iZombie Episode 6: Virtual Reality Bites

Hey everybody - sorry I'm late, but life the universe and everything happened, and I wasn't able to watch this on the night of the actual broadcast. I did pick up a few spoilers along the way before I did get to watch it, and they only made me want to see it even more. Now that I've finally watched it, I can say this: Holy shit! Oh - and, uh... ew?

With each episode, we are getting less of the vision-y type stuff and more deductive logic being used to solve the cases. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, though. I mean, a big part of the series premise is the whole "eat a brain, see what happened" thing. The characters are becoming much more cohesive as a team, and that's definitely a good thing. Each of the characters' skills contributes to a well-balanced group.

I'd really love to see Payton play a bigger part. I love Aly Michalka in this role. Sure, her character isn't absolutely necessary to the crime-solving part, but an attorney tends to look at the evidence in ways that a cop or medical examiner might not. That could provide some interesting flavor to the whole "whodunnit" angle. Besides - I'm getting attached to all of these characters, and it's not difficult for me to see them as real people that I would want to hang out with - hell, who am I kidding? I'm actually starting to wish I could be part of that team because they just have too damn much fun!

I can't help but wonder if Major is just bluffing about being able to move on. I think he still has it for Liv and he's just trying not to pressure her. Liv is clearly trying to move on with Lowell, but will she be able to? I hope we're not going to see her running back and forth from Major to someone else and then back again. Some things make for good drama, yes. But I don't think that would be one of those things.

I'd also like to see Major play a bigger role with the team, as well - and not just as the rejected love interest. As a social worker, there is so much potential to expand on the character. He could also transition into being a victim/witness advocate, or he could become a private investigator specializing in missing persons/cold cases. Hell, send his ass to the Police Academy and have him be Clive's new partner. Robert Buckley wears this role well, and the character seems well-suited to become more than just a recurring one.

Each episode has been better than the last, and there's so much potential for this to have a nice long run - as long as the character development keeps going the way it has been, the possibilities for good storytelling are endless, and y'all know how I love a good story!

What do you think will happen - will Evan actually get a job at the Meat Cute? Do you ship Ravioli, Livwell, or Limaj? How about the possibilities for Bliv? Any thoughts on the bromance ship Rajor? Hit the jump for the recap, and tell us how you ship in the comments!

HOLY SUICIDE SQUAD BATFANS! We Have a Joker Sighting

Jared Leto as the Joker

Well Batfreaks, everyone had better get excited or start cringing because it seems there is a new Joker in town!. Since the first announcement of Jared Leto being chosen to play the iconic antagonist to the Dark Knight, fans have been wondering how Leto and the crew behind the Suicide Squad film are going to top the Heath Ledger Joker. Judging from the image it is certainly an interesting interpretation of the character. Not wearing the iconic purple suit  and covered in ink one might wonder if this joker will don his famous duds or spend half of the film shirtless to show off the ink. The metal teeth is an interesting touch as well adding a sense of menace and feral aggression in a single look. The ink seems over done to me as all the "ha ha's" and the smile on the arm and hand seem to lack any sense of meaning. However I am not one to discount Leto's abilities on the screen thanks to his brilliant performance in Dallas Buyers Club last year. While this is not a "conventional" Joker  (and it is weird applying convention to a seriously unconventional character), I think that possibly the minds behind the film are intentionally going away from the traditional look. This might be due to the fact that Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamil (voice acted), and Heath Ledger have all left an indelible mark on the character. Nicholson brought gravitas, Hamil was the joker of many geeks childhood via Batman the Animated Series, and Ledger brought true madness and unpredictability as well as linking him to the role with his death after playing the role. I know that the internet is prone to kneejerk reactions, but lets just hold off on one and give Leto a chance. We don't know much about the final look of the character and I for one am willing to wait and see.

David is a local historian, techie, home brewer, stage hand, gamer, and geek. He loves Star Wars and Shakespeare with equal passions and is prone to quoting it at random!

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jared-leto-joker-suicide-squad-1201479627/ 

Episode 147: Celebrate Star Wars!

This week, Kevin Custer joins Mike and Jarys to break down Star Wars Celebration! We'll discuss the new Jurassic World trailer, and then go straight into what we saw at the convention, including Rogue One, a breakdown of the brand new Force Awakens trailer, whether Palpatine is pure evil or has more depth than that, and end with a spirited debate on whether Jar Jar Binks is responsible for the destruction of the Second Death Star!

Episode 147!

Star Wars Celebration: A "Casual Fan's" Perspective

The Force is strong in this one!

 This last weekend, I attended Star Wars Celebration 7 at the Anaheim Convention Center.  Like some conventions, this one moves around from city to city every year, and it even reminds me of another Hasbro Toys –centric convention, [Transformers] Botcon.  Since this IS a movie year, and I don’t have a chance to go to this convention every year, I jumped at the chance to go to Star Wars Celebration, despite its VERY HEAFTY $150 price tag for 4 days… that’s almost San Diego Comic Con pricey, and that’s NOT even the highest rate a paying convention-goer can choose.   

Renner and Evans call Black Widow a "Slut," and Why That's Not a Joke

The internet is pretty upset today, at two of its heroes, and I think it'd be good to have a brief discussion as to why. As you may have heard, an interview was released this morning with Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner. The interviewer asked a sorta softball question about "shipping," and how the boys felt about Black Widow being paired up with Bruce Banner, instead of either of the two of their characters. Renner responded with a joke, which you can see in the full clip after the jump.

WONDER WOMAN '77: All The World's Been Waiting For You!

Wonder Woman '77 illustration by Nicola Scott

Reading Wonder Woman '77 has brought me, along with many other self appointed geeks, back to a very fun era. In my particular instance, when I was a child, I had an incredibly elaborate process for watching Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman television show (yup...I just aged myself!). This involved becoming the character Diana, with whom I clearly identified and idolized. This transformative process was an obvious foreshadowing for my interest in an acting career. There were days of prep time involved that included: researching the character, finding & creating costumes, and processing or practicing the character's essence. By the time Wonder Woman would air each week, you could find an ecstatic child (me) who would mimic every single action she did. To give you an idea of the thought I had put into this and just how much I was dressed to the "T" in my character's garb, here's what I had utilized to make the entire uniform:

• My mother's red boots, 
• Blue underwear and a red t-shirt from my Underoos at the time. 
• A golden belt made of yellow construction paper (or some other actual gold material), and yes, I had cut it into the shape of whatever belt style was appropriate for the season (NOTE: Season 1 belt was different than seasons 2 & 3). 
• Rope which I had colored yellow and latched onto my belt (The rope style/draping also changed between seasons 1 and 2/3), 
• A tiara made out of yellow construction paper with a red star drawn on it, 
• A t-shirt on my head so that I had long hair like Wonder Woman, and...
• Toilet paper rolls that I had cut, colored, and upon which I had drawn stars (the bracelet shape also changed between seasons). 

An X-man Comes Out in the Worst Possible Way

Fanart by JamieFayeX

If you’re anywhere on the internet today, you've heard that Marvel has decided in it’s new issues to expose one of their time traveling young X-men as gay. Normally, as a member of the LGBTQA+ community, this would be so exciting! Instead, I am left with nauseating rage. My straight friends were confused as to why this entire set of panels makes me feel like Marvel is dipping into Mugatu's medicine cabinet!

I mean, come on!

So first off, let’s start off by saying this... Just because there’s LGBTQA+ representation does NOT mean we should be automatically happy about it. DC has had a habit of handling it very poorly, whereas Marvel has had a habit of handling it very well. So that’s what makes this even more upsetting. This treatment of the characters in this scene is extremely disgusting and presents a lot of problems that are prevalent in our community and things we deal with everyday. It’s disappointing to see this ignorance out of a company who at one point was bold enough to put a gay wedding on the cover. It’s like going to an ice cream store and the ice cream has been flavored with... well... shit. Spoilers ahead. (Click on all the comic panels below to expand them.)