After a couple of months’ hiatus, the monthly geekgasm feature returns with four different Star Trek series, animated X-Men, lots of Lovecraft, the acclaimed, oddball horror flick Rubber, Mad Men, and hopefully the premiere of the previously announced The Final Programme. With both The Last Airbender and Skyline debuting on Netflix, July 16 shall forever be known as Crappy Sci-Fi Streaming Day.

* denotes streaming for the first time via Netflix.
* denotes streamng in HD

Premiering July 1:

18 Again
*1984
All Dogs Go to Heaven
Ancient Mysteries: Astrology
Ancient Mysteries: Bigfoot
Ancient Mysteries: Dragons
Ancient Mysteries: The Fountain of Youth
Ancient Mysteries: UFOs
Ancient Mysteries: Witches
Betty Boop: The Queen of Cartoons
Blessed (2004)
*Brain Dead (2007)
*The Broken
*Charmed Seasons 1-8
Crazy as Hell
*Crazy Eights
Dahmer
*Doctor Who and the Daleks
*Dracula A.D. 1972
Dragnet
*The Exorcist
*The Final Programme
Foxy Brown
The Fly (1958)
The Fly 2
*Glenn: The Flying Robot
*Godkiller
*Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
History’s Mysteries: Roswell
History’s Mysteries: Secret Societies
In Search of History: The Knights Templar
*Let Me In (2010)
*Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black
*Link (1986)
*Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
*Lust for a Vampire
Man’s Best Friend(1993)
Memento
Mimic 3: Sentinel
*Night of the Comet
Nightmare Man (2006)
No Country for Old Men
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
Nostradamus: Prophet of Doom
The Omega Men
*One Touch of Venus
Osmosis Jones
*Pelt
*Perkins’ 14
Retrograde
*Rubber (2010)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
*Scars of Dracula
Seventeen Again
*Spy Kids
*Star Trek Seasons 1-3
*Star Trek: Enterprise Seasons 1-4
*Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 1-7
*Star Trek: Voyager Seasons 1-7
Street Fighter
*Superfly
*Tarzan, the Ape Man
*The Tomb (2006)
Tooth and Nail
True Stories
*The Tudors Season 3
Video Games: Behind the Fun
*Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show
Warlock: The Armageddon
*When a Killer Calls
*The World of Drunken Master
*X-Men Seasons 1-5
*X-Men: Evolution Seasons 1-3

Premiering July 12:

Kung Fu Magoo

Premiering July 15:

*The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu

Premiering July 16:

The Last Airbender
*Skyline

Premiering July 17:

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
*Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (All this new Star Trek and they choose to show this one in HD?!?!)

Premiering July 22:

*Birdemic: Shock and Terror

Premiering July 27:

*Mad Men Seasons 1-4

Info courtesy of FeedFliks.

Impending Geekgasm on Netflix Instant Watch – July edition was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Realizing that most average (the non-super geek unlike those that frequent RevSF and this very blog) film goer has no idea that not only will the forthcoming, much hyped Captain America: The First Avenger not be the first Cap movie but actually the fourth such attempt, I decided to compile a history of these largely forgotten films. Luckily, the mainstream film site Moving Pictures gladly hosted my endeavor.

Beyond just discussing the films, I established some of the sociopolitical realities around Cap’s original publication.

These excerpts are just a drop in the proverbial bucket to the kinds of info in the piece. Be sure to check it all out Moving Pictures. Perhaps even the super geeky can learn a thing or two.

Patriotic Potential: Captain America’s History on Film was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

The Black Lung Captain
by Chris Wooding

Promo copy:

Chris Wooding, author of the thrilling novel Retribution Falls, returns to a fantastical world of spectacular sky battles and high-flying heroics for another epic adventure.

Deep in the heart of the Kurg rainforest lies a long-forgotten wreck. On board, behind a magically protected door, an elusive treasure awaits. Good thing Darian Frey, captain of the airship Ketty Jay, has the daemonist Crake on board. Crake is their best chance of getting that door open—if they can sober him up. For a prize this enticing, Frey is willing to brave the legendary monsters of the forbidding island and to ally himself with a partner who’s even less trustworthy than he is.

But what’s behind that door is not what any of the fortune hunters expect, any more than they anticipate their fiercest competitor for the treasure—a woman from Frey’s past who also happens to be the most feared pirate in the skies.

Earp: Saints for Sinners Issue 4
Created by: Matt Cirulnick and David Manpearl
Story by: Matt Cirulnick
Written by: M. Zachary Sherman
Illustrated by: Colin Lorimer
Cover by: Alex Maleev

Promo copy:

After the Pinkertons destroy the A.O.K., murder his brother, and kidnap his love, Wyatt Earp, furious and seeking vengeance, finally decides to rejoin the fray and bring old-fashioned justice back to Sin City. However, he’s not going to do it alone. Aided by his old partner, Doc Holliday, along with Jesse James and his gang of outlaws, newly-reappointed U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp sets out on a mission to take down Mayor Flynn and the Pinkertons, bring bloody justice to those who deserve it and ultimately rid Las Vegas of the corrupt powers that have reigned over it for so long.

The Traitor’s Daughter
by Paula Brandon

Promo copy:

Here’s the beginning of a lush, epic, wholly original new trilogy that shines with magic, mystery, and captivating drama.

On the Veiled Isles, ominous signs are apparent to those with the talent to read them. The polarity of magic is wavering at its source, heralding a vast upheaval poised to alter the very balance of nature. Blissfully unaware of the cataclysmic events to come, Jianna Belandor, the beautiful, privileged daughter of a powerful Faerlonnish overlord, has only one concern: the journey to meet her prospective husband. But revolution is stirring as her own conquered people rise up against their oppressors, and Jianna is kidnapped and held captive at a rebel stronghold, insurance against what are perceived as her father’s crimes.

The resistance movement opens Jianna’s eyes―and her heart. Despite her belief in her father’s innocence, she is fascinated by the bold and charming nomadic physician and rebel sympathizer, Falaste Rione—who offers Jianna her only sanctuary in a cold and calculating web of intrigue. As plague and chaos grip the land, Jianna is pushed to the limits of her courage and resourcefulness, while virulent enemies discover that alliance is their only hope to save the human race.

Miral

Promo copy:

From Academy Award® nominated director Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), and based on the acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel, Miral is the story of a Palestinian girl coming of age amidst the war zone of the Israeli-Arab conflict — unflinchingly told through the perspective of Miral (Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire) herself. Following the death of her troubled mother, Miral’s father (Alexander Siddig) is forced to entrust her to the orphanage of Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass), a woman whose commitment to peace through education has a profound impact on the maturing young woman as her epic journey to self-esteem and social consciousness proves both harrowing and hopeful. Also starring Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave.

Stuff received 6/29/11 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Over at Moving Pictures, I reviewed this summer’s answer to District 9, Moon, and Monsters.

Check out the rest of my review at Moving Pictures.

Attack the Block: A fun and creative diversion was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Raising Stony Mayhall
by Daryl Gregory

Promo copy:

From award-winning author Daryl Gregory, whom Library Journal called “[a] bright new voice of the twenty-first century,” comes a new breed of zombie novel—a surprisingly funny, vividly frightening, and ultimately deeply moving story of self-discovery and family love.

In 1968, after the first zombie outbreak, Wanda Mayhall and her three young daughters discover the body of a teenage mother during a snowstorm. Wrapped in the woman’s arms is a baby, stone-cold, not breathing, and without a pulse. But then his eyes open and look up at Wanda—and he begins to move.

The family hides the child—whom they name Stony—rather than turn him over to authorities that would destroy him. Against all scientific reason, the undead boy begins to grow. For years his adoptive mother and sisters manage to keep his existence a secret—until one terrifying night when Stony is forced to run and he learns that he is not the only living dead boy left in the world.

A new Daryl Gregory is always a good thing, even if it is yet another novel in the overcrowded zombie subgenre.

Hammered: The Iron Druid Chronicles
by Kevin Hearne
Cover by Gene Mollica

Promo copy:

Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully—he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.

One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plain of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.

Star Wars: Choices of One
by Timothy Zahn
Cover by John Van Fleet

Promo copy:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Timothy Zahn comes a brand-new Star Wars adventure, set in the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and featuring the young Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, and the beloved Mara Jade.

The fate of the Rebellion rests on Luke Skywalker’s next move.

But have the rebels entered a safe harbor or a death trap?

Eight months after the Battle of Yavin, the Rebellion is in desperate need of a new base. So when Governor Ferrouz of Candoras Sector proposes an alliance, offering the Rebels sanctuary in return for protection against the alien warlord Nuso Esva, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie are sent to evaluate the deal.

Mara Jade, the Emperor’s Hand, is also heading for Candoras, along with the five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment. Their mission: to punish Ferrouz’s treason and smash the Rebels for good.

But in this treacherous game of betrayals within betrayals, a wild card is waiting to be played.

Dragon’s Time
by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey
Cover by Les Edwards

Promo copy:

For the first time in more than three years, bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey, mother and son, have teamed up again to do what they do best: add a fresh chapter to the most beloved science fiction series of all time, the Dragonriders of Pern.

Even though Lorana cured the plague that was killing the dragons of Pern, sacrificing her queen dragon in the process, the effects of the disease were so devastating that there are no longer enough dragons available to fight the fall of deadly Thread. And as the situation grows more dire, a pregnant Lorana decides that she must take drastic steps in the quest for help.

Meanwhile, back at Telgar Weyr, Weyrwoman Fiona, herself pregnant, and the harper Kindan must somehow keep morale from fading altogether in the face of the steadily mounting losses of dragons and their riders. But time weighs heavily against them—until Lorana finds a way to use time itself in their favor.

It’s a plan fraught with risk, however. For attempting time travel means tampering with the natural laws of the universe, which could drastically alter history—and destiny—forever. Or so it has always been thought. But Lorana discovers that if the laws of time can’t be broken without consequences, it may still be possible to bend them. To ensure the future of Pern, she’s willing to take the fateful chance—even if it demands another, even greater, sacrifice.

Books received 6/28/11 Del Rey edition was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Thinking about Bed ]
I stumbled across this book while transferring my book collection from Visual Bookshelf to Goodreads. Intrigued, I ILL’d it.

This graphic novel starts out slow, with the first part being a little too hagiographic and a little too, isn’t the US great! But once the work settles into the meat of the constitution, the pace picks up and gets much better. This is not a clause by clause graphic explanation of the constitution, but rather a look at prominent sections, clauses and/or amendments and a smidgen of the history that lead up to them.

This would be a good book for those taking a U.S. civic course who are looking for a more visual way to explore the constitution. Or for sending to your local political nutbar who claims to know the Constitution, but continually misquotes it. The book comes with a suggested reading list for those who want to explore more.

The new fascinating book concept from the fertile imagination of Jeff VanderMeer, creator of modern classics City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch and the front man (often abetted by his wife Anne, Hugo award-winning editor of Weird Tales) for the groundbreaking anthologies The Steampunk Bible, Steampunk, The New Weird, and The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases

This time VanderMeer is looking for some help.

In case you missed the link within the quote, go here to register your nomination. You could tell them Rick sent ya, but I doubt it’ll matter much.

If You Lived Here: Another brilliant VanderMeer brainchild was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: In Love ]
[  Currently: Eating Vegerarian Bagel from Kettleman’s ]
I have not been shy in my distaste with the hero I describe as "The Big Blue Boyscout", yet I was so impressed by the first All-Star Superman that I made sure to pick up the second, and last installment, of this saga. I wasn’t disappointed.

Volume 1 of Grant Morrison’s work was a brilliant look at what would Superman do if he knew he was dying. Volume 2 continues this exploration, with Superman doing the truly amazing, like journeying to the Bizarro Universe and defeating some long lost Kryptonians, while also having time for the simple, almost mundane stopping a young woman from jumping off a building. Morrison even leaves a ray of hope at the end for those that want to see Superman’s return, making him Arthurian in stature.

By focusing on the Superman mythos, rather than his place in the DC universe as a whole, Morrison has created an almost intimate portrait of the Man of Steel. Through Morrison’s tale, we see the nobility of Superman in a way that has rarely been captured in comics or on film. He is an honourable man trying to do the right thing in a universe that doesn’t reward that kind of behaviour.

This is an excellent graphic novel and worth taking time for.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Let’s be blunt, Twilight did for YA supernatural romance what Harry Potter did for Juvenile Fantasy. Thanks to Stephanie Myer, we have tens, if not hundreds of new titles and authors flooding the scene. Even established Fantasy/Sci-Fi authors are turning to the field. And who wouldn’t given the burgeoning sales?

Into this burgeoning field, walks Maggie Stiefvater with her humongous bestseller, Shiver.

When Grace was a little girl, she was attacked by a pack of wolves. One of the pack, defended her, driving the others away. Since then, Grace has watched that yellow eyed wolf. And he has watched back.

So when Sam walks into her life, with his yellow eyes, she can not help but to be entranced. She knows there is more to him, that he is linked to her wolf. What she doesn’t realize is that meeting him will change her life forever.

Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out from the description above, that Sam is a the yellow-eyed wolf. And author Stiefvater is smart enough to know that trying to keep the reading in the dark about that would not work. Instead, we get alternating points of view, Sam and Grace, to move the story along.

Stiefvater has created a supernatural YA romance book, that is Twilight without the vampires. She explores the passion and immediacy of teen romance without getting too graphic, and plays on the temperature idea in the title quite nicely in the story. There is also the requisite absentee parents. (Because how else is Grace going to have sex with her boyfriend in her own bed?) Finally, the possibility of Sam transforming into a werewolf forever is a very nice metaphor for growing up and losing your child forever. I wish she would have pushed that last theme more in the book.

Overall, this was a good book, but not a great book. Some people will look upon this as Furry literature for teens. And they aren’t half wrong on that.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Godzilla Kaiju World Wars
Game Designed by Richard H. Berg
Cover by Ron Spencer with Zac Pensol and Chris Quilliams

Promo copy:

It’s an all-out brawl of monstrous proportions and Earth is the battlefield! The Xiliens have pitted Godzilla, Rodan, Gigan and King Ghidorah against each other in a catastrophic battle and only one monster will emerge victorious!

In Godzilla: Kaiju World Wars, players pick a monster and a scenario, stomping over terrain and destroying buildings on their warpath – all while fending off aggressive military attacks, bombs, traps and, of course, other KAIJU! Special abilities are used to eliminate the competition or to tuck their tail between their legs and run away before they are taken out.

The game is jam-packed with pieces sure to please any gamer. Along with the four fully painted 2 3/8 inch plastic Kaiju figurines, the game also includes 90 stackable plastic tiles for building skyscrapers, four individual monster playmats, 86 terrain and power tokens, and much more. You’ve never had so much fun ravaging the world as you will when you play GODZILLA: KAIJU WORLD WARS!

I’ve played several times and after deciphering the poorly written rules, I have enjoyed it. More detailed review forthcoming.

Stuff received 6/21/11 — Godzilla edition was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon