The Problem With Being a Nerd...

Nerd Time

  The problem with being a nerd is that there simply is not enough time in a day. I mean how can I be expected to keep up with my video game playing (Gears 3 is awesome FYI) AND make sure I'm caught up with Doctor Who? It's impossible especially when you consider all the nerd culture out there that already exists but for whatever reason I haven't gotten the time to ingest. And then to top it all off society keeps shoving that whole "life" thing down my throat.

   I envy you norms out there with your regularly scheduled prime time television and normal work hours, well that last part is a lie but my point is still valid. Watching one show when I should be reading the next game of thrones novel (song of ice and fire, whatever nerds) , watching shows when I should be killing zombies in the new Dead Island, doing homework when I have unread graphic novels!? The world has gone crazy people and I am the last sane man.

   To all those lost but not forgotten games, books, comics, shows, and movies...wait for me



Nerds Do It Better

Ultra Double Recap: Breaking Down Breaking Bad

So it turns out that real life is time consuming and leaving me little time for teh internets.  Going to try to get every ep for the rest of the season up on Mondays. Today we are just going to hit on a couple of main points from the last two episodes.

Episodes 8 and 9

 All right Breaking Baddinites, lets do some catch up work on the stirring saga of everyone's favorite meth dealer.  Let's start with episode 8 "Hermanos."  I loved this one.  It might be my favorite of the season up to date.  We start with Walt at a chemo/cancer/remission check in (oh right, he has cancer), where he gives a great little explanation about life to a follow cancer patient.  "Never give up control," Walt tells him.  IT APPLIES TO DRUGS TRADE TOO. Walt's antihero-ness has really been on display this season as he struggles to stay in control of his own life and his families destiny.  But what I really dug about this ep was that we are getting more and more into everyone else that makes the Breaking Bad universe so awesome.  

 Ep 8 dives into the mythos and the mysterious history of Gus.  Oh Gawd, I love Gus.  Hank hauls Gus in for questioning, thinking he is really going to nail him to the wall, but Gus is well practiced for this and gives Hank nothing.  He has every angle covered regarding why he was at Gale's apartment.  The only thing Hank gets is a slight pause when he brings up Gus' Chilean past.  The finger tapping calmness exercise Gus does after the interrogation is such pure Fring.  As Hank continues his investigation by his lonesome (and with Walt), the specter of this becoming a multidimensional dance for king of the southwest is well underway.

The end scene really struck a cord with the audience that has been wanting more of who Gus is throughout the show.  We flash back to Gus and the cartel's first meeting in Mexico.  Gus and his chemist partner Max have been using Gus' chicken restaurant to give samples of high quality meth to Don Eliado's top guys to manipulate a meeting.  What Gus and Max see as ingenuity, Don Eliado sees as a disrespect.  Hector, who we know as the wheelchair bound Tio, shoots Max in the head and makes Gus watch. BUT THEN, we get the key piece of information.  Don Eliado tells Gus that the only reason he is alive is because he knows who he is.  This must be a reference to Gus' shadowy Chilean past. 

Gus then explains to Tio about how it was him who caused nephews' deaths and covered it up with the killing of Juan Bolsa.  He asks Tio if today is the day he gets blood for blood SANGRA POR SANGRA for Max's death.  "Maybe next time," says Gus.

Fav Line: Don Eliado on Gus' restaurant "Your chicken it is so...zesty!"

Plowing on to episode 9 entitled "Bug," we get what we all knew was a long time coming.  There are three major subplots that are all going to play a big role in what happens in the series in the subsequent episodes and seasons.  

In the first, Gus is giving in to the cartel as he says yes to the deal that they proposed him.  Still no word on what the deal is, but you can bet it involves blue meth and territory.  This comes to happen after Gus, as Jesse puts it "goes Terminator" walking right into the snipers line of fire.  But both the sniper and Gus get it, they won't kill him they will just make it hard for him to do business.  Mike attributes them not killing Gus because the cartel needs him, but I'll bet its more of the Chilean past.  (if anyone wants to venture a guess as to Gus' past, post it in the comments!) But with this deal in place, the course of the series just took a turn.

Ted, Skyler's old boss and ADULTERER, returns with an audit by the criminal division of the IRS.  Skyler realizes that with her name certifying the books, she will be audited and the car wash/money laundering operation will be found out in a jif.  She shows up at the audit meeting with CLEAVAGE GALORE and a dumb blonde routine. "Quicken is the best! Like having a calculator on your computer!"  Somehow, the agent falls for this routine and Skyler buys Ted some time to pay his back taxes and fees, otherwise "that little fiction will unravel" and her ass will be on the line.  Ted has no money though, as he tells Skyler there is a lien on his house and then drives away in a piece of crap instead of his BMW.  Skyler then opens the crawlspace where the unlaundered money is kept.  Using that to bail out Ted is super risky, and Walt won't like it one bit.

DING DING DING! IN THE RED CORNER WE HAVE A FORMER TEACHER THAT CURRENTLY HAS CANCER AND A PENCHANT FOR COOKING, PLEASE WELCOME WALTER "THE COOOOOOOOOK" WHITE!  IN THE BLUE CORNER, THIS MAN IS A HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT A FORMER METH ADDICT WHO HAS KILLED A MAN, JESSE "PINKY" PINKERMANNNNNN!"

So as Jesse explains the situation about him having to go to Mexico to teach the formula, he reaches out for Walter's help.  Walt only hears what he wants and notes that his failure to kill Gus has made them both dead men.  Jesse flips out when Walt tells him he put a bug on his car "after all he has done for him." And Jesse is right, Walt is so short sighted right now he can't see the decisions other people are making.  The two ensue in a brawl that culminates in Walt walking out broken and bleeding.  Bridge burned. Walt is in as deep as possible.  Ep over.

Fav Line: Jesse "Can you walk? Then get the f*ck out of here and never come back."

Next Week's Title: Salud

Stonecutter out.

My Feet are Nerdier Than Your Feet

   So Gamestop (the awesome video game store where they know me by name) started a points system this past year to give rewards to their frequent customers who have been enrolled in the points system. Obviously I have and recently I made a purchase or should I say Super purchase...

   That's right, they're Super Mario sandals! Further proving what we all already knew, my feet are nerdier and subsequently cooler than your feet.

Nerds do it better

Sir Simon Milligan Throws Some Songs at Your Face, And Watches The Tears Flow!: A Couple of Tear Jerkers

Cat's in the Cradle- Yusef Islam (nee Cat Stevens)

This one's for the guys. A tale writ across time, of a man so involved in his career that he ignores his son's pleas to hang out, always putting off their time together, always assuring that "we'll have a good time then." Lamentably, and ironically, the son becomes just like his dad when he grows up, blowing off his father in favor of more selfish pursuits. Circle of life, eh?

Landslide- Fleetwood Mac (and others)

Written near the end of her tumultuous love affair with bandmate Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks writes of symbolically being buried under emotion. The real gutpunches come when with lyrics like "I've built my life around you." Two successful covers have been made, one stripping the instruments and vocals right down to the wire (Smashing Pumpkins) and another ramping those instruments and vocals right up into a sort-of Appalachian symphony (Dixie Chicks). All versions are potent, and best enjoyed after a break-up or just when the world seems a little too sunny and pure.

'97- Alkaline Trio

Does Sir Simon bring up the Trio too often? You're goddamned right he does! Adolescent angst is Sir Simon's bread and butter, and no one does it better than the fine people at Skiba, Andriano, and Grant. Showing you just how long the boys from sour home Chicago have been at it, the title of the track namechecks a year that culminated over a decade ago. The song will resonate with everyone who hears it. Who amongst us hasn't felt the urge to run into the open, raise fists towards the sky, and condemn the universe for treating us the way it has, with the simple assertion: "I don't deserve this." While the universe may not feel obligation towards Sr. Skiba for the inconvenience he's been put through, the catharsis of railing against the unstoppable must have helped him move on.

Note: Sir Simon doesn't cry. He sometimes has stuff in his eyes, so shut up and stop looking at him.

George Lucas Sucks My Balls

As you're all probably well aware, George "I-will-rape-your-childhood" Lucas will be re-releasing Return of the Jedi on Blu-Ray. Now if this were any other treasured nerd culture franchise, that statement would be good news....but remember, we're dealing with the Sci-Fi Satan here. From what I've seen, most of the forced CGI changes will be completely asinine, like adding eyelids/pupils on the ewoks. But there is one change in particular that really sticks in my craw....during the climactic scene where (if this is a spoiler for you, you don't belong here) Darth Vader saves Luke by picking up the Emperor one-handed-like-a-boss and tossing him down the reactor shaft...George "Fuck-everything-you-love-and-cherish" Lucas has decided that Vader should let out one of those ridiculous "Noooooo!"'s we all hate so much. Goddammit. The whole point was that he didn't need to say anything. The scene was so well done that even through he wore that expressionless mask and said nothing, you could still see the inner turmoil. The fact that Vader never said anything, but just made his decision and acted on it like a silent badass is what made that scene so goddamn powerful.
And since the internet is full of lots of people much more funny than me, here's a link to some of the better online reactions to the news:
http://www.ranker.com/list/the-best-internet-reactions-to-the-star-wars-blu-ray-changes/brian-gilmore