Once again, it’s time to check in with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., thanks to the kind folks at Netflix. Continue reading “Around the Water Cooler: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Seeds” (spoilers!)”
You have no idea how freaking happy I am that Netflix is streaming the entirety of the first season of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” right now. I was afraid that due to living in a cord-cutter household and being on a very tight budget, I wouldn’t be able to justify spending the money to get the series on iTunes. And I couldn’t justify the ongoing cost of a Hulu Plus membership either. But now I can at least watch the whole first season and get caught up, so let’s pretend that an entire season and a bit hasn’t gone by, okay? Continue reading “Around the Water Cooler: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “The Magical Place” (spoilers!)”
It’s almost time (in the U.K. that is) for the newest episode of Doctor Who, and I’ll be live-blogging my reactions to the episode. Continue reading “LiveBlog: Doctor Who Series 8 – “Deep Breath””
Ever since it was announced that Peter Capaldi would be playing the newest incarnation of the lead character in the long-running British series Doctor Who, I’ve been excited to see exactly what direction the show would be going. After all, like many folks, I was first introduced to Capaldi as an actor through his work as the impressive and imposing Malcolm Tucker from “The Thick of It.”
All jokes about a “foul-mouthed Scottish Doctor” aside, I thought it would be best to turn to the (Re)Generation Who Community Manager (and former Geeking Out About contributor) Kara Dennison to speak about what may be in store for us during Series 8 from Capaldi based on his other acting work:
Continue reading “Geekly Speaking About… Peter Capaldi as the next Doctor Who”
One thing that my husband has been up late working on is patches and fixes due to the Heartbleed bug, information about which was publicly disclosed at the beginning of this week. What is it, and how does it affect you?
Basically, an error in the coding of a system called Open SSL meant that a person could send a query to a server and receive in return a random chunk of the server’s memory. With enough querying over time, this same person could eventually gain enough clues to compile information about the users whose information is stored on the server.
A more compact explanation can be seen in visual form, here: Continue reading “The Heartbleed Bug and how to talk about it with your non-geeky friends”
With Boxing Day having come to a close, it’s time to sit down and have a spoiler-filled discussion about the Christmas special episode of “Doctor Who”, now available to purchase on iTunes. Continue reading “Around the Water Cooler: Doctor Who – “The Time of the Doctor” (spoilers!)”
Want to get excited about a new thing, but aren’t completely up to date on the fandom and don’t mind spoilers? We here at Geeking Out About are happy to help provide you with everything you need in order to stay current with your geeky passions in our new column, “Pop Culture Catch-Up.”
“The Day of the Doctor”
Directed by Nick Hurran
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman
Guest Stars: David Tennant, John Hurt, Billie Piper, Jemma Redgrave, Joanna Page, Colin Baker, and more
Rating: TV-PG
Like many people, my first Doctor was Christopher Eccleston, aka the Ninth Doctor. His single season in 2005 as the eponymous character of the long-running BBC series Doctor Who introduced me to everything Whovian and I came to have a layperson’s understanding of the show and how it worked. I watched some episodes featuring Tenth Doctor David Tennant, including the special movies, and part of the first season with Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith; however, once I fell behind I lost interest.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first episode’s airing and Doctor Who fans both old and new were a-buzz when news came forward that there would be a special episode celebrating this anniversary. Rumors and speculation flew around the world. Would it reunite several of the previous actors who have played the Doctor in a large over-arching plot as the 20th anniversary special “The Five Doctors” did? How much interaction would the upcoming Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi have in this special? Or would the inclusion of any former Doctors be more poignant and heartfelt as was the meeting between the Tenth Doctor and the Sixth Doctor (Peter Davison) in the Children in Need short “Time Crash”?
Simulcast around the world on November 12, 2013, “The Day of the Doctor” proved to include all of these things—and none of them at the same time. Continue reading “Pop-Culture Catch-Up: Doctor Who — “The Day of the Doctor” (spoilers!)”
It’s been a crazy week, but now I can get back to talking about the latest episode of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, now available to watch on the official website. Continue reading “Around the Water Cooler: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “The Bridge” (spoilers!)”
I don’t know how many people here read Ryan Sohmer’s edgy/adult-ish webcomic “Least I Could Do,” but it’s been one of my daily reads since I was introduced to it by my friend Harris O’Malley (aka Dr. Nerdlove). Also, after discovering the Vlogbrothers and posting about their very first webseries “Brotherhood 2.0,” I became a huge fan of theirs as well.
Back in 2007, the Vlogbrothers and their audience came up with the concept of the “evil baby orphanage,” which was their solution to the “If you could go back in time to kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?” question. They thought that the more ideal situation would be to time-travel to when the most evil humans in history were children, take them away from the circumstances in which they became evil, and raise them in an orphanage to be good and responsible citizens. This idea caught on so well with the Nerdfighter community that with the Vlogbrothers’ blessing, an indie game company called Wyrd Miniatures was able to successfully Kick and start a card game.
In a weird synergistic sort of way, Sohmer also had an idea regarding evil babies and decided to create a webcomic and raise funds for it using the extremely new Patreon platform:
“Zufruh” answers the question: What happens when you take the most evil men and women in history and place them in a daycare as toddlers?
It’s a strip I’m doing with Anna-Maria Jung, and I decided to do something a little fun with it, and put it up on Patreon. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Patreon is a subscription based system that lets you pay as little as a buck a month, giving you access to the comics as we produce them.
How much we update, if we create this at all, is up to you. If not, it goes back into the vault.
I liked the concept of the “Evil Baby Orphanage/Daycare” as a thought experiment from the Vlogbrothers, and I liked it enough as a card game to back the Kickstarter. However, judging from the sample comic above (which was the thumbnail image you get if you paste Sohmer’s Patreon link into Facebook), I’m not sure if I like it as a webcomic. (Or at least a webcomic written by Ryan Sohmer.) I’d have to see more before I decide if I’d add it into my blogroll, but I don’t think I’d become a Patreon of his in order to do so.
The video on his Patreon site—though slickly produced—has even less information:
Thoughts?
When I checked my email Monday morning, I was expecting to see the usual: job search referrals, ThinkGeek newsletters, Facebook notifications, maybe a notice from my local library telling me that my copy of Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance was ready for pick-up.
I did not expect to see a notice from Scribd.com claiming that I had violated a copyright.
What followed was a flurry of emails, some conversations with my webhost, another with my attorney, a lot of waiting—and finally, a sensible resolution.
But most importantly, I got to experience how a lot of “good intention” can almost be turned into a road leading into hell. Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: How to properly issue and respond to a DMCA takedown notice (SFWA edition)”