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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Back to our nerdly nuts and bolts

We are up to issue 4 of The New 52's and Justice League is a book that has really been on my list as one that I just can't decide on.  Let's go back four months, the first issue hit, we are in a universe where the heroes don't really know each other, Green Lantern had no idea that Batman was just a man in a costume...Superman seems to not like authority, and The Flash, well he's just the flash, fast, cocky, and a smart ass, gotta love it!  Jim Lee can really suck you in with his artwork, Geoff John's story work can usually keep you on the edge of your seat, but this title just runs slow.  I am still trying to piece together the current state of the DC Universe, as I really only follow Superman, Batman, The Flash, and Green Lantern.  Its tough, I mean we really don't know what has happened, what from the last 50 years still happened in the new universe, Bane vs Batman, Jason Todd's Death, Superman's death, Barbara Gordon is not wheelchair bound anymore..etc, these are the things I really wish I knew the answers to.  With This month Justice League #4 hit the shelves, and well remember Aquaman from the Superfriends?  Well, friends he isn't hear, we have an Atlantian bad ass, who doesn't mind getting his trident dirty and I'm loving it, if you ever made Aquaman the but of a joke, well brother, let me tell ya, he ain't that guy.

Lastly, my biggest gripe, is DC touted out that they were drawing the line at $2.99 earlier in the year in response to Marvels inability to decide on price point.  But two of the flagship titles, Action Comics and Justice League are $3.99, and Justice League is 22 pages of story/art and the rest ads and filler, its just a bit much, and then for them to charge the same day and date for digital really chaps this authors ass a bit.  It really makes the thought of going digital only hard to swallow, and I have thought about it, but there is just something about holding a real book in your hands, going to the nerds den, the geektopia, the comic book store and browsing the shelves for something new, finding something that Mitch Breitweiser (a fellow Arkie) has started working on, finding that hard to find trade paperback, that Frank Miller Batman Statue, hell even just picking out a new 20 sided die...You don't get that on your nook, iPad, playbook, blackbook, blackberry, chuck berry, or whatever your using digitally!

So, I don't think you can find back issues on JL right now, but I know once this arc is done it will be in trade paperback (they've already announced a Batman trade, so its coming), when that happens, pick it up, you'll love the visually stunning art by Jim Lee, an incredibly woven team building story by Geoff Johns, and of course a glowing review from me.

4.5 out of 5 Tankards of Terror!


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

An Unexpected Journey

So The Hobbit trailer is up today, and all I can say is wow!  It's already blown my mind twice, and I know like the other trailers I will watch it religiously until the movie hits next December.  I remember when I saw Fellowship of the Ring, I was so moved by how everything I had seen in the book/animated movie had been brought to life, and now I cannot wait to see these first two chapters.  If you haven't seen it yet, here it is in all its HD glory...


Monday, December 19, 2011

If you haven't turned on "Find My iPhone", you probably should

So, the parental unit (heretofore known as Mom) works in a wireless call center, and with my past experience and what she tells me, people just get dumber the smarter their phones become.  First, if you have an iPhone, iPod Touch (with location capabilities), or an iPad 1 or 2, you need to know about something called Find My iPhone.  Well first its an app, and yes its free, you need to download and install it ASAP.  This is not a way for you to get some type of Batman/Daredevil vigilante justice, but a high tech lowjack for your phone/pad/pod.  The most important thing, you have to have it set up first before it will work...so you can't lose your phone and then decide to turn it on.  Second, if you have iOS 5, and your using the cloud, its really easy, make sure to toggle the switch in your settings to turn on find my iPhone.  Once this is complete you can login to your iCloud account and then select find my iPhone and it will find all your iOS devices assigned to your cloud login.

Once your here, you can send a message/sound to the device, lock it remotely, or wipe it out entirely.  What is cool is you will get a map showing you pretty close to where the device is.  This is handy if you can't find your device in the house, or someone has stolen it.  The key to a stolen device is let law enforcement know you have a stolen device, and that you have tracked its whereabouts and provide this to them, they may or may not go get it, but at least you've gotten them closer than they used to be when things were stolen.

So thats find my iPhone, please use it, it will save you countless hours of problems and issues, also use your cloud space, back up your contacts, and for god sacks, sync your damn devices regularly.

Geeky Dad Out!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

So, what do you want for Christmas?

As, we are now officially 24 days to Christmas, I guess its time to start talking about it.  So I have been working for a couple of weeks to trim  up my holiday list, and well, I had a hard time thinking of anything I really "needed", and not much that I "wanted".  I had already gotten all the big tier 1 games for the Xbox, not a lot on the DVD front, but a couple.  Surprisingly I couldn't find anything techie that I could not live without.  I still hark back two christmases to probably my best and most used tech gift, the Monster Power Outlets to Go 4 outlet strip, this thing has come in so handy, I got it for work travel, but it has proven more useful on trips to the in-laws or my moms.  Four extra outlets come in really handy!  This year, its hard, maybe its the whole taking stock in your life, or the fact that I lost everything else and moved away, that made me less materialistic.  Whatever it is, I really don't know what I want for christmas, but I do know I want one of those SodaStream machines, it reminds me of when I was a kid, my grandfather bought a Charlie-O system, He had a tank of some type of gas, the plastic bottles had caps with what looked like tire stems, you'd hook up the hose and bam, carbonated water, then you'd pour it over ice and add they syrup, he actually got real Coke syrup and man it was the best thing you'd ever drank.  I hope the soda stream brings back that kind of feelings.

There is a small part of me that wants a Sumo Sac Gamer, but I really don't know how a fat ass can get in and out of a bean bag chair without looking like a beached whale!

So, what's on your tech list this holiday season?  What have you been longing for all year and can't live without?  Post in the comments...