Happy Passover, and nerd ramblings.

Even though it's late, happy Passover. Passover is the day Jew's remember the day that we left slavery in Egypt. This is a holiday for which I hold in high esteem. Not just for Jew's but for all people's faith, there are things holding us back, things that we know will not let us live up to our full potential. When we know what those are we need to leave and become free. Shalom.

Now for nerd ramblings- I've been getting more and more into the issue of Star Wars and watching the original trilogy. I remember when I was a kid amazed at the wonders of the force and Yoda. Then I realized that these movies will be made into 3D...What the hell happened? When did George Lucas stop fighting the system and become the system. Avatar was made to show 3D (I hated Avatar because it's a story based solely on special effects and not on characters or story...sorry James Cameron is a asshole.) I realize Lucas became the system during or after Return of the Jedi. This was when people like Gary Kurtz left the franchise because of disagreements with Lucas. Then 20 plus years later Lucas became the system. Other film's he wanted to do were horrible. This was when Lucas refused to hear form people who disagreed with him, such as Kurtz and others...you can't throw a rock and not hit someone who had a better idea of writing the prequels. SO here is what I want to do to see if I can get any comments on this blog. I will post what I think should've happened with the prequels, if anyone reads this blog regularly I want to see comments on what they would do. Let's see if we could make the prequels what we wanted at least on here....may the force be with you

Dragon con

So my partner and I are finally going to dragon con this year in Atlanta. If all goes well he will have his spiderman costume (both from the Raimi movies and the upcoming) and I will well I HAVE NO IDEA what I will be wearing other than my 'nerd' shirts and jerseys yet, still not sure how wearing spandex in public will work for me. But I have questions, what should we know about going to our first dragon con? Any comments, suggestions would definitely be appreciated.

Peace and happiness

I've found myself in an odd situation. For the first time in my life I am happy, sure money could be better but because of my partner I am truly happy. I enjoy life again, I want to wake up assured that my life is getting better and better. I feel that the secret of life is love, and mine is my partner. Life is stressful, no doubt about it, and even with the mistakes I have made I am happy to be alive. If anyone feels the same or differently please share your experiences.

Convention season

This goes to I am a nerd affirmation type post. So, My partner and I really were hoping to be in Orlando by now, why BECAUSE OF MEGACON! For those of you that don't know it conventions are gathering places for people (nerds, geeks) who want to dress up as their favorite character from sci-fi, nerd lore. I've been to a few, mostly adventure con and a few others. But we really wanted to go to Megacon because it's the local con to where we will live. Most people see people in skin tight spandex and people getting geeky, and well they are right. Especially the hot guys. It's more than that, it's people becoming as physically close to their fictional 'heroes' as possible. There is something seductive to becoming your impervious hero. I wish we made it there, and to top it off here are is a video about how much fun it is.

Bad week..

Ever have a week where you don't know whats up and down? That's pretty much how this week is going for me, and I hate to be the 'oh what to do I have it so bad' person, I am not thinking that. I just feel this is not a good week, so my question how do you relax? How do you calm down and make sure you made the right decision? Just curious...

RIP my friend

Today isn't a good day, I just lost a friend and I hope he is at peace. May God bless him in his next phase, I love you bro. Take care, שאלוהים מברך אותך.

Gay geeky guy custom figure

So a few weeks ago, I wanted to be a bit creative and get started again of doing some custom action figures. I wasn't sure what to do so I figured to do it on one of my favorite youtube personalities, Gay geeky guy or Paul. I have been watching his videos for years and it's great that my partner likes him too. So I got a figure and asked Paul if I could basically do the custom and send it to him. Which was awkward for me because I didn't want to sound creepy like I am sure he gets sometimes, but thankfully he was up for the idea. Well I finally got it finished and sent it to him and OMG OMG OMG he did a video of it :D. For the most part I was happy for the outcome mainly the bobble head figure but the regular one I had issues. The paint didn't want to stick and it was definitely I think would have turned out better if I was able to use a figure I originally wanted to use as the base. BUT I am just happy he liked it :D

Universal and Disney

Okay, been back from Universal and Disney (downtown). My boyfriend wanted to visit these places and I wasn't opposed to Universal islands of adventure. Now the reasons for this are obvious the roller coaster, it had no bearing on seeing people dressed in superhero costumes such as spiderman and Captain America...it was definitely not because of the spandex costumes they wore. Okay well maybe a little, now obviously I loved Universal...yes for the roller coasters.

BUT Disney was different, I've never been to Disney, growing up we couldn't afford it. So, Brandon, and I went to downtown Disney. I was picturing the typical hype and little kids screaming and all. I grabbed a coffee so I wouldn't fall asleep. I hummed along annoyingly to 'Mary Poppins' and 'Beauty and the Beast'.   I didn't see what all the hype was then we walked around the corner and thats where it finally hit me...LEGO store. I started paying attention to everything, the boats, the air balloon, the stores, the restaurants and I realized I missed this as a kid, now that I am a bigger kid I could enjoy it for the first time. We tried to see everything, I was even treated to dinner at Wolfgang Pucks restaurant. I thought this was the end of our night then we went to the Cirque du Soleil 'La Nouba' I hate to say this but OH MY GOD! guys in spandex doing acrobatics errr...talented men and women performing their talents in brightly covered clothing, yea thats it.

I admit I got 'Disney eyes', I thoroughly enjoyed my time and it was amazing that I could spend it with my loved one. So now that I shared my experience lets see others when it comes to any park or attraction that stood out in your mind. Oh and Cedar point still has better roller coasters than any of them, just wish they had guys in spandex :P

gay and spiritual...really?

Hi all, so for people who don't know me, I am Jewish. I was not raised Jewish, my family was 'non-denomonational' christian. My partner is agnostic, this does not conflict with our relationship because my opinion is faith is an independent journey. Whether Jewish, Catholic, Mormon, Agnostic, Atheist (yes I consider that a 'religion' of sorts), etc. So my question is whoever reads this blog and are gay, what is your spiritual preference? Some of the stereotype is that gays arent spiritual, so lets see what is reality.

twitter...so now i am a twit

I'm a twit now, I'm on twitter under gayramblingnerd if anyone wants to follow.

back to working out ugh...

Well time to shed the weight I put on, unfortunately it's alot. Right now I am trying to get back into martial arts, as soon as I know my limits, right now the chemo has taken its course and I think I am finally feeling better. But I do have a goal, I want to get back to looking like this-

The sad thing is this pic was taken after I got waxed from a friend :P Hope to get that way again, I know my partner would be happier :P

religion and homosexuality

Shalom! Here's something I would like to gauge among homosexuals is faith, or religion take your pick. For example my partner is agnostic, this doesn't bother me because honestly faith or lack of is a personal journey. With me my parents were non denominational christian for the most part, where I am Jewish, boy am I Jewish (i can balance a checkbook quicker than any gentile :P) So my question among homosexual couples is what faith are you? Is your partner a different religion? Does this affect your relationship?

Florida is it gay enough?

Okay, so for work and for my partner's sanity we are moving to florida. While I am a southerner by nature, being raised in Tennessee I am not looking forward to this. I prefer lands with mountains even though we are in North Dakota right now, but still I like mountains. My grandparent's lived in Florida and I saw quite a bit of it, but it just wasn't me I guess. But this does present an opportunity to be more open with our lives as a couple. We have options, one is of course Orlando...while I like 'larger' cities Orlando just seems overhyped to me. Another city is Miami, I don't know much about Miami other than Cuban sandwiches are addicting. So the question is this, anyone that really knows Florida share what are the pros and cons, especially if your gay living there or have lived there. Thanks.

Parent's and their gay kids

Well... as anyone that is reading this probably knows, I am gay. Yea shocker I know, someone that has a pic of spiderman and superman kissing, and titled gay nerd ramblings is gay is enough to surprise anyone. Anyway so quick back story, my parents weren't accepting me being gay, which is honestly their rightful opinion. My mom and I still talk so it's not that bad, but I was told I can't bring my partner over to their house because homesexuality is 'a mortal sin'. Some of my family basically believe if you admit your gay you get aids, but thankfully my parent's aren't that out there. Anyway, my step sister called me, asking how I was doing since I moved to North Dakota with my partner Brandon. I told her I was fine and asked her how she is doing. She said she was great and went on a date and she had a great time. One thing lead to another and she told me she's a lesbian...nothing wrong with that, however here is the kicker. She said she knew for a long time but didn't know how to come out until I told my parent's about me having a boyfriend. (they knew I was gay but apparently thought I didn't 'act' on being gay)

My parent's knew for years I was gay, but now my sister wants to tell them she is gay too but wants me to be there...as of right now I don't know if that's a great idea because my parent's and I got into a huge argument with me being gay. My thought is that many ignorant people are going to think that being gay is contagious and that they will build a shelter or something to keep them straight. So I write this to basically get opinions on how I should proceed. Thanks to any who respond.

Gay comic geek

Howdy! To pass time at work I am often reading, watching movies, and youtube. My youtube subscription is not that large, right now it's red letter media, a gay collab (great channel!) and of course the what seems to be the standard bearer to gay geek/nerds everywhere and that's gay comic geek's 2 channels. One of course is that his videos are great, and honestly my partner and I enjoy watching his videos when they come out because of his personality and of course it's great eye candy...seriously it's one of the few hot guys we watch and not get jealous. But for me alot of the eye candy is his transformers and well action figure collection.(Okay now away from the creepiness I just introduced.) 

Is it sad I am drooling but because of the Blaster, Omega Supreme, and other transformers and superhero figures? But I figured to share on my opinion of the channel and his videos, they are really entertaining and great to just geek out! plus I think he has the best T-shirt collection in the world lol. 

Craigery Morgan

Ok I am behind the times it seems, I was on youtube just surfing when a video of a gentleman by the name CraigeryMorgan was suggested to me. It was his 'surprise video'. GOD help me for my lust lol. I have to say that I love my partner and he's my soul mate, but I just got a kick out of this guy Craigery. Yea he's shirtless in many of his videos but he made me laugh, I figured to just say this because not enough people laugh and while some will say 'he's just lip syncing' he still has comedic talent.

Now him calling his mom:

George Lucas...

Okay, I admit, I am that guy. I am that guy that believes George Lucas had a great imagination for creating the Star Wars universe, and how I admired that he wanted to do things his way. I was that guy, well until the prequels. Then I realized that George actually had people with good imaginations to challenge him on the original prequels. While I didn't really enjoy the prequels because of either the writing not making sense, to the everywhere you look is greenscreen, to the droll acting. I was still willing to say George Lucas did a lot for films, and I still admit that. BUT...my respect is lower than it use to be for him.

In a interview for the NY times Lucas said this:

 When fanboys wailed, Lucas did not just hear the scream of young Jedis; he heard something like the voice of the studio. The dumb, uncomprehending voice in his Socratic dialogues — a voice telling him how to make a blockbuster. “On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” Lucas says, referring to fans who, like the dreaded studios, have done their own forcible re-edits. “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’ ”
Lucas seized control of his movies from the studios only to discover that the fanboys could still give him script notes. “Why would I make any more,” Lucas says of the “Star Wars” movies, “when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”

Okay...he is absolutely right, these are HIS movies, HE made them. YET, he had help, it wasn't just him making them he got advice from the Producer Gary Kurtz, to the director of Empire strikes back Irvin Kershner to writers Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett. It was a group effort but YET these were GEORGE LUCAS' movies, and he has every right to feel that way from the fans. Here is the problem, George Lucas became too big of a force (pardon the pun) in hollywood, this caused the arrogance to become more and more. The issue I have of Mr. Lucas, is there doesn't seem to be acknowledgement of the fans. It has become a disdain for them. This is disturbing because if it wasn't for the 'fanboys' George Lucas wouldn't be as powerful as he is today, and Star Wars would be a B movie. But because fan's saw the original star wars and later Indiana Jones, they saw the talent that Lucas had. After he made those movies and the 90's came Lucas was losing ground to other up and coming film makers. This basically came to him writing the Prequels, granted with different people. Basically no one to challenge him, like Gary Kurtz. Instead we got Rick McCollum who seems to be a cheer leader for whatever George Lucas says.

I know George Lucas would never read this but I want to say this, if you want to know where he went wrong it's when he started to disregard the fan as a person who will go see whatever the title Star Wars is put on. Many of us 'nerds' have spent too much money on his latest projects and now that he says he's retiring I couldn't be happier, I just wish he did it when he was on top and not after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the crystal skull. It's a shame he became a Hemingway in the end...      

Green lantern movie

Okay so I work at a hotel and sometime's it's a midnight shift. Recently I started watching movies of the 'nerd comic' persuasion. One of those movies I recently rewatched was The Green Lantern. I am a fan of the Green lantern comics, so obviously I really wanted to like this film, but the failures of it were too far to over look for me. Now I know there are many reviews of this film so some of my opinions won't be new but it's nice to vent when you feel hollywood dropped the ball. 

First off, the film could have been great, in my opinion maybe even better than 'The Dark Knight'. The problem with DC movies as of late (Superman Returns, and Green Lantern, Jonah Hex) is that they miss the mark where Marvel Movies hit. Continuity, what I mean by this is with the Green Lantern could have been the movie that DC movies announce or hint at a Justice League. The issue is that DC looks at every comic film as the center of it's universe, which is good but they fail to look beyond the script. They fail to plan ahead. 

Another issue is that the movie was poorly cast. While Ryan Reynolds is a good actor, he wasn't necessarily playing Hal Jordan, he was playing Deadpool as Hal Jordan. In the movie Hal Jordan was a jerk in the early part of the movie, which is okay because of how he is portrayed in the comics. However the issue was that when Hal is suppose to make his transition as 'selfless hero' it wasn't believable. Hal still seemed fake, and I felt that I was almost wanting Paralax to win just to end the movie. While I think Ryan Reynolds could have done a better job with a better script, there was still something missing that I think other actors could have done a better job. 

Sinestro...where to I start, the acting was superb in this regard, but again the writing failed the character completely. Now while Sinestro was somewhat of a redeeming light of the film he still failed miserably. The reason why is his motives, he was suppose to be the 'dirty Harry' of the green lantern corps but ended up the confusing person without motive. In the movie the 'Guardians' were around Sinestro's finger. They basically did his bidding, they should have seen his ruthlessness, his black and white view and keep him in check, it would have made the end scene more believable. Plus his disregard for worlds, namely earth, should have been the final straw that the Guardians could tolerate. His character should have been more rounded, but yet he goes from being the 'hard ass' drill sergeant to the person who organizes three green lanterns at the end to save Hal from being sucked into the sun. 

Next is the special effects. Now while the movie was a great piece to show off CGI it overly used it to the point of making the filmakers look lazy. While many aspects of Oa had to be CGI'ed did the suit have to be? While this pet peave may have me wanting to see Ryan Reynolds in tights it also irks me as a nerd. I wanted to see a physical representation of the Green Lantern uniform, while the 'suit' that was used in the movie looked like photoshop on steroids it didn't impress me. I wanted to see something real, in this green lantern movie. Let's take other comic films, namely the Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, the director and production crew went to great lengths to create the suit with no seams and to get the colors just right. While this was due to the lack of modern CGI technology back then, it served the purpose of making the audience feel that this was a physical representation of the comic books. Reeve's looked like Clark Kent and Superman, and this was obvious to people who barely read the comic. Then there is completely the opposite with Tim Burton's Batman (yes this movie had it's flaws too but it was a great reimagined Batman world.), with this Batman, gone were the gray tights, and in was a body armor that accentuated Michael Keaton. This was believeable, and great pains were made to make this costume. These are representations of the two extremes comic book movies are, Superman the strict following of the comic vs. Batman the reimagining that worked for that particular Batman world. Green Lantern doesn't fit, it's as if it was made to like the star wars prequels in a sterile environment where all grit and realism are lost. I also want to make this point, in Richard Donner's Superman, Krypton felt real, it also felt as if it was a planet of superior intellect and power, where Oa seemed off, the imagination was not too much but was just what was expected out of hollywood and seemed like a cookie cutter planet that seems to be the norm for sci fi, and science fantasy movies. 

How could I end with out mentioning Paralax...trust me I tried to forget this character. Many people complain about the back story which is understandable, but it didn't bother me that much. What did bother me is how he didn't seem to be that frightening of a villain. And yes I understand that it's because we know that Hal will win the day, but at the same time when your basically a cloud it's hard to see the danger (unless it's a tornado that's heading your way). Again, I wanted to see something more real, something that would make be believe that this was a villain who could loved to destroy and was a serious threat to Hal, the green lanterns, Oa and earth. It just seemed too typical and not exciting. 

All in all this movie had it's moments, I think Hector Hammond was well played, and the voice acting was really good. The fact that we got Clancy Brown as the voice of Parallax was the only redeeming quality. However, this movie shows the failings in many Comic book films, or even sci fi films. The fact that the film makers don't take the subject material seriously as a form of entertainment or even at the underlying themes that Comics have. When the director's, writers, and even actors feel that the material is just for kids and for a cheap thrill we get crap like this, and it just well just sucks. 

First post!

So this is my first post and a lot has happened, first off this blog is for me to comment, throw questions out at people, and just for fun. First I'm in North Dakota...yea the freezing tundra or as I call it now HOTH. I have a partner who is the love of my life, I have a steady job but trying to do more to better our lives.  I am a huge nerd just like the title says, especially comics, sci fi, sci fantasy, just about everything. Okay I'm not so good with anime but I'm trying. But since I made this blog a lot of things happened especially with 'nerd' things. I plan on doing a couple of review of recently seen movies, not that many care but it's nice to get my opinion out there right? lol. Whoever want's to read this please stay tuned I will be adding blogs more and more and please share with me your opinion.