The Hobbit on Blu Ray

So I purchased the Hobbit on Blu-Ray day one and watched it alone like I did at the movie theaters.  It is a bit sad that none of my friends seemed interested in it like we did in high school with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Granted some of the reasons behind their disinterest's was fair, it was a long movie and kind of slow like Fellowship of the Ring.  I really enjoyed the movie and almost watched it again at about 9:30 last night, but then it would have ended super late and I am getting old and tire easily.  Well that is a bit of an exaggeration I am up late most nights anyways stressing about some bullshit.  Well that is an exaggeration too I don't stress that much but I digress.

I really like watching the special features of movies.  I have always had a fascination with how movies are made and the technical trickery behind the visual effects.  To be honest I was a little bit disappointed with the special features of The Hobbit's Blu-Ray. There were two sections video blogs, and a 6-7 min video on New Zealand's scenic  locations and how little they had to add or enhance in the final film.  It truley is a remarable country.  The video blogs were just okay.  They didn't get into the nitty gritty of  make up & costumes, stunts, sets, et ctera.  Which I feel is really unfortunite.  Special features in other movies could spend 20-30 mins just on set designs and 3d animation.  Most of the the videos didn't show much because The Hobbit movies were all shot at once. Since this being the first movie and they had to keep a lot a secert.  There is a lot of on location bits were they are scouting places to shoot and some in studio stufff but not much on the technical side.  I do think there were a few interesting parts was one the kept refering to the Hobbit as two movies which we now know will be three.  Second they literally finished the post production for the last part of the movie hours before the press screening.  Also the shear amount of organization of the support crew was staggering.  Other than that I was left wondering if they are holding back on the features for the super sized ultra limited preordered box edition featurening the original 48fps and a  85" 3D TV.
-Matt

From Across The Pond

It is no secret that Mike and I are huge fans of Doctor Who and the new season is almost upon us.  However I think it is fair to say that at least in my circle of friends and family no one matchs my fandom for English televsion. I feel I should pay the tv licesene fee for all the shows I watch even though I don't live in London.  BBC America has been stepping up its game and coming up with its own shows for us Americans obsessed with England.  I have watched many BBC shows: Top Gear, Gavin & Stacy, Peep Show, The Inbetweeners, Sherlock, Primeval, Grahm Norton.  I have watched so many of Gordan Ramsay's shows (Kitchen Nightmares, The F Word) I could run a sucessful resturant.

BBC America debuted their own televsion series awhile back called Copper. Copper as in police officer not the element, takes place in 1864 New York City, more specifically Five Points, and it is gritty crime drama following Kevin Corcoran, surprise an Irish-Amercan police detective.  It is a fantastic show with great writing and acting.  The coppers will bust a crime by killing a crimnal before they anounce they are cops.

Copper aside I wanted to bring attention to two new shows on BBC America I am truly excited for.  The first one is called Orphan Black and rather than trying to explain it I will quote it's plot summary case it does a pretty good job of explaining it.
"Sarah, an outsider and orphan whose life changes dramatically after witnessing the suicide of a woman who looks just like her. Sarah assumes her identity, her boyfriend and her bank account. But instead of solving her problems, the street smart chameleon is thrust headlong into a kaleidoscopic mystery. She makes the dizzying discovery that she and the dead woman are clones… but are they the only ones? Sarah quickly finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly conspiracy and must race to find answers about who she is and how many others there are just like her."
Sounds interesting right.  Starts March 30 same night as the new Doctor Who.

The second show stars our favorite 10th Doctor David Tennant. Hurray!! The show is called Spies of Warsaw and I just saw the trailer for it the other night. Here is a brief tease for the show. Show starts April 3. -Matt

 



Dumb Droids Podcast Episode 5

In this week's episode we talk about two marvel movie franchises, Iron Man and The Amazing Spiderman.  There has been some new info and the past few weeks and we will get into our thoughts on both franchises.  The second half of the podcast is about the future of space faring. Starting with the ambitious project of sending a married couple to circle Mars by the year 2018, as well as mining asteroids.

Music credits:
Opening: The Black Keys - 240 Years Before Your Time
Ending: Coheed and Cambria - Gravity's Union
If you are a fan of the show or like the music you hear please support the artist by purchasing their music.

We are also on Podomatic here.

Enjoy. -Mike & Matt

Holy BatSmith

So I stumbled upon this internet video series called Man at Arms, where this master blacksmith named Tony Swatton makes a iconic movie, tv, and game weapons. each week.  So far there have been five episodes the latest being the Batarang. My favorite though is Ralphael's Sias. 

Tony Swatton has some pretty impressive movie credits. The Hunger Games, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Legend of Zorro, et cetra. -Matt

Tony's website: http://www.swordandstone.com/
You Tube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/AweMeChannel?feature=watch

The Nerdist Way Review

when I was growing up I didn't have cable and therefore no access to MTV, so needless to say I had no idea who Chris Hardwick was. I really became familiar with him through his website www.nerdist.com where he is apparently a titan of podcasts. I like to have stuff on the background while I work so after going through the rest of my favorite podcast I stumbled across the treasure chest of podcasts. the format I have become familiar with is much like radio and I always saw podcasts as a place where radio djs went after they got fired to continue creating a portfolio. the thing that got me listening and kept me listening to the nerdist was his large array of diverse and surprisingly well known guests. Another thing that really stood out to me is his extremely positive attitude and advice he gives to people wanting to be creative,  His most helpful advice to aspiring podcasters was "just press record and post it and you'll get better with time" so that's part of the reason I decided to do this.

I found out about Chris's history listening to just about every podcast I could on his site, from him being on singled out to his fall shortly after transforming into a overweight out of work alcoholic. so after he kept mentioning his book I figured it would be a interesting read to hear about how he went from TV celebrity into a downward spiral and rose up as a stand up comedian and creator of one of the largest podcast networks currently out there. "The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level(In Real Life)" is partially about his life but was mostly written as a self help book with steps Chris had to take to get to where he is today. those of you that are familiar with his work know at times he can be rather pretentious and uses many jokes he's used in his podcast to describe different levels in his life. So I'd like to say some of the I did find certain parts of this book to be helpful and I will be using some of them in my everyday life. the book is broke into three sections this book is broken into three sections mind, body, and time. I don't want to really go into a ton of detail on it because it is pretty humorous and I just wouldn't be able to  explain the way he does or do his book justice so I'll just give an overview of things he has included and if you think they could help you great! give it a read. if not but you are still interested i picked this up from Barnes and Nobel for 15 dollars.

mind: the mind portion of this book really focuses on positive thinking and believing in yourself. It gives a lot of tips on things to do if you overthink things and not letting  your mind talk you out of doing things you're passionate about, he also has a lot to say about the way you put yourself out there and present yourself to people with the vibe you give off and your personality.

body: This is pretty self explanatory, there is a lot in there about working out and different work outs you can do in different places. he also goes through some of the problems he had,
one being panic attacks and worrying to much, which I definitely do. I took his advice and completely stopped drinking caffeine and it actually has helped me no worry so much and calm my mind down. Chris Hardwick takes this section as an opportunity to also share his struggle with addiction and how he managed to get passed them, while I don't feel I suffer from addiction (most addicts don't though...oh shit!) I could definitely see how this would be helpful and all the things he had to go through to get past them.

time: this section I found very helpful as I am not very organized and I've been trying to figure out a way to make things easier on myself. I've taken his advice on writing notes for things that I may forget as well as setting calendar alerts for myself which he suggests. there is as well a portion he dedicates to financial problems and all of the things he had to go through to right his credit after he had destroyed it with bad financial habits.

if any of that seems helpful to you I strongly suggest you read this book I also suggest you if you enjoy comedy you maybe take a second to pick it up and maybe even if you don't find anything helpful about it, maybe you'll find it humorous as I have.


-Mike

Dumb Droids Podcast Episode 4

Our podcast this week is a little late.  We try to get it out every tuesday but like EA's botched launch of Sim City we we're plagued with technical issues.  Thankfully we did not have to rerecord our show just spend an extra amount of time in post-production.  This is our first  episode with two microphones and a new software that we are unsure if it is going to work.

In this weeks episode we talk about some strange news in science about rats, tadpoles, and robots.  Also SYFY channel and it's new show Robot Champion League, Tremors, and a rant about Call of Duty.

Music credits:
Opening: The Black Keys-240 Years Before Your Time
Ending: Patrick Sweany - After Awhile
If you are a fan of the show or like the music you hear please support the artist by purchasing their music.

We are also on Podomatic here.

So with out further a-due enjoy. -Matt & Mike

 

You Know That's Right

Shawn and Gus are back solving crimes and making obscure 80's and 90's references in the seventh season of Psych.  I am huge fanatic of Psych and have been watching it from the beginning.   Thanks to  Netflix I have probably watched a handful of episodes at least fourteen times each. Yeah, that is a lot and actually quite crazy when I think about it because it is probably a lot higher.  Lets face it I should probably call it Psychflix, because 90% of the time that is on (as in right now.)

Psych is a crime/comedy on USA Network and it stars James Roday and Dule' Hill (Shawn and Gus.) It is a show that certainly does not take itself seriously and the duo can be very silly.  The dynamic between the two rivals Riggs and Murtagh of Lethal Weapon.  Shawn is a fake psychic who's perceptions skills and obscure references are only matched by Gus's super sniffer (sense of smell) and ridiculous encyclopedic knowledge random things.

This new season started off with the conclusion of season six's cliffhanger with Shawn's dad Henry being shot by his former police partner who turned out to be dirty.  In the premier episode we see a different side of Shawn.  For the first time you see him blinded by his feelings, sure in other episodes you see him very concerned about his Mom, Juliet, and his girlfriend at the time Abigail in the Yin and Yang episodes, but in this one it is a bit different.  For a character who is always cracking jokes to diffuse tension he leans on Gus to break it for him to catch his father's shooter.  Without wanting to spoil anything about the first episode I will comment that in the second episode this week Shawn is back to usual self and we see some growth between him and Juliet.  

For those interested in watching Psych here are my go to episodes.

Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion

Shawn (And Gus) of the Dead

Lights, Cameras, Homicido

Shawn and the Real Girl

Sixty Five Million Years Off