Any word yet on if we’ll get more Scott Bakula?

To help fill four minutes of that wait until January, here’s a preview for next season.

Spoilers for last season, and a nice thanks from Zachary Levi, included.

If you’re looking to pick up a few books this week- and you should be- you might want to make your way over to PJ Haarsma’s website. You might remember Haarsma from his visit with Booyor last September, and he’s got a charity he started with some guy who was in Professor Awful or something. That charity helps libraries buy books for kids, which I think is a cause we can all support, and you can help buy using the coupon at Haarsma’s website. All for something you probably would have done anyway. So give it a go. There’s always a new book worth picking up.

On a related topic, my sister went and saw a high school production of Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog, and she described it as “adorable.” I did find a flickr set of pictures up, and it looks pretty awesome. Mike, I believe you have your spring musical for next year.

*No, I’m serious- Hunger Games! Hunger Games!

It may not have the stereotypical science geeks that the Big Bang Theory offers, the franchise history of Terminator, or the genre ties of Heroes, but Chuck is a little different. While the storylines are, to some degree, nerd-centric, the real beauty of it lies in the little things. The casting- Voyager’s EMH as a computer expert, Meriadoc Brandybuck as a British rock star, Imhotep as a Fulcrum agent, and Firefly’s Jayne as the CIA thug. The show’s set decoration and prop choices are second only to The IT Crowd in nerd decorations- I love that Chuck has an issue of Knights of the Dinner Table on his wall, and the fact that he’s put the plans for the intersect into a copy of Ex Machina- a magazine about a guy who has superpowers given to him by a electrical accident- is a pretty brilliant choice. Plus it is loaded with references to other things nerds love- callbacks to Spies Like Us, IG-88 grenades, tickets to Zihuatanejo, and getting an “Oh, boy” from Chuck’s dad? Fantastic. Pile on top of that things like playing arcade games to Rush, a businessman named Lo Pan in Chinatown, jokes about ComicCon, and episodes directed by Lieutenant Tom Paris, and this show is nearly overloaded with the geek love.

One of the greatest things about the show, though, is the nerds- they look like normal people. Sure, they don’t look like most of the people on TV, but you don’t have any of the Urkel-esque “pants hitched up to the waist, snort when I laugh” overdone nerds that you see on, say, The Big Bang Theory or Ugly Betty, which both seem to follow the theory that TV nerds are good looking people made ugly by glasses and bad fashion sense. If you saw any employee of the BuyMore walking down the street, they’d just look normal, rather than Hollywood’s parody of what nerds look like, and that is surprisingly nice to see on TV today.

On top of that, the show is just fun. After following the heavy plots and turns of Heroes and Terminator, it can be pretty nice just to switch off the drama-ometer and enjoy the show. Don’t get me wrong, Chuck has some great plot and tough moments for the characters, too, but it’s never as heavy and dramatic- you’ve always got Morgan, Captain Awesome, or Casey around the corner with some dialogue that’s going to make you laugh after a bit. Sure, it may have similar problems to Heroes, in that so many things in this story seem to tie to people Chuck knows, but I can accept that easier than with Heroes- maybe, somehow, Chuck triggers my suspension of disbelief better than a show about people with superpowers. On the other hand, maybe I’m just willing to forgive a show that doesn’t take itself as seriously. Either way, there is no show out there that triggers my sense of nerdjoy the way that Chuck manages to on a weekly basis.

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 13 x 9 inch pan.
3. Bake for approximately 35 minutes minutes.  Cool cake thoroughly in pan.  Enjoy the deliciousness.

Other than the super-cheese of the helicopter jump, and the fact that Emma Frost looks absolutely nothing like I’d expect, I’m pretty psyched. I’m glad they’re sticking to Wolverine’s little Lord Fauntleroy backstory, and the shots of him in the various wars around history were cool- too bad we won’t get a bit of Wolverine fighting alongside Captain America in WWII, though.

Sidenote: I find it interesting that, by their uniforms, Wolverine is going ashore at Omaha Beach with the 29th Infantry. What, he couldn’t have gone ashore at Juno Beach with the 3rd Canadian Infantry? Hopefully they’ll at least show him with the Devil’s Brigade in WWI.

But beyond that nitpicking? Seriously, people- Gambit. All my rationalization gets overwhelmed by nerd glee at the scene where he starts fighting with the staff and throwing things around with telekinesis. Ladies and gentlemen, that is what I have been waiting through three X-Men movies to see.

Well, two- I still like to pretend the third X-Men movie never happened.

Topic for discussion: Better nerd show: Heroes or Chuck? I ask both in terms of quality of the show, and in qualifications as a “nerd show.” Both are, of course, subjective.

Also, as a late addition: a review of the Doctor Horrible DVD, by a completely unbiased source.

The question I pose before you today: What late ’90s villain had a better orchestral/choral theme- Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII or Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace?

I told you it was important.

Impressive.

[Booyor], you might be interested to see the map of Tea as a North/South Litmus Test.

Also of interest: A tourist map of Gotham.

Are you back now? Okay, good. A little cut-and-paste from the folks at Pandora:

Listeners we need your help… NOW!

Founder, Pandora

So take a couple minutes out of your day, send an e-mail to your Representative, and pass on the word to other folk.

Also: Woot! implies that all Firefly fans should buy their current product. Well, it’s obviously crazy, wild stories. But maybe…

But when you mess with libraries, you cross the line.

From an article at Time on Sarah Palin:

“She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor.

The New York Times has a similar report. Now, I’m sure that Mike won’t worry too much- no one uses libraries, right? But the issue of censorship is one of those things that really bothers me. Hundreds of books, across history, have been banned, many for pointless reasons that ignore the deeper value of the literature. For the government to try to block literature that a small minority objects to is abhorrent to me. Very disappointing.

Besides, claiming Palin’s the first candidate in the history of either party who knows how to field dress a moose? Teddy Roosevelt harumphs in disapproval at your claims, sir.

Okay, enough about that. For better book news, Harper Collins has put up another one of Neil Gaiman’s books online for a limited time. This time, they’re offering Neverwhere, the story of a man living a regular life who gets caught up in a mysterious, hidden world buried deep below the streets of London. I first found Neil Gaiman’s writing through Terry Pratchett and Good Omens, but Neverwhere was the first solo work of his that I read, and it is still one of my favorite books of all time. Gaiman does a great job of creating a fantasy world, and using the geography of London as a framework for it. Gaiman originally wrote the story as a BBC miniseries, and then wrote it into a novel as they were filming. It’s out on DVD now, but I recommend the novel- the miniseries is good, but there’s no budgetary restrictions in the special effects of literature.

Finally, there was a nice letter in the Arizona Republic letters to the editor today, praising the necessity of librarians in schools today. Booyor, your fanclub grows each day.

There’s still chance that they might solve this- we’re all cheering for you, Rep. Howard Berman (D-California)- but no one seems too optimistic. Here’s hoping for some surprising, good developments.

It’s kind of cool- the shots of the Death Star are the best, really, and I like how they superimposed it with normal shots of people on the beach, or just regular conversations. It added a nice sense of normality to the video. I also like the police lights on the TIE Interceptor. On the other hand, the walkers look way too static, and the fighters aren’t much better. Plus the Death Star is always oriented the same way, which seems a bit unrealistic.

But my biggest problem? That’s an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, people. ImpStars aren’t meant to enter atmosphere, that’s what the Victory-class is for. Come on.

Obsidian Portal looks promising- I’ve got a couple of campaign ideas I’ve been pondering, and this could be a great tool to organize those ideas.

Joss Whedon and the Doctor Horrible crew did have a pretty big presence at the Con- according to Felicia Day’s Twitter page 2000 people showed up to watch the screening, and they had to add more rooms. There was also a Doctor Horrible panel, covered by io9- along with half the internet, but io9′s summary is just the first I found a link to. Some big news was announced there. First, if you want to pretend you’re Doctor Horrible controlling a van, feel free to bring this website up on your iPhone. The site was designed by a friend of Nathan Fillion’s. Next, some expected news: there will be more Doctor Horrible. No word on the whens or hows or wherefores- or even if wherefore is a word anyone uses these days- but it’ll happen. Also, they talked about the DVD, and some of the extras they’re going to include:

Jed announces the Hammer DVD. He says they’ll do some new things: “Commentary the Musical.” He says if you haven’t heard of this, you’ll find out. They’re also going to have a contest. They’ll take video submissions for the Evil League of Evil. 3 minutes, like you’re applying to be on Survivor. 10 best on DVD. We’ll do that after soundtrack and t-shirts.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. Booyor, you have a video camera, right?

Aside from Doctor Horrible, someone interviewed Joss Whedon about his various comic book spin-offs, and there’s at least one that I think is going to draw a lot of attention: The Shepherd’s Tale. Yes, they are finally going to tell us about Book’s past. I can’t wait.

Plenty of other news out there too for the finding- Comic Con is definitely making up for my general lack of excitement at the news from E3 last week.

So, what do you think? Myself, I still remain skeptical. Watchmen isn’t just any graphic novel, it is nearly the epitome of the format- when people think of what a graphic novel is, a lot of them think of Watchmen. If you haven’t read it, by the by, I recommend it. It does a lot of things that other comics are doing now, story-wise, except it did it 20 years ago, and it did them better. Alan Moore is excellent at using the medium of comic books to enhance and tell his story.

That is precisely why I’m skeptical, though. Can this story be told as well without the medium? Is the magic of Watchmen just the story, or the way it was told? Honestly, I’m not sure. There’s certain aspects to the story that I don’t know how they’re going to translate to the screen- Tales of the Black Freighter, specifically. Actually, scratch that- reading at Wikipedia tells me that the Tales of the Black Freighter has been cut from the story entirely. I do find that disappointing.

It looks like there’s going to be some good visuals, but what else would you expect from Zack Snyder? I guess we’ll wait until March to find out how it holds up, story-wise.

If all else fails, I’ll just watch Dr. Horrible again.

Because Joss Whedon is just like you- he’s always wanted to see Doogie Howser as a supervillain, and he’s finally making the dream come true for all of us.

Just as I hoped- entertaining, and a bit bizarre.

-How’s Doogie Howser doing lately?
-Why doesn’t Nathan Fillion fight more crime?
-Isn’t it about time someone made a musical where someone wore goggles as a fashion accessory, and maybe put it on the internet?

Well, finally, the answer to all those questions is “Yes!”  Which is kind of confusing, because most of them aren’t yes or no questions.  But now is not the time for clarification!  Now is the time…  for action!

I totally wanted to just put the video here, but it won’t let me. That would have been a bit more dramatic. So, now, I suppose, is the time… for a link!

Yes, from the (somewhat convoluted) mind of Joss Whedon, comes Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog, starring Doogie Howser, Malcolm Reynolds, and Felicia Day, who isn’t really well known enough in anything for me to describe her by a character name, but she’s cool, too. Oh, right, she’s in The Guild, which I’ve never watched, but seems to be fairly popular online.

To quote Joss Whedon, “It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.” That’s enough to draw my interest. There’s been some discussion that this may be put online during ComicCon, which would be just about a month from today. So keep an eye out, or just wait for me to post about it again.

How’s it going? I know it’s been a while since we talked, so we should probably catch up a bit. I’ll go first. Let’s see, since we last hung out much, I graduated high school. Also, I graduated middle school, elementary school, and got married. So, you can see, it’s been a pretty busy couple decades for me. I know you might be a little upset that I stopped spending time with you- yeah, I know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Nintendo sort of drew my attention away. Sorry. I was young, and these things happen. I hope you can understand.

So, what have you been up to? Actually, don’t answer that- I already know. Yeah, I heard about the movie. Is this your way of getting back at me? I don’t think this is really a healthy way of dealing with it, man. Seriously, holding a grudge this long just seems wrong. And to get your revenge like this? I just don’t understand.

Yes, yes, I know, we’ve gone our separate ways. But, really, I was kind of hoping that the time apart would be good for both of us. But- well, let’s just say I’ve seen some pictures online and I just don’t think you’re making good choices. Sereiously, G.I. Joe, what’s going on? Dennis Quaid? Since when has associating with either of the Quaid brothers been a good idea? Look at Baroness, too- was that the best you could do? I certainly hope you got a discount on the costume design, since it really just seems like you got the surplus outfits from Underworld, and added a strangely huge belt buckle. And any nerd could tell you what’s wrong with Baroness- she needs totally different glasses. Really, and a Wayans brother? I won’t even start with my questions about casting the kid from Third Rock From the Sun as Cobra Commander.

Okay, I wasn’t too upset about that. Disappointed, sure. I know I made some mistakes in the past, though, and you’re obviously trying to get back at me. I understand that. “Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity,” indeed. But now I’m just worried you’re dragging in people who don’t deserve to get hurt. Ray Park? Did he really deserve to get dragged into this? And Christopher Eccleston? Don’t go after Doctor Who, just because you’re mad at me. Seriously, G.I. Joe, now I’m just worried you’re lashing out, and you don’t care who you hurt. That’s just wrong.

Seriously, G.I. Joe, stop and think about what you’re doing. We had some good times, and you’ll always have a special place in my childhood. But don’t destroy that- and hurt other people- just because you’re mad at me. You can be better than that.

Today, I don’t have much to offer, quantity-wise, but I feel the quality makes up for it. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the trailer for Lego Batman. I, personally, am always excited when I see someone’s breaking out of Arkham, and if you toss in my love for Legos? Looks like a winner to me.

In your Calendar of Obscure and Largely Made-up Holidays, you might notice that today is GM’s Day, so be sure to give your game master, dungeon master, or story teller a quick thanks for their hard work, interesting plot lines, and extreme amounts of patience in not killing off your entire party out of frustration. Thanks, guys. Without you, we’d just be weirdos sitting in our living room, tossing around strangely shaped pieces of plastic. With your help, we’re Jedi, or half-elf mages, or dashing bandits, or mech pilots, or…

I’m afraid my post isn’t all good news, though. On GM’s Day, it seems oddly fitting to find out that Gary Gygax, the man at least partially responsible for the entire hobby, has passed away. I can only hope that an overly-elaborate, multi-level mausoleum will be built, and he’ll be buried with several powerful magical items that can only be retrieved by defeating the dozens of monsters that patrol the hallways.

Finally, in more of a middling ground, I enjoyed this article about Grim Fandango, one of those games that was entertaining, but difficult to market, and thus failed commercially.  It was a somewhat odd game, but very fun.  It was, as I recall, one of the first games I played on CD-ROM, and one of the last “adventure games” I recall coming out before the genre was grievously wounded by FPS, RTS, and console games.  Unfortunate.

The unfortunate thing about driving through a snowstorm is it’s like traveling through hyperspace- it ain’t like dusting crops, boy.  Without paying very close attention, you could drive through a patch of black ice or bounce too close to a snowy shoulder, and that’d end your trip real quick, wouldn’t it?  It’s a little nerve-wracking, especially late at night, which seems to be when I end up driving through snow storms most often.  Unfortunate.

But it is really pretty.

As a corollary to this, so many players seem to ignore guys like Han Solo or Wedge Antilles- regular guys who are really good at what they do through innate skill, training, and practice, who are famous for doing what needed to be done at the right moment. Even more ignored is the guy who’s flying the Y-Wing that survived the attack on the first Death Star. I want to know about that guy. That guy might have an interesting story, and I want to explore it. That’s why most MMORPGs are not for me. Most MMORPGs don’t let you play that guy.

The perfect example is the Lord of the Rings MMORPG. I would, under the right circumstances, play it. What circumstances, you ask? Excellent question, that just allows me to continue the paragraph. Thank you. I would want to play a Hobbit. I don’t want to spend time off adventuring or what-have-you, killing monsters or hunting treasure. No, I want to advance in levels based solely off my horticultural prowess, I want to find items like Rohirrim Trowel of Excellence, I want to be the finest gardener that the Shire has ever seen. After that, perhaps I’ll expand into cooking. Most online RPGs won’t let me do that, though, which is why I don’t bother with them.

On the other hand, the comic also makes me laugh, because it reminds me of the Star Wars RPG my freshman year of college. My character had built up quite a rivalry with Brian’s character, and then my character’s ego was crushed when Brian was the only party member who could translate something for me. Learning languages is important!