Geekly Roundup, March 15th

A new week brings a brand-new Roundup!  On the Geekly Roundup podcast this week, Mike, Mark, and Synthia discuss DC's new costumes for Superman and Wonder Woman, Blizzard's Heroes of the Dorm, and Magic: the Gathering's latest expansion, Dragons of Tarkir.  Have a listen and peruse below our first-ever Wheaton-free roundup! (We're hoping this isn't a trend.)

Season 5 My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic date announced! And a teaser!

Bronies, pegasisters, and pony fans celebrate!  The Season 5 premiere date of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has FINALLY been announced today.  Mark your calendars for April 4th, 2015 for a whole hour in the morning, according to the press release by PRNewswire.  That's right - two back to back episodes to kick off the new season!

In the release, PRNewswire says:

Pony fans, rejoice! An all-new season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the beloved series created by Hasbro Studios, debuts on Discovery Family April 4, with two back-to-back premiere episodes at 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Packed with new adventures, characters and self-discovery, Season 5 kicks off with a very special one-hour premiere, as our favorite ponies continue to explore the true magic of friendship only possible in Equestria.

and...

In the Season 5 premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the Mane 6: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack meet Starlight Glimmer when they are summoned to solve a friendship problem only to find a utopian village in which everyone has given up their Cutie Marks. At first look, the ponies in this village appear happy, but it soon becomes clear that Starlight Glimmer has a vastly different and rather sinister view on friendship and the individual talents that make Equestria's ponies so special. The season is full of Cutie Mark Magic!

From Equestria Daily, who has the whole release posted.

I....I think it's a metaphor.

In an exclusive video by Entertainment Weekly, we also get a sneak peek of what's in store!  In this short teaser, we'll get some commentary from Brian Lenard (Executive Director, Hasbro Studios) and Meghan McCarthy (Co-Executive Producer) about this new "villain", Starlight Glimmer, as well as the return of an old villain from a previous incarnation of the show for the 100th episode!

From Entertainment Weekly

So what do you think pony pals?  Will this season live up to the hype, or will it fall flat on its face?!  What are your thoughts on Starlight Glimmer?  And how about that old baddie?!

Personally, I'm thinking it'll live up to the hype.  Some new villains, some reoccurring villains, and some villains who have possibly been reformed?  And what is Twilight gonna do with her new digs in Ponyville?  And why was Pinkie Pie sporting one of those giant equal sign cutie marks?! We'll just have to wait and see on April 4th on the Discovery Family Channel.

The Librarians and the Heart of Darkness

Using this header just once, since I think this is how most fans see the show. -Ed

Ok - this one's definitely an E-ticket. Whoa. Creepy house, creepy pictures, creepy girl... yeah. Creepy! This episode's guest star is Lea Zawada as Katie, the girl that the team comes across at this house.

There are a lot of things that really worked here. The lighting, the camera angles, the diffusion and blur filters all combined to give that really cool, creepy feeling - you know, the one that happens when you get completely sucked in to a story.

Lea Zawada delivered a fantastic performance, as did Lindy Booth. And we see a bit more development in the relationship between the guys - they are just starting to act more like brothers, and it's great. We also see Cassie find strength, and that's really awesome to have her be the strong one.

Read on past the jump for the recap. SPOILER WARNING!

2014 Favorite Moments: I'm a God Damn Wizard.

My lovely wife and I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter this year. One of the things they sell is wands - in previous years, they were just fun little accessories, but this year they were actually part of the show - at different points in the parks, if you waved them in the correct way different magical things would happen, like water falling from the sky or store windows lighting up. It's a really cool thing.

IAAPA Day 2: A Trip to a Wizarding World

Check out Part 1 of my Visit to the Theme Park Tradeshow Here.

The head cold is still well in effect. So I take my Dayquil with coffee and breakfast and get ready for the day.

Boss Man wanted to use his connections get us some free passes to the parks out in the area, but things don’t always work out the way we want. The passes ended up being for Sunday… travel day. So, what is a clever professional to do? Company credit card. We call Big Boss, he Okays the whole deal, and after one swipe, we’re suddenly inside Universal Studios Orlando.

On Cheating, Honor, and Competition

Mike posted about me the other day.  It went something like this:

Seth.  Hey Seth.  Seth.  Seth, hey Seth.  Seth.  Write something.  Hey Seth, hey, write something.  Write something, Seth.  Write it.  Write something.  Seth.  Thanks. (write something).

Or at least that's what I got out of it.  Unfortunately, I didn't really know what to write about.  The tournament scene for miniature wargaming is winding down in this area, and most of you tune in for those pictures.  I'd covered most of the cons that went on, and the few that I had been to did not have large scale competitions.  None of you had any good ideas, so I was sitting around until my friend Dan tossed this little gem into my lap:

"Hey, did you hear about the Feast of Blades tournament in Denver?"

Google Search.  Read read read.  ooooooOOOOOOOoooooohhhh.

Apparently the champion of the tournament was accused of cheating, and immediately disqualified himself.  The allegation came from another person, who had found one of his dice under the table and saw that the die was not fair.  The champion made a public statement where he apologizes for the mistake.  He chose to disqualify himself and bow out of the tournament, declining his prize, trophy, and recognition.  Words like "honorable" and "do the right thing" and "honest mistake" were used to describe the situation.  Huh.  Ok, we'll come back to that later.

Netflix announces a reboot of the Magic School Bus

Holy crap, not only is Netflix potentially launching a Star Trek TV series, but they have officially announced a reboot of the Magic School Bus.  While I'm more than happy to re-watch my static-y VHS recordings of this show, it is so referential to the 90s.  Modern day kids and my future children will not get the same joy and sense of wonder that I used to get watching the show because they won't be able to relate to the kids. Their classroom life will be so different from Arnold's.  So thankfully Netflix is taking on the challenge of revitalizing and modernizing this fabulous series.

This show and book series in conjunction with Bill Nye the Science guy defined educational TV focused on science for kids in the 90s. (And Beakman. - Ed)  It is because of these shows that I became a science teacher and I still subject my students to the chants of "Bill!  Bill!  Bill!"  It truly gladdens my heart that my children will be able to be exposed to a modernized version of my favorite educational program.  So Netflix, in the words of Ru Paul, "don't f*ck it up!"