 by Courtney

Welcome to this Week of the Geek! This week we have some cool new trailers for you to catch up on, as well as some news about upcoming television shows and movies. Check it out!

Television

We got a deeper look into Stranger Things this week with the release of season 2’s final trailer. This season’s monster is revealed to be a shadow monster in the sky, with the sheriff taking a proactive role in helping the kids deal with the new threat. The show’s main cast is all returning, with the addition of Sean Astin, in the season premiere this upcoming Friday the 27th.

Movies

Hey #Twitterville we just wrapped production so here's a special message #StarWars pic.twitter.com/8QJqN5BGxr

— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) October 17, 2017

Fans have long been waiting for the title reveal of the upcoming Star Wars prequel featuring the dashing Han Solo, with many speculating that the long wait is due to a creative, possibly even spoiler-y title. This week, that title was announced — Solo: A Star Wars Story. Fans had mixed reactions to the somewhat lackluster title, but it doesn’t seem to have made anyone less excited for the movie.

The Black Panther trailer premiered this week, with fans clamoring to share and watch it over (and over and over) again. The trailer showed off the technologically advanced country of Wakanda, and showed the country’s new king in his element, with fantastic music running throughout. I think it’s safe to say most Marvel fans, myself included, can’t wait for this one.

The master of anime movies, Hayao Miyazaki, can now show off his work in higher definition than ever before. Gkids has licensed the Studio Ghibli movies and wasted no time in releasing these classics on Blu-Ray. Nerdists’ review claims there is a discernible difference in the art, making these a timely release right before the holidays, for those of you with Miyazaki fans as friends and family!

We have a director – Gore Verbinski – and we have a star – Channing Tatum – and it would appear that, for now, we have another release date: February 2019. Getting Gambit to the big screen has been a long, drawn-out struggle, but fans are hopeful that this time around we’ll actually get to see the movie about the fan-favorite mutant.

Recommends

This week’s recommendation is a web series by Nerdist called Because Science. If you’ve ever wanted an attractive man to explain the science behind all of your favorite fictional worlds, this series is for you. My favorite so far is when he calculated the density of Legolas to determine how he could walk on snow.

That’s all for this Week of the Geek! Come join us next week to learn all about the latest pop culture news.

If you would like to receive Week of the Geek in your inbox each Saturday, use the subscribe box in the top right of this screen, or underneath this post if you’re on mobile.

IT Wars

Posted on September 10, 2017September 10, 2017 by Courtney

Week of the Geek 9/10/17

Welcome to Week of the Geek! This one’s a little short, and a little late, but I figure this way all the Florida folks will have some good news in their inbox when the power comes back on, right? What can I say, I live to serve… and also to procrastinate. Onto the news!

Movies

IT opened in theaters this weekend to record-breaking numbers despite many theaters in Florida being closed due to Hurricane Irma. The movie looks like it’s going to be the biggest fall release and September premiere, and could be well on its way to breaking even more records.

Star Wars made waves this week by letting go of its director for Episode IX, Colin Trevorrow. For many, the move came as no surprise, due to the director’s spotty success record and reputation for being very stubborn and opinionated about his projects — not necessarily a good thing on a Disney-controlled franchise. There is no word yet on Trevorrow’s replacement.

Television

At the end of season 3 of Gotham, we got to see the first glimpse of Bruce Wayne as Batman — or at least, as a masked vigilante who we assume will morph into the Batman we know and love over time. As part of the promotion for season 4 of the show, Fox has released a featurette about the transformation and other behind-the-scenes goodies. The show premieres on Fox on September 21^st.

Everything Else

Sadly, the comic world lost another legend this week: Len Wein, creator of Swamp Thing and Wolverine, and editor of Watchmen. Wein spent decades working for DC Comics, Marvel, and Disney Comics, leaving an impression in the industry that won’t be soon forgotten.

With the west coast on fire, Texas underwater, and Florida dealing with Irma, we could probably all use some cheering up. To support that effort, please enjoy this video of Chris Evans being reunited with his dog after 10 long weeks apart:

After 10 long weeks… pic.twitter.com/pZUvyLjHN5

— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) September 3, 2017

If you would like to receive Week of the Geek in your inbox each Saturday, use the subscribe box in the top right of this screen, or underneath this post if you’re on mobile.

Jurassic World: Dream Daddy

Posted on June 24, 2017 by Courtney

Welcome to this Week of the Geek! This one’s short and sweet, but there’s definitely some cool stuff to read about, and some super exciting stuff at the end.

Television

One of the most anticipated upcoming shows this year is Star Trek: Discovery. This week, Entertainment Weekly debuted some of the first photos from the series, including the one above featuring Jason Isaacs as Captain Lorca, after it was announced that the show will debut September 24th of this year. The showrunners also announced that they would be throwing out what is often called “Roddenberry’s Box”, a rule the series creator established that severely limited the amount of conflict that could be shown between characters, as he hoped we’d have moved beyond that in the future.

After years of begging by not only the fans but some of the actors involved, Supernatural has announced a spinoff focusing on some of the show’s key female characters. Wayward Sisters will star Kim Rhodes as Jody Mills, so there is much speculation that her fellow officer of the law Donna Hanscum, along with Jody’s two adopted daughters will feature heavily as well. Supernatural has attempted a spinoff before, but fans reacted poorly to the Bloodlines pilot and it was scrapped quickly. Wayward Sisters will feature a backdoor pilot during season 13 of Supernatural.

Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss, of Doctor Who and Sherlock fame, have announced they will be creating and writing a show based on Dracula. While no real details have been released about the plot or setting, we do know that the series will be in a similar format as Sherlock, which ran in miniseries-like runs with feature-length episodes.

Movies

The title for the next movie in the Jurassic Park series has been announced: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. With this announcement came the posted featured above. The movie is set to release June 22, 2018.

In a surprising news out of the Star Wars world, the director duo for the Han Solo spinoff were fired, and replaced almost immediately with Ron Howard. The original directors were fired due to creative differences with the production team — namely, they wanted to inject more humor and improvisation into the script. The move is particularly surprising considering that there is only three weeks of filming left, along with five weeks of reshoots, though it’s too early to tell if that schedule will be altered in any way.

In light of the first movie’s massive box office and critical success, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns, one of the leaders of the DC film universe, are already working on a sequel. According to Johns, work is already underway on a treatment for the followup movie, though no details were provided about plans for the plot.

Games

Social media was flooded with people clamoring for Game Grump’s first game — a dating simulator. Even better, a dating simulator featuring dads. Even better, a dating simulator where you play a dad, dating other dads. Perfection on a screen, basically. The game, Dream Daddy, comes out July 13th on Steam.

That’s all the geek news for today! Now for the exciting news: Fandom Finery is releasing a new product line! We’re going to be offering candles in almost all the scents we currently make soaps in. I’m currently working on packaging for shipping to protect the glass candleholders, so I need some guinea pigs! If you’d like to receive a FREE handmade candle, be one of the first three people to comment on this article down below. Good luck!

Jeff Goldblum!!! on Ice

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Courtney

Week of the Geek: 4/29/17

Hello, and welcome to this Week of the Geek, where I break down all of this week’s geek news into easy-to-read, bite-sized segments. Subscribe in the bar to the right (or at the bottom, if you’re reading on mobile) and share with friends who need to keep up with geek news!

Movies

Can’t wait for the Justice League movie coming this November? No worries! Thanks to DC teaming up with Pop! Funko, you can fill the void with tiny, cute versions of the film’s stars starting in August. Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Superman will all be available (despite Superman’s appearance theoretically being a secret).

The 30th anniversary of Labyrinth (which was actually last year) has given rise to a number of new collectibles, including a Jareth figure, a hardvover Visual History book, and an ongoing graphic novel series. Collectors can now add a vinyl record reissue to their vaults. The soundtrack includes 12 iconic songs from the movie (remastered, of course), a replica of the original sleeve, and images of Bowie from the movie. The album is available for pre-order and will ship on May 12^th.

Jeff Goldblum, uh… finds a way. That’s how the quote goes, right? He has, at the very least, found his way back to the dinosaurs, as he was announced earlier this week as being cast in the Jurassic World sequel. Dr. Ian Malcolm, a long-time fan favorite, is returning to the franchise, though there’s no word on if this will be a large role or just a cameo.

Lucasfilm announced the release dates for films in two major franchises: Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Star Wars: Episode IX, the last in the new trilogy, is slated to be released May 24^th, 2019. The next Indiana Jones movie, the 5^th in the franchise, will come out the next year with a release date of July 10^th, 2020. Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg are both returning to the film; no word yet on Shia LeBeouf.

The Kingsman sequel got its first full trailer this week, showing plenty of action and some surprise returns. Kingsman: The Golden Circle sees Taron Egerton as well as Colin Firth returning, joined by Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Elton John, and Halle Berry.

Television

This is technically also movie news, but I’m sticking it down here since most people are familiar, at least right now, with Yuri!!! on Ice as a TV show. That could be about to change, though, as it was just announced today that the series will now be getting a movie. Because this news is so new (and was also announced in Japanese) I don’t have much information on it yet, but I will update you as I know more.

Gaming

It’s International Tabletop Day! Why are you reading this when you could be playing? Go roll some dice, we’ll still be here tomorrow! Click here to find games happening near you.

Speaking of tabletop games, Sailor Moon has two board games coming out later this year — and in English! The crowds of American geeks whose first exposure to anime was Sailor Moon experienced a childhood devoid of any good merchandise, but the Sailor Moon Crystal reboot has taken care of that problem.

Other Stuff

Ever heard of GISHWHES? If not, you should have! GISHWHES stands for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, and it is true to its name. Founded and run by Supernatural star Misha Collins, GISHWHES is a week-long event celebrating art, kindness, and thinking outside the box. Signups opened up recently, and I highly recommend anyone who might be interested to check it out! I’ve participated for four years and can’t say enough good things about it. You’ll make friends, change lives, and have fun.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to speak with a geek maker this week, so in its place I offer up another fun playlist. This playlist was inspired by Critical Role, a weekly show about voice actors playing D&D. It’s a lot more fun than it sounds like, I promise. Their shenanigans and drama spawned this playlist. If you love it, Geek and Sundry also has playlists developed by each actor for their character!

Thanks for riding along with this Week of the Geek. Did you learn anything new and exciting, or did I miss something important? Tell me in the comments!

Busy Brolin, the End of Orphan Black, and That Trailer

Posted on April 15, 2017April 15, 2017 by Courtney

Thanks for popping in for this Week of the Geek! If you want to stay up to date on the latest happenings in the geek and pop culture world, use the box on the right to subscribe.

First Things First…

In case you’ve spent the last 24 hours under a rock (hey, no judgement here! Rocks are cool!), you should probably take a couple minutes to watch the first trailer for The Last Jedi that just released yesterday. Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Movies

TriStar and The Jim Henson Company are producing another Labyrinth movie, though it’s not evident yet whether it will be a reboot or a sequel. The script is being written by Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman and produced by Lisa Henson. Many fans of the cult classic seem skeptical about the new movie, especially so soon after David Bowie’s passing last year.

Full Disclosure: I’m one of those skeptical fans. I even own a drama-queen of a cat named Jareth.

The first Thor: Ragnarok trailer was released this week to mixed feelings from fans. The trailer features Chris Hemsworth as Thor, though he loses his long hair partway through, and Cate Blanchett as Hela. The biggest sticking point the fans seem to have with it is the Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-like atmosphere, with classic rock, retro-style title cards, and pointed humor — a definite departure from the rest of the Thor series, which has taken itself much more seriously.

Josh Brolin will be pulling double-duty in the Marvel universe — it was announced this week that he is set to play Cable in Deadpool 2. His other Marvel role is in the MCU as Thanos, which is not connected to the Deadpool series.

Despite reports to the contrary last week from Carrie Fisher’s brother, Lucasfilm announced today that she will not be in the final Star Wars film. She will, however, still appear in The Last Jedi.

Television

Orphan Black released the first teaser trailer for season 5, the last season of the sci-fi show starring Tatiana Maslany as a bevy of clones. The trailer seems packed with action without giving too much away, but with a focus on the “sestras” defending each other and fighting for their freedom.

Other Stuff

One of my time-wasting nerdy hobbies is creating playlists themed after fandoms, characters, and pairings I enjoy, so I thought I’d share some of those over the course of WOTG. This week, in honor of the soon-to-be-returning series, I’m sharing my Doctor Who/Torchwood playlist. Fair warning — I’m a Rose Tyler fangirl, so an inordinate number of these songs may have to do with her! You can find the playlist here on Spotify.