Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 122 is brought to you by Collider.com and Aintitcool.com. If you haven’t already, you should bookmark these sites, because they’re great sources of information on stuff we all know and love. After all, we have them to thank for providing the images of Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America concept art that’s sparked so much conversation on the web this past week, and that we spend a considerable part of this hour talking about. Our Thor-Captain America concept art poll on the Prime Time Geek Message Board is still active and waiting for your vote, so head over and voice your opinions, because we still want to hear them!

Also in this episode, we present our thoughts on Splice, the new sci-fi horror film from Vincenzo Natali (Cube), starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. [NOTE: Throughout the broadcast I mistakenly refer to Natali as "Vincento"--sincere apologies for the error.] We daresay this is the BEST movie you’re not likely to see this summer, especially if you’re not a horror movie fan. The marketing for the film emphasizes the film’s horror movie elements because it has to–that’s really the only way to sell it in the summer movie marketplace. But trust us when we say that this is so much more than just a horror film or just a sci-fi film. Trust us when we say that you really need to see it for yourself.

We wrap up this hour with capsule reviews of three books released by DC Comics last week: Superman/Batman Annual #4 (Levitz, Guedes), Brightest Day #3 (Johns, Tomasi, Reis, Syaf), and Justice Society of America #39 (Willingham, Merino). Enjoy!

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 118 is brought to you by A Comic Shop, though they may not realize it. We have now confirmed (by looking at a calendar) that this upcoming Wednesday, May 24th, A Comic Shop will be hosting Tony Bedard, the new writer on Green Lantern Corps, starting at noon. I’ve never known a signing at that store to NOT be fun, so do stop in with lots of copies of R.E.B.E.L.S. for Tony to sign if you’re in the area and have a chance to do so, and tell them you heard about it on PTG. They’ll probably give you a weird look and ask, “Why do you listen to that crappy show when you could be listening to OUR show?”, at which point you should respond, “Because I dig permanent guy-liner.”

During this episode we revisit our written review of Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” to expand further on why it works as period drama, rather than swashbuckling adventure, then dive into all the week’s news covering the Network TV Upfronts that took place in New York last week. The number of new sci-fi/superhero-type shows is down this year–CBS doesn’t have one, while ABC, NBC, FOX, and CW each have one–but it’s an interesting mix that we’ll be keeping close tabs on come September. Which ones we’ll actively follow as part of our Flash TV Reviews segment we’re not sure yet, but we’ve got to find something to replace 24 (ends tonight!), Heroes, and FlashForward (ends 5/27). This hour wraps with a focus on three new DC Comics books from last week: Legion of Superheroes #1 (promising!), Brightest Day #2 (misleading cover, but intrigue definitely building), and War of the Supermen #3 (great penultimate chapter!). Enjoy!

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 116 is brought to you by Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader: The World’s Gone Crazy. Among the group of writers responsible for this latest volume in the esteemed throne-sitting entertainment series is our friend James Greene Jr., the author of the JGTwo blog and most recently our intrepid “Eat More Geek” correspondent. Though I can’t say I’ve had the opportunity to pick up this book, I can still recommend it based on what I’ve read of James’ writing–if you find yourself often needing a good, hearty laugh when perched upon your home’s porcelain throne for long or even short periods, I have no doubt you’ll find what you need within these pages. James joins us during this hour to review Mountain Dew’s tri-fecta of fan-created flavors (White Out, Typhoon, and Distortion), and since once again he’s putting his health on the line, this time in the face of sugar and caffeine overdose, for the sake of reporting on this matter of tremendous geek importance, the least we can do is pimp some of his writing in print. Buy the book using the link to Amazon above and you’ll be helping PTG out, as well.

Also in this episode, featuring in-studio guests Ryan Macdonald and Mark Brown of The Talk Nerdy Show, we begin with a rundown of the goings-on at Heroes Landing’s latest “Geek’s Night Out” event, which I think anyone who was there would agree was a smashing success. Huge turnout, lots of laughs and smiles all around as people sat down to play card games, play Rock Band, watch Clermont’s own Moonlight Players put on an improv performance, or simply just hang out and enjoy pizza and drinks. We’ve posted our pictures from the event over on PTG’s Facebook Fan Page, but there’s one in particular I want to highlight below, as it features PTG, Slacker and the Man, and The Talk Nerdy Show hosts all together (or mostly all together) for the first time!

That night also featured “Straight Up GEEK”, presented by Dr. Vern & Company, over at Club 57 West in downtown Orlando, and our pictures from that event can also be found on our Facebook Fan Page. Though I arrived at that event too late to catch Krondor Krew, I did get my first opportunity to listen to the song stylings of Erin Pyne, the creative force behind the wrock band The House of Black, as well as the headlining act of the evening, the always-entertaining Marc with a C. It was a great night of music all around, and I can say that in all seriousness this time simply because unlike New Year’s Geek, the last event I attended at Club 57 West, I refrained from allowing my old friend Jack Daniels to take over my evening. I didn’t get to talk about the event or the acts nearly enough during the broadcast, so I wanted to say here in the blog that we at PTG highly recommend you check both of them out, if you haven’t already. If you’re a Harry Potter fan and you enjoy well-crafted electronica/techno, it’s a virtual guarantee you’ll enjoy The House of Black. If you like your guitar rock highlighted by clever lyrics and self-effacing humor, Marc with a C will win you over easily.

We wrap up the hour by talking about the end and aftermath of Marvel’s Siege as well as the latest installment of DC’s War of the Supermen. Enjoy!

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 115 is brought to you once again by Heroes Landing. Well it turns out that Stu and Todd had a FANTASTIC day over Free Comic Book Day: over 500 transactions during the day, over a dozen new subscribers, and many new friends and fans made throughout the day certainly makes for a phenomenal first time out, and we want to congratulate them on their success. Their Iron Man 2 event last Friday was equally successful–Stu took fifteen lucky fans over to the movie that night and gave away about 300 free comics at the theater, some of whom were at the store the next day and became new subscribers. And NOW, this Friday night, they’re opening their doors once again for Geek’s Night Out! Starting at 7PM, Heroes Landing will be providing space for like-minded geeks to meet and co-mingle, and also, starting at 8PM, they will be presenting Clermont’s own Moonlight Luna-tics Improv players! Plus, just like last time, there will be table space for board games and card games, food and drinks, and lots of great geek spirit. We’ll be there, Slacker and the Man will be there, and Ryan, Josh, and Joe from the Talk Nerdy Show will be there, so if you’re in the area, please do come by and hang out! Hope to see you there!

In this hour (and a half) of PTG, as the title suggests, we cover everything from the possibility (still not confirmed) of Joss Whedon directing the Avengers film, SyFy adding MORE WWE wrestling to their prime time lineup, Jack Bauer really losing it as 24 rushes toward its conclusion, whether or not Stargate Universe is worth watching, more on geek dating, and last week’s big event comics from DC Comics, Brightest Day #1 and War of the Supermen #1. There’s also opinions in there on Firefly, Star Trek: Enterprise, and a whole lot more–there had to be in order to fill up 88 minutes, right? Lots to enjoy here, so give it a listen and let us know what you think!

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 113 is brought to you by the Orlando Ghostbusters. We had Ryan Scott (GBRyan) on with us during this hour to talk about what the guys with the proton packs are up to these days in addition to greeting guests at Heroes Landing during Free Comic Book Day. Of course, the Orlando group is just one of several Ghostbusters fan groups out there–check out the links page on the Orlando Ghostbusters website to find out more. Maybe there’s a Ghostbusters franchise near you, in case you need to know who to call …

Also during this hour, a truly momentous occasion: Heroes Landings’ OTHER owner, Todd Merrick, joins us on the air at the top of the hour to talk about the day’s events as well as to show off his Star Wars ‘Lobot‘ impression. It’s quite the striking resemblance, as our pictures from the event show! Todd’s been very shy thus far about appearing on air with us, and instead allowing Stu to enjoy all the media attention, so we do definitely appreciate him breaking with that reluctance and sitting down with us for a spell, and if you listen to the podcast and you’re a Heroes Landing regular, be sure and stop in to tell him how great he sounded!

Also want to take a minute to give a shout out to our friends Javier, Fernando, Marc, and Judy over at Vulcan Events. On Sunday I finally made it out to their inaugural Sci-Fi event, and I’m glad I did. Aside from catching a very entertaining appearance on-stage by Stargate SG-1’s Michael Shanks, it was a fun trip down nostalgia lane for the Trek conventions of my youth, those South Florida shows to which I’d show up with my friends in that scratchy, uncomfortable polyester DS9 uniform and walk through the dealer room wishing I had more money to spend on all the goodies I saw there. Only difference between then and now: I’m older, and the Trek uniform stayed in my closet, where it belongs. Many thanks to Javier and Judy Garcia, Fernando Martinez, and emcee Marc Lee for putting on a great event and for allowing PTG to be a small part of it, and we’re looking forward to the next one!

It was also an opportunity to meet up with Dr. Vern, Chuck, and Christina from Sci-Fried, who by all accounts put on a phenomenal show the previous Saturday night. Check out Chuck and Christina in their AWESOME Jaffa armor in the pic below, and after that, check out the video clip I managed to get at Michael Shanks’s presentation, talking about the thing I’ve been poking fun at him for most recently, his Hawkman voice on Smallville. Enjoy!

PTG Episode 82 is brought to you by Pirate Rap. Specifically, we want to direct your attention to those guys with the hooks you see in the image above, Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew, who along with Marc with a C, Emergency Pizza Party, Krondor Krew, and Sci-Fried rocked Club 57 West back on January 2nd for New Year’s Geek. We spend some time in this episode reporting on those proceedings and what we witnessed (while we were lucid, at any rate), and during the broadcast I mentioned that we’d be posting links to where you could download Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew’s stuff. Well, you can find them on MySpace by clicking HERE and also you can preview their tracks on iLike by clicking HERE. Do beware though, me hearties: Explicit lyrics ahoy!

(Also, apologies to Emergency Pizza Party for not mentioning them during the broadcast–I missed their portion of the show, plus quite a bit of the night is a blur at this point …)

Gonna keep this blog entry short–also in this episode we review Daybreakers, the new vampirism-takes-over-the-world movie in theaters starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill, and spotlight two great DC Comics books from last week: Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott and Superman: World of New Krypton #11 by Rucka, James Robinson, and Pete Woods. Hope you enjoy, and don’t forget, on this week’s show we’re happy to welcome “the man” pictured with me below, The Man from Slacker and the Man as special guest co-host for both hours! Should be a GREAT show, so be there Saturday night to catch it live!

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 66 is brought to you by the art and craft of creative writing. Once upon a time, in really what seems like a lifetime ago, I was a writer, or at least I aspired to be one. I went to school to learn how to write well, successfully obtained degrees in Creative Writing, and have even taught others what I learned in terms of the craft of Creative Writing. But I longer consider myself a “writer” for the simple fact that writers WRITE. They can’t help themselves but to write. They feel compelled at some point, at some moment during each and every day to put their thoughts, imaginings, ravings, and wild flights of fancy to print (or, in our technological day and age, to pixel). There’s a hunger, a need, to produce the written word that consumes writers and drives them to spend a great deal of time alone, away from the distractions of the outside world, hunched over a computer screen that slowly causing them to go blind, hashing away at stories, poems, essays, or if they are truly ambitious, novels. Alas, never once in my scholarly pursuit of writing did I feel this compulsion my mentors and friends often described–to be honest, I chose writing as my scholarly track because people said I was good at it, and it came rather naturally to me. I wrote for the approval of my peers, my teachers, and my mentors. When I finished the final drafts of stories, there was very little sense of accomplishment or joy, but rather a profound sense of relief that an assignment was out of the way and I could focus on something else. I’ve often thought that perhaps later in life, when I’ve lived and experienced more, and had something of value to say about it all that I might feel that compulsion, and that I might return to writing and do it for the RIGHT reasons. But until then, if indeed that time ever comes, I can only stand up, cheer for, and admire those lionhearted souls who, regardless of skill or talent, face the emotional abyss that is the blank page at the start of every single writing day and conquer it by filling it with words, words, words. They are truly heroic in their own way–in my mind, they’re as heroic as the characters they write about, if they are so inclined to write in genres featuring heroes and villains. Their praises can never be sung enough, especially if they toil in anonymity because their work has yet to see the light of mass print.

Why am I talking about this? Well, because during Episode 66 we spent quite a bit of time talking about National Novel Writing Month, or “NaNoWriMo”, as it is now known all over the world. NaNoWriMo is the ultimate challenge for writers of all levels of skill, no matter where in their careers they might be: Produce 50,000 words within the month of November, roughly 1,600 words per day. Those words can be the sum total of a complete novel, or the first 50,000 words of a longer piece. Spend the entire year planning, plotting, strategizing how your novel will fall into place if you wish, but put no words to paper or screen until 12:01AM November 1st. It requires the utmost discipline to keep a steady pace, for not only must you produce, but you must turn off your “inner editor”, the voice in your head that causes you to backspace and rewrite the same sentence half a dozen times until you’re happy with the utterance, only to repeat the same procedure with the next sentence. Time management is just as important as inspiration when it comes to NaNoWriMo, and it’s a constraint that cause many who undertake the challenge to not reach the finish line when the end of the month rolls around. Having known several people who have successfully risen to the task of NaNoWriMo, I know its rigors, its headaches, its tremendous potential for that sense of achievement that comes from knowing you’ve succeeded where so many others have failed, and I always tip my cap to those who go for it year after year. The competition itself continues to grow year after year, and is in itself an amazing story. To learn more about it, head over to nanowrimo.org, and to those of you who are already underway with this year’s competition, best of luck!

In addition to all the NaNoWriMo talk, in this, our LONGEST hour ever (no joke-1 hour 12 mins … yes, I know an hour can only ever be 60 mins. You know what I mean, smartass.), we bring you Flash reviews of last week’s Heroes and FlashForward episodes, as well as a Top Comic Picks segment focused on DC Entertainment’s “Big Three”, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, who were all featured in new books last week. Hope you enjoy, and while you’re listening, don’t forget to head over to the Orlando Sentinel’s Orbbies competition page and get in your daily vote for PTG! We need every vote we can get to win this thing!

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 57 is brought to you by Heroes Landing in Clermont, FL. Their grand opening on Saturday was, by all accounts, a HUGE success, and we at PTG are very happy that we could be a part of the festivities. We could not have asked for more gracious and accommodating hosts than Todd and Stu, who made sure we had everything we needed throughout the afternoon and kept the store open just a bit longer so that we could finish the second hour of our broadcast at about 7:15PM. Check out the pictures below to see more from the day’s events–thanks to Rob Trotman from the 501st Legion (you’ll see him in the photos wearing the Imperial Guard uniform) for providing links to the pictures they took throughout the day, and for their help with a rather troublesome microphone stand that we were trying to get to behave during our setup process!

In this episode we talk to Stu from Heroes Landing about his long friendship with his business partner, Todd Merrick, and how they came to decide they were going to follow their dreams and do something related to something they both loved: comic books. We also review Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the latest episode of Smallville, entitled “Metallo”, and spotlight the two latest Blackest Night titles, Green Lantern #46 and Blackest Night Titans #2. It’s a pretty darned good episode, I think–hope you think so, too. Enjoy!

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com

PTG Episode 56 is brought to you by Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, now on blu-ray and DVD. (Support Prime Time Geek by purchasing it through Amazon with the link provided!) Well, I’ll say this much for Warner Premiere’s latest direct-to-video animation offering: it’s by FAR the best of the bunch, especially in terms of how well it brings to life the source material, in this case the bestselling comic series and graphic novel by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness. Trouble is, of course, that calling it “the best of the bunch” isn’t saying a whole lot. Be sure and check out this weekend’s live broadcast of PTG from Heroes Landing in Clermont, FL for our full review of the feature, but I’ll just say this one last thing about it for now: if you were a fan of the Superman and Batman animated series of the 1990s, and you recall with as much nostalgia as I do the iconic renditions of Supes and Bats by Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy, respectively, then there’s much to enjoy for you in this movie.

So Episode 56 is all about Superman, because in my opinion its a great time to be a Superman fan. Yes, I know, there’s no Superman feature film even remotely on the horizon, but aside from that, with the great ongoing writing and artwork to be found in the current line of Superman and Superman-related comics, as well as Smallville returning for its 9th Season (yeah, I know, maybe not such a good thing) and the aforementioned “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” now on store shelves, there’s lots out there to enjoy and be excited about. In this hour we cover a great deal of all that, plus talk a bit about the images of Nicolas Cage’s supposed “costume test” for the thankfully-never-filmed “Superman Lives” project that producer Tim Burton threatened to unleash upon movie audiences in the 1990s, a project that certainly would have had us Superman devotees and aficionados fleeing theaters in droves while trying to tear out our own eyeballs to make the burning stop. IF the image that made its way around the internet is, in fact, genuine, (see below!) then its even more proof that we were all better off with this nightmare never taking flight, and those folks out there who decry Superman Returns might wish to be a bit more thankful that THAT was the movie we got a few years later, rather than Burton’s “vision.”

Chilling, isn’t it?

Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com

PTG Episode 49 is brought to you by Marvel Entertainment, soon to be a part of the Walt Disney Company. By now I’m sure everyone has at least heard about the $4 billion dollar deal that adds “The House of Ideas” onto “The House that Walt Built”, kind of like a home improvement product, in order to increase Disney’s commercial and retail appeal amongst men and boys, a demographic they kinda lost by pouring so much money into marketing Lizzie McGuire, Hanna Montana, and the Jonas Brothers. Oh, and they want to make a few bucks from all those Marvel movies coming out of Marvel Studios over the next few years.

In this episode we start off with every intention of talking about Garth Ennis’ “The Boys” and its ongoing “side story”, “Herogasm” and we do get there eventually, but it takes a pretty big detour that involves an unplanned “Felix is Fuming” segment. I won’t say anymore about it except that, yes, this episode has more than a few F-bombs and yes, you listeners that are Wolverine fans, well, don’t take it personally. I’m just not the biggest fan of the little runt, and in this episode, it ALL comes out. That, plus top picks for Marvel from last week and a book review from EricathePimp focused on City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, part of the “Mortal Instruments” series.

Back to the Disney-Marvel news, when the news broke Monday, it seemed like everybody had an opinion or a worry. Folks here in Orlando, in particular, worried about the fate of the Marvel Super Heroes Island at Universal Orlando Resort, home of “The Hulk” roller coaster, among other VERY fun rides. (Disney CEO Robert Iger has since made it clear that the attraction will not be affected at all–Disney will continue to honor any and all contracts Marvel currently has with Disney competitors) Others closer to the geek scene wondered about the fate of Marvel Studios, its ongoing film franchises, and the Marvel properties currently licensed out to other Hollywood film studios–Spider-Man to Sony, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to 20th Century Fox, and the Hulk (partially) to Universal. No word on these fronts, really, but seriously, Disney just wants a cut of the cash–does anyone REALLY expect them to meddle with the ongoing work on these franchises to the point of “Disney-fying” them? Same goes for the publishing end of things–there were folks out there who were wondering if Disney would set out to “soften” some of Marvel’s more violent comic lines or even discontinue imprints such as Marvel MAX–no evidence to indicate they’re thinking about this at all.

If anything, the most valid concern comic book readers and retailers had and should continue to monitor is how Disney’s considerable muscle when it comes to distribution comes into play, and if they should decide that they’re not happy with the net revenue generated by comic sales once the costs of distributing through Diamond Comics Distributors is taken into account. Do they set up their own distribution house for Marvel, the way that Marvel tried (and failed) to do more than a decade ago? Or do they pour more time and money into exploring methods of electronic distribution of comic books to mobile devices, iTunes, and hand-held game systems? Theoretically, they could change the entire paradigm for comic book consumption, something that Marvel was at the forefront of trying to do, anyway. On those questions and many others, time will tell. For my part, I’m very much in the “wait-and-see” mode with this, but I’m betting that in the near future, not much will change. We’ll still be getting our comic books primarily through comic specialty shops, we’ll still be getting Marvel movies up the ying-yang over the next four years, and we’ll still see Marvel leading the charge towards digital comics and digital distribution of comics. Seriously folks, nothing to really get excited for, unless you’re a Marvel shareholder, in which case you’re about to get PAID. Take a picture of the check you get from Disney and send it to us here at PTG, won’t you? That would be cool to see.