Living In A Cave: The Simpsons

Pop culture is vast, and it is impossible for any one person to catch every important Movie, Show, or Game that comes down the pipeline. However, some pop culture works are just too crucial to miss, and blind spots must be corrected. That is where this feature will come in. Every once in a while, one of the nerds will catch up on something that has been, up until this time, a huge gap in their cultural knowledge. Essentially, they have been living in a cave, and have missed something important. This feature is inspired by the Onion AV Club's Better Late Than Never.

For the inaugural entry into this series, I will be covering one of the largest pop culture phenomenons of the past 20 years, The Simpsons. Now, I am by no means finished with the Simpsons... there are almost 500 episodes and a film for me to watch through, but I currently am standing on the precipice of what is considered the show's Golden Age (Seasons 3-8), and felt that this was an appropriate time to reflect on what I have seen so far.

The first seasons of the Simpsons was... different. The animation was crude, the stories simple, and the characters not yet fully formed. There were a few quality episodes (the show's Pilot/Christmas episode springs to mind) but by and large it felt like a prologue, a taste of things to come.

The second season is where things started to get stronger. This is the season that introduced one of the show's big traditions, the Halloween anthology "Treehouse of Horror." This collection of three scary stories loosely tied together with a framing story, is where the series came together for me. The episode was fun, fresh (for its time), and had some amusing allusions to other horror anthology shows.

Also notable in the second season was "The Way We Was" a flashback story that tells the story of how Marge and Homer met and fell in love. The episode managed to capture what has become a hallmark of Matt Groening shows, the melding of humor and sentiment. This echoes on in his other show, Futurama.

The slightly sentimental trend continued in the episode "Lisa's Substitute" which explores the strained relationship between Lisa and her father, a theme that has shown itself a couple of times in what I've seen of the third season.

Finally, before I conclude this post I'd like to make a list, a list of my favorite characters thus far. I imagine, with a cast this large, the list will not stay the same for very long, but here goes.

Patty and Selma Bouvier - Marge's chain smoking, raspy voiced, bitterly sarcastic twin sisters. Thus far the twins (who cannot be separated even for this list) have had one of episode dedicated to them, and while not a fantastic episode, it was good for some laughs. Patty and Selma, for me at least, provide some of the best humor on the show. Their borderline evil quips at Homer's expense have me rolling nearly every time.

Bart - Probably no list would be complete without the show's breakout character. At first, based on my limited experience, I expected Bart to be something like Eric Cartman from South Park, devious, sociopathic, and pure evil. Instead, I got something a lot more complex. Bart is a troublemaker, for sure, but he's also a realistic child. He has fears, he cares for his family, and he doesn't always come out on top. It probably helps that Bart, along with Homer, has the most episodes dedicated to expanding his character. Plus, his antics are just funny.

Lisa - I have a feeling this one might be considered odd, but as of my current point in Season 3, Lisa is my favorite character. She is clearly meant to be the moral center of the show. Lisa is always willing to stand up for her principles, and is the member of the core family most likely to make sacrifices for the family. Despite this maturity, she also has a number of childlike qualities, such as her constant desire to own a pony and her enjoyment of the Itchy and Scratchy show that make her a realistic character.

So... that's all for now, but not forever. I'm not out of the cave yet, there are still hundreds of episodes for me to catch up on, and this means further write ups in the future. Until then, Tom out.

Chase's Review of Portal 2 (No Spoilers)

Valve is a company that I have been following for many years now. Ever since I first played Half-Life in 2001, I've been mesmerized by their ability to create games worth playing. This holds true with their most recent release, Portal 2, which came out earlier this week. The first Portal was a surprise and a revelation when it came out in 2007 along with Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2. I was more than willing at the time to pay $50 to get the continuation of the Half-Life storyline, so Portal was just a really nice free extra. However, upon playing Portal I realized that this was possibly the greatest thing to come out of gaming in years. I expected to get a slew of fun and interesting puzzle, but what I wasn't expecting was some of the best black humor and writing ever put into a game.

I say this so you will be able to understand that much of my praise for Portal came from how surprising and refreshing it was to play such a game. The real question is weather or not Portal 2 lives up to the high praise of the first? In my opinion, yes. And it does something no one was expecting, it goes beyond the first game in more ways than one. Portal 2 is the same logic of the first game, but in a new body. It is tell a very rich and clever story while expanding on the world and concepts in such a way that Portal feels like an introduction for this second chapter.

Portal 2 starts you what must be decades after first game with a bumbling but wonderful character named Wheatley trying to help (or save his own ass) from a catastrophe happening at Aperture Science. Characters like Wheatley (voiced by Stephen Merchant) and the founder of Aperture Science Cave Johnson (Voiced by J.K. Simmons) create a vivid and realistic world while keeping the universe popping and funny. However, The person who really steals the show is Ellen McLain as the ever wonderful GLaDOS. GLaDOS is the true star of Portal 2 as she was in the previous game. He comes over more human in this game which at first seems like a bad thing, but GLaDOS seems to always retain what makes her so special.

This is mainly a response than a review. I love this game. the graphics are solid, the universe is beautiful and detailed. This game works on every single level and is exhilarating and refreshing. In this day and age of Modern Warfare 2 and Homefront, Portal 2 stands as a shining example of what makes Valve the greatest game maker in the country and if not the world. Portal 2 may be short (all three of my playthroughs have been 5 hours long) but those will be the best hours of your day and is polished to a mirror shine. I don't understand why people are complaining. Portal 2 is short, fun and if you don't think so I feel the need to tell you that you are the problem with games these days.

On a final note: the Co-Op addition to the game is wonderfully complex in of it self. It will make friendships or break them, but you can not blame that on the tools Valve gives you.

Teaser trailer for Portal 2:

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.08.1 - "News for 4/07/11"

News Includes: "James Cameron on The Future" "Netflix and Mad Men" "Dish Network and Blockbuster"

Reviews for: Sucker Punch and The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.07.2 - "Joss Whedon II - Serenity to Dollhouse"

The Nerds get to spend time gushing over their Lord of sci-fi/fantasy.

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.07.1 - "News for 3/31/11"

News includes: "Wonder Woman Costume Changes" "Monsters University" "Mad Men/Venture Bros./Archer New Seasons"

Reviews include: Mass Effect 3 - the Arrival, Community, Paul and Minecraft 1.04

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.06 - "News For 3/24/11"

News Includes: "Elizabeth Taylor Dies at Age 79" "King's Speech/World War Z PG-13 Ratings" "Wonder Woman's Horrible New Costume"

Reviews Includes: Left 4 Dead 2 - Cold Stream (Beta) and Poltergeist

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.05.2 - "Joss Whedon I - From Buffy to Firefly"

The Nerds get to spend time gushing over their Lord of sci-fi/fantasy.

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.05.1 - "News For 3/17/11"

News Discussed: "Death of Michael Gough" "Darren Aronofsky Not Directing The Wolverine" "Robert Zemekis is Out of a Job"

Reviews Include: Homefront, Dollhouse and Archer

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.04.2 - "DC vs Marvel Part 3"

The Nerds tackle the two biggest names in the comic book industry.

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.04.1 - "News For 3/10/11"

News Includes: "MIB3 Melt Down" "Portal 2 Voice Acting." Reviews of Rango and Poke'mon White

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.03 - "Marvel vs DC Part 2"

The Nerds tackle the two biggest names in the comic book industry.

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 4.02 - "DC vs Marvel Part 1"

The Nerds tackle the two biggest names in the comic book industry.

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 3.12 - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"

The Nerds finally talk about one of their most anticipated films of 2010.

Warp Zone Nerds Episode 3.09 - "Sitcoms, But Really Arrested Development"

The Nerds were going to talk about sitcoms, but really it was just an excuse to talk about Arrested Development.

Spain, Pancakes & Zombies...wait, what?

Hello all. This is Michael all the way over here in Plasencia, Spain. Right now I'm in a flat with a German, a Scot, a New Mexican and an Oregonian. Pretty soon we will be joined by a Minnesotan and a Espanoles from Sevilla. We are living the life in Spain...and by living the life I mean after finishing the viewing of another fantastic sunset, we are about to have a pancake dinner and watch a fútbol match between Real Madrid vs AC Milan. Yes we are living the good life. Meanwhile, we are teaching kids of various ages, drinking what I call concentrated coffee and enjoying it.

Also, as a side-note, I've been getting familiar with Steam. Yes, I've finally been pressured into it and I have been enjoying it. So, yes, I suppose this will be my review of Steam and the games I've been playing.

STEAM: So I am completely in love with Steam. They are fantastic with supplying great video games for great prices. Seriously, I just got a 34.00 Euro Package of Monkey Island games for 4.00 Euros. What's also great about it is that it remembers the games you bought. If you loose your laptop and/or buy another one then you can just re-install it without having to purchase it again.

It works great as a communication forum too. I am able to keep in touch with friends and can use it as a form of Skype with other Steam users. It also let's you do status updates without the 140 word limit 8P.

Final thing I'll talk about that I love about Steam, is that they'll update your games automatically for you. For example, it automatically added The Sacrifice DLC in L4D and L4D2!

PORTAL: I replayed Portal and it reminded me why it is one of my favorite games. The game-play and the physics of it is incredible. Cake anyone?

Left 4 Dead: Yes, I finally played through the whole game and I loved it. The game-play, single player and co-op, is amazing. In involves fantastic teamwork, strategy and a certain amount of badassery (yes, I actually said it!) that's hard to achieve in any game. Oh, and the zombies in this are scary as, cue the shift key and number line, !@#$.

Left 4 Dead 2: Same as above but even better. There are more and scarier zombies. Plus I played some versus for the first time which was amazing. I didn't think I'd enjoy playing as the zombies that much but I did...oh I did...

L4D 1 & 2: Co-Op Mode: So, I've been playing L4D with my two good friends Chase, who your familiar with from this blog and our show, and Justin. I was heavily impressed with how smooth it ran. It has a very good controller system to work with your character, control that one idiot bot and communicate with each other verbally. It turned out to be one of the most interesting gaming experience I've ever had.

L4D The Sacrifice Comic: IT WAS FANTASTIC! I'm usually not a fan of video game comics but whoever made this one knew what they were doing. It is very character based, managed to take lines from the game without it being corny and added so many dimensions to characters we already enjoyed. If you've played L4D I highly recommend you read it on the L4D website.

Well, that's all for me tonight. Hope you have a fantastic day. I'll talk to you all later.

Representing the Nerdverse here in Spain, this is Michael saying let your inner nerd show. Shalom out...oh, and nerd out too 8P

SPANISH TV LINE OF THE WEEK!:

Hola, me llamo McLoovin'

Google Pic of the Week of where I'm at:

Placensia, Spain - Plaza Mayor

Chase's 100 Movies/100 Scenes: 94 - Hannibal (2001)

Soon I will be finished with films like this, but for right now we must trudge on with another film that isn't good but I still like. Today's film is the 2001 film directed by Ridley Scott called Hannibal. Hannibal is a sequel to the far superior 1991 film Silence of the Lambs. this film follows the characters of Dr. Hannibal Lector as he tries to remain in hiding in Italy, and Agent Clarice Starling (this time played by Julianne Moore). The story is about Clarice trying to prove herself as an agent in the F.B.I. and to find Hannibal Lector who is also being tracked down by a former patient of his. the film is very weak with only the performances of Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore to make up for the weak story by author Thomas Harris. Honestly the film suffers for trying to be as smart as the previous, but is unable to be as simple.However, the film has amazing atmosphere. This is mainly due to how amazing of a director Scott can be, but also from how perfectly Anthony Hopkins can play the Lector character.

The scene that ultimately portrays this is around the mid point of the film when Lector is discovered in Italy. Hannibal is hiding out in Florence playing the part of a Dante scholar. he has many communications with local detective and they become friends. However, the detective discovers who Hannibal is. He goes to confront Hannibal while he is giving a lecture on Dante's the Inferno. After the presentation the detective goes to Hannibal and wishes to make a deal with him or he will turn Lector in. Lector out smarts the detective and is able to paralyze the man. He then asks him the morbid question of "bowl in or out?" this is referencing a conversation the two shared earlier in the film where the detective reveals his genealogy is shared with a man famous for his suicide. Hannibal cuts the man's abdomen open and hangs him out the building. his bowls spill out onto the ground below.

This terrifying scene is my favorite from the movie because it shows how intelligent and brutal the character the of Hannibal can be. In one scene he goes from lecturing to slicing a man open and hanging him out the balcony. It just brings into focus how wonderful and interesting this character is even if he is a monster, he alone makes this mediocre film. also, this scene shows of the other high point of this film which is the score by Hans Zimmer. It isn't as subtle or as haunting as the score for Silence of the Lambs but it is still interesting on dark featuring haunting choir work and samples of dark operas.

Hannibal trailer:

Chase's 100 Movies/100 Scenes: 95 - Lost in Space (1998)

To preface this, Lost in Space is a bad movie. No, I mean it. The move has terrible writing from Akiva Goldsmith. Horrendous acting from William Hurt and Mimi Rogers. A third act that crumbles in on its own logic, and finally some very cheesy over blown action set pieces. With all that, I still love the hell out of this dumb movie. It never ceases to put a smile on my face whenever I watch it. I recently watched the Blu-Ray which came my way via Netflix. However, the movie is still bad, but pretty and nostalgic to my 1998 mind set. Directed by Stephen Hopkins, and is a remake of the 1960s television show of the same title Lost in Space follows a family hoping to save to human race by traveling deep in to space to find a new home for humans, but everything goes horribly wrong. Dr. Smith, played very well by Gary Oldman, sabotages the ship and he and the family end up...well lost in space.

It was very hard trying to figure out a scene that really stands out in this film simply because there are so many great moments ruined by the before mentioned issues. In the end I ended up going back to one scene that comes up around the mid point of the film. The family has just realized that they are really lost and they discover an odd "hole" in space in the system that they are in. They fly into the "hole" and discover a spaceship that is from earth, but most likely from earth in the near future. while they are looking over the ship they find another ship docked with it. This ones does not appear human. So...uh...yeah. That's it. That is my favorite scene form this movie.

Now on to the why. why I love this scene is because of the idea of space travel films in the 90s. these films had an odd quality that you never see any more or at least rarely. In the 90s filmmakers were using both models and CGI so you get a really nice bled of the two. This is one area where Lost in Space really knocks it out of the park. The only other film that I feel is similar is the far superior Serenity. The other thing that is wonderful about this moment is the discovery and the confrontation with the unknown. In this scene there are three unknowns: the "hole" in space, the human ship from the future and the alien spaceship. This sense of the comes up here and pretty much no where else in the film. It is the one aspect of the film that it really makes its own and I rarely see this in film today. This doesn't save the movie from being bad, but it certainly makes me happy whenever I watch this movie.

Lost in Space trailer (this trailer is so bad):

Chase's 100 Movies/100 Scenes: 96 - Hellboy (2004)

6 years ago feels like ancient times to me. that was a simpiler time of Half-Life 2 and high school. it was also a time when i was introduced to a filmmaker that still captivates my imagination. I'm of course speaking of Guillermo del Toro and his work on Hellboy. Like Spielberg I will be mentioning del Toro again, but early on I want to highlight Hellboy and why I love this film. Hellboy is based on the Dark Horse comic by Mike Mignola. The Film follows a demon who works for the United States government by eliminating and investigating paranormal activity. It is a fun, weird movie that even my mom loves. no seriously, I should it to her in 2006 and it became one of her favorites.

the scene that really makes this film for me is at the very beginning when Hellboy is "born." The opener follows a platoon of US soldiers as they are sneaking on to an island that is swarming with Nazi scientists. apparently the Nazis are using the island to test a portal technology and unleash a god onto the world. the US soldiers stop the test, but not before a a demon baby escapes the portal. A scientist in the platoon takes in the demon and the soldiers affectionately call him Hellboy.

why this scene is so wonderful to me is that it appeals to my most nerdy sensibilities. You've got Nazis and demons and conspiracies and dudes with swords for hands! It is a wonderful mess. I understand I'm spending very little time on this film. Watch it, it is a wonderful film, but right now the concept of 100 films is getting to me. I really can not wait till I get to my top 25.

Hellboy trailer:

The Dream is Over

I remember hearing my very first Beatles song. It was on a cassette tape my mom bought at Christmas time, and she said to me,"listen to this, you will enjoy it." She was right. My ears consumed that tape. And from that time forward I was a Beatles fan.
I bought my own cds to listen to, and one Christmas in junior high my parents gave me my first copy of John Lennon's solo work. It was a greatest hits album entitled "Lennon Legend", and it was the same experience all over again.
You see John is my favorite Beatle, because John is the most human to me. The Beatles to me are not a super group, but THE super group. This band had every element working for it, they pioneered popular music, no, music in general. They seemed untouchable to me, that is everyone except for John.
John was a troubled youth. He did not know his father, and his mother was a singer and spent a lot of time away from home. He was raised by two aunts. John found comfort in music. He learned to communicate through music, and I eventually found comfort in John's music.
John never tried to hide the fact that he could be a real ass sometimes. He was loud, argumentative and rude. He never tired to hid these things, in fact John embraced all his traits.
When I was in junior high I feel into a deep depression. I felt no emotional attachment to this world. I was not particularly close to any of my friends, and I did not feel close to my family. I had an identity crisis along with a loss of faith. I spent a good portion of my time alone in my room pondering what my place in this world was, and I felt guilty for doubting all the things that were so clear to me as a child. This was when I heard John's music for the first time.
I played that "Lennon Legend" album all the way through and closed my eyes and heard John Lennon describing the same feelings I had, telling me it was alright. He shifted my focus from the turmoil inside of me to the world outside. John's music gave me a purpose again. He told me I could change the world, that I was the answer to my problems.

Nobody Told Me, Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGiV7mxzdGQ&ob=av2e

Take for example the song "God, or the Dream is Over". This song starts off nice and quit, John sings, "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." and then the song begins to build. Up and up the music builds it becomes more intense and John lists all the things he does not believe in anymore. At the end the music stops, and with out auto tuning or voice enhancement John sings " I just believe in me." This is the most intament of songs I have ever listened to in my life, still to this day. John exposes his heart to us and in the end alone as naturally as can be John says he believes in himself.

God, Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv3ic6OOXns

John wrote what he felt always, but especially in his solo career. I watched documentary footage of a man, starving and tired standing outside of John's door explaining that John wrote those songs for him. John said "no, I wrote those songs because that is what I was feeling at the time. You know I got up that morning and had a good shit, so I thought I would write a song about it." The man, like myself felt close to John, but he is not writing to us but to himself. After the conversation John did something no star would, he invited the man to join him for breakfast in his home.
Sometimes I wounder what it would be like if John were still alive. This Saturday he would have turned 70, and I want to know what his razor sharp wit would write about the politics of today, and then I realize that is not what John would want. John would want me to make up my own mind, to voice my own opinion, not his. Lennon would want me to be like him, by not being like him. If that makes any sense?
I would just like to thank John Lennon for helping to make me the woman I am today.
Happy Birthday John Lennon. -B

Chase's 100 Movies/100 Scenes: 97 - National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

Back in the days before I was born and my parents were still in college existed some of the funniest people to ever work in Hollywood. I mainly say existed because many of them have fallen off the map, died or are no longer funny. John Belushi was god and Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd were still funny. Also, during this wonderful and mythical time that was the late 70s and early 80s was one of the only comedies about college life that is actually coherent and funny. Animal House created the sub-genre of the college comedy and excluding Revenge of the Nerds, is the only good member of the sub-genre. Animal House follows the adventures of Delta Tau chi House as they try to tear down the prestigious and snodish Omega Theta Pi house and have a good time. While this is happening, the dean of the college is trying to destroy the Delta house and have them kicked out of the school. This plot might sound cliche, but Animal House created these cliches that so many films use to sleep walk through a film.

This is going to be short since the scene which I love the most is literally a small moment in the film. The Delta house has a massive party at around halfway into the film. It is a massive toga party with many sheet clad college students running around and dancing in a decrepit old building. There is band playing "Shout," people that are completely trashed and John Belushi...pretty much the greatest party in history. There is a small moment where John Belushi is sitting in a chair by himself. He is holding a jar of mustard and is obviously drunk out of his mind (most likely in reality as well). he is staring at the mustard in this weird sneering sort of way then pours it all over his chest.

Before you as an audience member can go"What the hell?" the scene cuts away to another part of the party. I laugh every time I see this scene. it is perfect because it demonstrates the mind set of most people while they are drunk. Suddenly a jar of mustard takes on the attributes of something that is meant to be on your chest. it is stupid and wonderful all at once. The movie never seems to live up to the comedic timing of this moment. If you have not seen Animal House I suggest you get together with a group of people that share your sense of humor and enjoy this pitch perfect comedy about being stupid and in college.

The scene I was talking about is at the end of the trailer: