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Posted on 11.11.11 by Widge @ 11:51 pm
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  Trust her. She's here to help. Do you have a problem? Is something troubling you? Are you in need of assistance? Never fear, true believer. Rox of Spazhouse is here to help. After having such success with her freelance consulting on episodes of Weekend Justice, a live session with Rox is happening tomorrow night (11/12) at 7:30pm EST. It's Help Me Rox. You can listen live on our UStream feed. You can interact with Rox, along with Professor of Helpology Aaron Poole, and Technician First Class/Showrunner/Scapegoat Jon Boutelle. It's the remake of The Equalizer that is already in its fifth season in an alternate universe much cooler than this one. There will be a live call-in number (TBA). But hey...can't make it tomorrow night but still need help? Maybe the fact you don't have time for such an entertaining evening of wisdom is the problem? Fear. Not. You can leave your problem at 888.665.8825 and if the crew picks your issue, they'll help. Because That's Just What They Do. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 11.08.11 by Widge @ 10:08 am
Comments on this: 5 so far. Add your own.  Well. Wow. I say this because io9 pointed me to the comments made by Universal's head burrito, Ron Meyer. If you have any interest in how Hollywood functions (or dysfunctions), then you should probably read both. Because then you can hear the full context for "Benicio del Toro stunk" (re: The Wolfman), the craptastic nature of stuff like Land of the Lost and him taking the audience to task for Scott Pilgrim. I wanted to take a second to come at both of these articles from a slightly different angle, since an annual two-part panel we have at DragonCon every year is "Make the Bad Men Stop," where we address Hollywood's past, present and future atrocities. io9 is correct in that Meyer (and thus Universal) "wants movies that are better than Cowboys and Aliens, but not as good as A Beautiful Mind. Not mediocre, just not great." But they list Universal passing on the $200M+ Mountains of Madness and Dark Tower as examples of them being too risk averse. But here's the thing: Meyer is right. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 11.05.11 by Widge @ 2:03 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  How old were you when Return of the Jedi came out? Me, I was eleven. And yes, at the time I was entertained by the little furry guys known as Ewoks. I didn't understand--and honestly, who could foresee--that this was indicative of the overly family friendly direction Lucas would take in his franchise? I know that many of you love the Ewoks. Fair enough. Cosette and Thespia speak with great affection of watching The Ewok Adventure as children. If I had a dime for every time I've heard them say "The Ewok Adventure...brought to you by...Huggies," then I could, well, afford a really nice sandwich. But still. I think our rampaging green friend below ultimately speaks for all of us when he expresses his reaction to the metaphor that is an Ewok: cute, furry, cuddly--but ultimately hostile and ready to jab your beloved franchise with a spear. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 11.02.11 by Widge @ 1:26 pm
Comments on this: just one. Add your own.  Is this a Mater I see before me? I couldn't stop myself. Nobody else was here to stop me. So. I blame society. Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here. Categorized as: Stimuli and Video Podcasts
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Posted on 10.22.11 by Widge @ 5:21 am
Comments on this: just one. Add your own.  May 19, 1999. That was my own personal day of apocalypse and why I feel we should show charity and understanding towards those people who banked on the world ending. Twice in one year, even. I'm sure you've heard by now: one of two things happened yesterday. Option #1: the world did not end because it was never actually going to (the prevalent theory). Option #2: the Rapture did, in fact, happen--without the whole world blowing up or whatever portion--and nobody was taken because none of us were worth taking (my favorite theory). My point, though, is this: there are a lot of true believers who are feeling a bit fragile right about now and I wanted to speak out in their defense for a moment. Because I can relate to them. My own particular apocalyptic moment was similar to theirs in a number of aspects. An awesome thing I was promised and had waited patiently and faithfully for…did not happen. I put money and time and effort behind this movement because I was a true believer. After that day in May of 1999, I too felt fragile, confused and perhaps lied to. My faith was shaken and I consider this the event that marked my pop culture loss of innocence. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 09.27.11 by R.M. Rhodes @ 7:00 pm
Comments on this: just one. Add your own.  After a year of looking for the right contractor, my wife and I finally got bookshelves custom-built for our library. In addition to the narcotic effect usually generated by the potential of naked storage space, I was also buzzed about having room to store my father's collection of Heavy Metal. Just the idea of having this formative collection in my home made me deliriously happy. The family narrative is that my father had a subscription to the magazine since issue 2 or 3. I also like to assert that exposure to this archive of magazines has provided an open-minded approach to what comics are and can be. One or both of these may be true, but the physical evidence supports the first story: he bought every single issue from April 1977 through sometime in the early 1990s. It's hard to pin down the end of the subscription, because the point at which I started reading it regularly was at about the same time and some of those issues were in my collection, not his. My personal collection spans most of the 21st century, which leaves a sizeable gap in the late 1990s--which my cousin has offered to augment from his collection. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 09.22.11 by Widge @ 5:27 pm
Comments on this: 25 so far. Add your own.  Liam Neeson is badass. This might be news to some, but not to me. I remember Rob Roy, where, among other things, he and Tim Roth engaged in one of the best on-screen swordfights of all time. If only the bad guys in Taken had gotten the memo. Regardless, some time in the past few years Neeson has become the go-to badass when you need something fought. He's fought his own memory, he's fought Batman, he's even fought George Lucas' lack of directorial skill. He even helped make The A-Team worth watching. And now the question of "What if we combined Taken and The Edge?" appears to have been answered with the new trailer for The Grey, in which Neeson is fighting wolves and wilderness. Here, check it out... Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 09.20.11 by Wolven @ 3:19 am
Comments on this: just one. Add your own.  As we approach autumn, it's good to remember some of the music and art that makes us feel like fall. Certain bits and pieces of culture can live in a particular season, in our minds, and the stories that go with them can stick with us forever. For instance: So Tom Waits and William S. Burroughs were sitting at a bar--at least I would assume it was a bar, because it was Tom Waits and William S. Burroughs, right? Anyway, they were sitting at a bar, and one of them said to the other, "You know what's weird?" And the other one said "I have absolutely no idea anymore." And then the first one said "German Morality Fables." And if that's not how the idea for Burroughs and Waits to co-create "The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets" was originally born, then by god it's the way it happened now. Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 09.15.11 by Big Dub @ 6:08 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Editor's Note: The question has been asked many times, many ways. From a song by Jimmy Buffett to an online musing by a Jesuit priest...but nobody's really seriously given it the same amount of thought that Big Dub has here. And that's sort of terrifying, so it's good to post this just so we can keep an eye on him. You're welcome. Everyone shares a common trait to wonder about certain things in life. Is there a higher being that controls everything? Is global warming really happening? Is there one (and only one) true soul mate for everyone out there? If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make noise? If I eat Diet Coke and Mentos at the same time, will my stomach explode? Are there evil possums luring innocent, trusting possums into the road, knowing that they will get smacked by a car? Sometimes my brain goes wanders among these things. Today it has wandered to the age-old query: Categorized as: Stimuli
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Posted on 09.15.11 by Dindrane @ 5:28 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own. Cats. We all love 'em, and anime seems to love them more than most. But where's an otaku to start when they're done perusing the day's new lolcats? Well, we at Need Coffee are here to help you! Anime felines may be adorable, evil, alien, powerful, comic relief, or all of the above, but they're always interesting.  There are literally hundreds of cat characters in anime, from Meowth of Pokémon to Love Hina's Kuro to Trigun's everpresent Kuroneko-sama, and that's not including the now-cliché cat-girls. The following list provides ten of these feline stars of the screen for your viewing enjoyment in no particular order (as I couldn't bring myself to rank them). Some are serious, some are very much not, and all are awesome. Categorized as: Stimuli
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