Archive for May, 2008

Throw the idol, and I'll throw you the whip, it's that time again folks, time to put back on our fedoras and our leather jacket and take a wild ride that is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Watch the Trailer above, and click “Read More” to read my review!

Summary:

Indy's back!! Nothing more can be said. The Trilogy by Dynamic Duo Steven Spielberg and George Lucas brings Harrison Ford back as our favourite archaeological professor/Treasure Finder.

If you remember in the last movie we saw Indy ride off into the sunset, well this time we find our where that sunset led to by going over ten years later to 1957. There we find the Nazis are a thing of Indy's past, but the Russians are now starting their Lenin like grip on the Western World. This time around Indy must find a mythical Crystal Skull, or more importantly the lost Kingdom of that Crystal Skull. He is joined by Motorbike riding, Slick haired Greaser, Mutt Williams played by Shia LaBeouf. As well as old flame and Raiders of the Lost Ark star Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood. They all must race to find this kingdom before Russian KGB Agent Irina Spalko played by Cate Blanchett finds it first.

I won't go into too much detail of the movie, only because I don't want to spoil a lot for you, I only stated the story above because all that information you get is from the trailers. If you are reading this and have not seen Indiana Jones, I encourage you to see it first, for there may be possible spoilers for you.

You have been warned.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

You know how this works, this review will be split into categories; Story, Characters/Acting, Special Effects, and Geek/Fun Factor.

Story:

Blasting the John Williams soundtrack in my ears, as I sat in the movie theatre, I knew I was in for a treat. One of the things that the Indy stories does is weave a story based on Earth's mythological past and take Indy on an action packed ride to find out the secrets of that past.

This story while steering away from the supernatural side of what Indy was known for, we take a different approach, this time with a possible X-Files like encounter where Aliens may be involved. Yes you heard that right, aliens. More on that later.

One thing I liked about the story was the whole history of the Mayan/Incan empire that somehow mysteriously disappeared thousands of years ago. Although their disappearance is never explained, it is interesting to see the possibility that that great technologically advanced civilization may have had a little help, and not with human hands. That at least is the theory.

Now even though yes aliens are involved with this story, I was perfectly fine with playing with the idea up until the end of the movie where we see a lot more of these aliens. I won't say much, but if you have seen it, all I have to say is “Space's between Space” But with that said, I am probably the only one who is actually okay with aliens in an Indy movie, just as long as we don't go there again.

Oh and I loved the nice touch of seeing Area 51 where all the large crates of American secrets are, which we did see at the end of Raider's of the Lost Ark when the ark was wheeled into this large warehouse. Yeah, that's where the ark ended up. Which was cool because we saw the ark again this time around. Nice touch.

All in all, I would love to give the story more credit, but the aliens could've been dialed down a bit. If they did an X-Files type thing were you never know and Mulder is left with wanting to believe, or in this case Indy, I would've liked it more. But I guess George and Steven can never really stay away from the little green men.

Story = 3/5 Snowballs

Characters/Acting

The main thing to take away from this movie is the fact that Indy is definitely back in true fighting form. Although much older than he was when he did his first silhouette shadow shot, Ford does prove that his age is never a factor in this movie. You are never felt thinking that Indy was too old. They didn't even really play the cane and walker card that much where every five minutes there would be a joke of Indy's age. Which I was worried they would do, but thankfully they didn't.

So for those naysayers, Indy can still kick your ass at 64.

Now with age, comes remembrance of old friends and introducing new ones. Indy 4 did a nice job of remembering Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Sr. Although now gone and passed, we do get a nice shot of both of their pictures on Indy's desk. It reminded me of how awesome Sean Connery was as Indy's dad, and wish he could've come back out of retirement. But Indy's friends are not all gone, Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood who is great at annoying Indy and arguing with him like there hasn't been two movies between them. Allen is great again and I wished that there was more of her to do this time around. But none the less great job.

At any rate, the new characters, Spalko and Mutt, were awesome additions to the movie. I have come to really admire the talent of Blanchett and LaBeouf lately, and their latest movies were I think the best of their careers. What's great is that LaBeouf is only getting started! If what George is saying for a possible Indy 5 is that LaBeouf may be the main character of choice the next time around, I wouldn't mind that actually. As long as Ford is back, I'll be okay with it.

Either way, great casting, great acting, and what can I say, Indy definitely does not act his age.

Characters/Acting = 5/5 Snowballs

Special Effects:

Okay, so not much going on here, I mean there is obvious special effects in this movie, but what's great is that, like Iron Man, practical effects are definitely in full effect.

Movie looks great in scope and how large the jungles of the Amazon are, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Not else can be said, everything looked like it should be.

Special Effects = 4/5 Snowballs

Geek/Fun Factor:

Dude, what else can I say, it's freakin' Indiana Jones! It's been over twenty years since we have seen him and he looks just as good as he did back then, except with more gray hair.

Either way, this is where my fun factor comes into play because I really really had fun watching this movie! I sat in the theatre enjoying every minute of it. If I could say one thing about this movie is that it is definitely fun to watch. Turn off your brain, grab some popcorn, sit, and just have fun!

Oh and I want the hat.

Geek/Fun Factor = 5/5 Snowballs

Overall:

Well overall even though Indy 4 could've done without the aliens, it still was a fun ride, and is definitely up there as one of my favourite movies of the summer, along with Iron Man and Prince Caspian. I have not been disappointed with any of these blockbuster hits, and 2008 is shaping to be a great year. I mean come on when are you going to get an Iron Man, Batman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and an Incredible Hulk movie in one summer?! That just doesn't happen!

Great movie, and I can't wait to see it again.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must go pick up my leather jacket and hat from the cleaners.

Overall = 4/5 Snowballs

What are your thoughts? Tell me what you think of this review or the movie!

As always I remain obediently yours.

Steve “Snowball” Saylor

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For those who have been following me on Twitter(and if you're not why aren't you?!), you may have noticed I was doing the snoopy dance last week. Reason why was because I had gotten word from my co-host Mike that he was able to arrange an interview with Wil Wheaton!

Problem was though, for him, he was up north and couldn't do the interview, and if I wanted to, I could do it. So I immediately jumped at the chance, because for those who know me, know that I have been insipired by Wil for a long time. You ever have one of those people in your life that you would love to meet someday and you have been following what they do for several years? Well for me one of those people is Wil.

So last week I went over to the TWiG Studios and sat down for almost an hour long chat with Wil. To be honest, I sounded a lot more nervous than I was. Oh don't get me wrong, I was really nervous, but when I got into the interview, I thought I was perfectly fine. It wasn't until I hear it now that I realize how nervous I actually sounded.

Either way, the interview is now live at http://thisweekingeek.net/node/131 So if you want to check it out and see how nervous I was as Wil and I talked geek, then by all means give it a download. Let me know what you think in the comments too, and please, be gentle.

Oh, here's a link directly to the mp3 if you can't be bothered to go to the link directly.

http://thisweekingeek.net/media/audio/TWiG-WilWheaton.mp3

As always, I remain, obediently yours.

Steve “Snowball” Saylor

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The 12th Disciple – A Podcast Novella by Steve Saylor

A Sneak Preview

That's right the day has arrived for the big announcement, and here it is, I present to you a Sneak Preview of “The 12th Disciple – A Podcast Novella by Steve Saylor”

“Deep in the heartland of North America, lives a private school where moral values and ideals are kept. However, deep in the shadows, not everything is as it seems. When a student commits suicide, his best friends stumble upon a conspiracy that involves a new friend named Julien, and a secret cult named “The Pentecost”; who will stop at nothing to bring the Antichrist to power, and take over the world. You thought Judas was the greatest traitor of all time? Think again. From the mind of Steve Saylor, author of the Podcast Novel “Black Shadow” comes The 12th Disciple, A Podcast Novella. Betrayal is not what it used to be. Want to learn more? Head to stevesaylor.net for more details.”

Time: 32:55
Music Provided by: Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails http://nin.com via a Creative Commons License. For more details head to http://creativecommons.org
Want to send feedback?
email: mail@stevesaylor.net
website: http://stevesaylor.net

Use any other podcatching client by using http://feeds.feedburner.com/the12thdisciple
or
Download The12thDisciple-SneakPreview.mp3

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*THIS PODCAST NOVELLA HAS BEEN PUT ON HOLD FOR THE TIME BEING.  STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES*

Deep in the heartland of North America, lives a private school where moral values and ideals are kept. However, deep in the shadows, not everything is as it seems. When a student commits suicide, his best friends stumble upon a conspiracy that involves a new friend named Julien, and a secret cult named “The Pentecost”; who will stop at nothing to bring the Antichrist to power, and take over the world. You thought Judas was the greatest traitor of all time? Think again. From the mind of Steve Saylor, author of the Podcast Novel “Black Shadow” comes The 12th Disciple, A Podcast Novella. Betrayal is not what it used to be.

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An All-Star cast, an awesome director, and one of the most believable super heroes in Marvel's Goodie Bag, this past weekend, I had the pleasure of watching the first adaptation of Iron Man for the big screen.

Click “Read More” for the entire review.

Summary:

Okay, maybe not the 1st Tier super heroe that Marvel has to offer, it does bring something to the table however that all the other super heroes do not, fun; more on that in a moment.

The movie starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges, this Academy Award recognized cast comes together in Jon Favereau's take on Iron Man. Iron Man is the story of Tony Stark of Stark Enterprises. He is Marvel's equivalent of DC Comics Batman, except minus the brooding and the subdued secret love affair with little boys. I'm kidding! I'm kidding!

His story begins when he is taken hostage by middle eastern terrorists who are forcing Tony to make for them one of the most advanced weapon systems Tony has created called “The Jericho”. During the attack to capture Stark, Tony gets severely injured and without the use of a Stark created power cell keeping shrapnel from entering his heart. The power cell, or as it's known in the movie as the Arc Reactor, is what keeps Stark alive, but supplies the power needed to sustain the Iron suits Iron Man is known for. So using the tools at his disposal, Stark creates an Iron Suit so that he can escape.

I won't go into too much detail of the movie, only because I don't want to spoil a lot for you, I only stated the story above because all that information you get is from the trailers. If you are reading this and have not seen Iron Man, I encourage you to see it first, for there may be possible spoilers for you.

You have been warned.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

The way this review and future movie reviews are going to be broken down is by Story, Characters/Acting, Special Effects, and Geek/Fun Factor.

Story:

Ozzy said it best when he ate that poor defenseless bat's head off, “I am Iron Man.” Okay, so maybe he didn't say those words right after that, you never know, he may have said anything in that altered state he calls reality. However, Iron Man's story literally is all about Tony Stark and his journey becoming Iron Man. Yes there is an overarching storyline involving Obidiah Stane (played by Jeff Bridges, or as he is AKAed as Ironmonger in the Marvel universe); However, the ultimate story is the awakening of what Stark is doing in the world, and his role in it. He is a weapons manufacturer after all. Obviously with today's political state, that may be a bit on the bad side, but without going over the top political, Iron Man is about a chance of redemption for the wrongs that Stark has committed, and he wants to help the people he has put indirectly in harms way.

This is showcased really well by the first time we see Iron Man helping that middle eastern village. He saw something happening, and realized “Hey, I can do something about this!” So he goes and kicks ass doing it.

This story is extremely well crafted, it's witty as hell, and the one liners are excellently delivered by Robert Downey Jr. More about him in a moment.

I have to say that even though plot may have not have been a major priority in this movie, it is by far the best origin story, but also having a good story altogether.

Story = 4/5 Snowballs

Characters/Acting:

Okay, honestly I think Richard Roeper said it best, “Robert Downey Jr. is this movie.”

This movie without Downey would've been a good movie, but not the over the top great movie as Iron Man is. When I heard that he was cast as Tony Stark, I couldn't have thought of a better actor who could play this role with so much dry humour, that Stark is known for. There may have been people who thought Downey was the wrong choice, but for me, there was no other choice. Even the fact that Stark is an alcoholic, and with Downey's unfortunate past, he can draw on those experiences and add some real depth to the character not seen since Christopher Reeve's Superman; minus the substance abuse part.

I wasn't sure about Paltrow's Pepper Potts, and Terrence Howard's Jimmy Rhodes. I wasn't sure if they both could've played their character's well, but they proved me wrong, and they took it and ran with it. Paltrow actually blew me away with her portrayal of Potts, and she looked liked she had fun with the role. Howard, didn't really have much character to chew into as Paltrow did, however from each moment he is on screen, you can't think of anyone else to play the role. I thought maybe Jamie Fox, but I'm going to go with Howard on this one. I can't wait to see him as War Machine.

Nice reference to it in the movie, by the way, “Next Time Baby.” Brilliant.

Bridges as Stane, was also good as well. Didn't really buy him in the Ironmonger suit, but you know what, he pulled it off. Obviously with any Marvel villain you can never really stay dead, so Stane may have a repeat performance, but Bridges as Stane himself, was great, and definitely up there as the definitive “Jeff Bridges Style”

Oh, and before I finish this section, Stan Lee mistaken as Hugh Hefner, and Jon Favereau himself as Stark's own body guard? Brilliant x2!

Characters/Acting = 4/5 Snowballs

Special Effects:

Hands down the blending of practical effects and Special Effects really sold it for me. You couldn't really tell where practical effects ended and special effects began! Everything just looked real, and man made. Even the suit itself that Downey actually wore, was an actual working suit. Minus the rocket boots and repulsor gloves, but still, awesome suit! I want it for my room. Congrats to Favereau for going that route instead of making everything CGI.

Loved the style, loved the colour, the shots. I couldn't find fault with anything.

One side note though, when the head bag gets taken off of Stark in the cave as he is just captured, doesn't he look a lot like Chuck Norris? Maybe it's just me, but man I could swear it was Walker Texas Ranger, to a certain degree.

Meh, moving on.

Special Effects = Geek/Fun Factor = 5/5 Snowballs

Geek/Fun Factor:

Dude, it's Iron Man! How geeky can you get?! You have a well developed character, a great storyline that fits with a lot of Iron Man fans, (you know you're out there). Plus, the fact that it's made believable as something that could actually happen within the next five years, is amazing!

Oh, and can we talk about fun for a second? Sure we can, it's my damn review! Okay, this movie is sooo much fun to watch! Lagged a bit in patches at the beginning, but the fun only accelerated from there!

I say it again Downey is this movie. He is what makes this fun to watch. I was so pumped after walking out of the theatre, that I wanted to go right back in, pay another 10 bucks to get a ticket and watch it again. That is how fun this is!

Geek/Fun Factor = 5/5 Snowballs

Overall:

Okay, so overall, awesome movie. That's it. It dwells actually on Hawesome. So much so in fact that I almost should make a scale of hawesomeness just so I can put this at Number One with a Bullet of Hawesome!

Go out and see this movie! This is a hawesome start to a blockbuster summer, and I can't wait until the sequel in 2010!

Oh, and watch the end of the credits! You will not be disappointed!

I AM IRON MAN! DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-duh-DA-DA!

So, I'm no Ozzy, so sue me!

Overall = 4/5 Snowballs

What are your thoughts? Tell me what you think of this review or the movie!

As always I remain obediently yours.

Steve “Snowball” Saylor

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SYNOPSIS: Hell, Hell, The Gang’s All Here. The conclusion of Black Shadow

Thank you all for making this an awesome journey. Tune in to the end of the episode for more acknowledgments and Thanks.

Also stay tuned to http://stevesaylor.net for more details of a new project on May 11, 2008!

Time: 54:55
Episode Recap: Tee Morris – Podcasting For Dummies, MOREVI, Billibub Baddings – http://teemorris.com
Want to send feedback?
email: mail@stevesaylor.net
website: http://stevesaylor.net

Subscribe using iTunes
or
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or
Download BlackShadow-Episode#14.mp3

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For those who listen to This Week in Geek you may know already that Mike, Pierce, Stefan, Jordan, and myself have been doing reviews of DVDs, Video Games, and Geek Gadgets since last summer.

Well, I thought I would give it a go on my own with my own reviews of software, hardware, and other geeky gadgets I can get my hands on.

This review is going to be for NewsGator’s now free RSS Reader, NetNewsWire

Click “Read More” for the full review…

So here is how the reviews are going to break down, I will give a rating out of 5 Snowball’s on several different categories, Setup, Ease of Use, Aesthetics, Geek/Fun Factor, and Overall Rating.

So let’s dive into NetNewsWire:

Summary:

A few weeks ago, I was perusing my Twitter stream, and people were talking about their RSS Readers of choice. A lot of people liked Google Reader a lot, and I was thinking of giving it a try. However, I don’t know why, but I like having access to an actual desktop client more-so than accessing a service through my browser. I do agree Google Reader does do everything I would want in an RSS Reader, but I wanted to try something else. Hence, I remembered that one of the best Mac RSS Readers was NetNewsWire. It used to be a shareware application, and you had to pay to use it, but that has recently changed, and now NetNewsWire is completely free to use.

I have been using NetNewsWire for about three weeks now, and so here is my review.

Setup:

Setup couldn’t be more painless. Obviously the benefits of a Mac is the installation is literally drag and drop, so I had no problems there. It did ask for a NewsGator account, which wasn’t that big of a hassle, because I had the ability to turn the NewsGator feeds off, so I didn’t have to worry about getting feeds I don’t want.

It did set me up with several feeds, so I could get started. Feeds such as Wired, MacWorld, and so on. I kept the two I mentioned, and removed the rest.

Setup – 5/5 Snowballs

Ease of Use:

When I started adding RSS feeds on my own, it couldn’t have been easier. With the ability in Firefox to read RSS XML in it’s own format, it allowed me to add NetNewsWire to the Default Application list when reading RSS. Literally within five minutes I had almost 40 feeds ready to go.

It’s setup like a Mail client, so I was able to grasp the usability of the program much easier.

As soon as you open NetNewsWire, if you have a connection to the Internet, it automatically refreshes all your feeds and let’s you know if there are new updates. Like I mentioned the GUI was much like a mail client, so I could go through items in each RSS feed easily and read the ones I wanted to read very quickly. Which I think is the point, because I wanted something I could read quickly without having to go to each site individually.

You can flag items that you can either read later or keep handy just in case you would like to read the post or use it later. What I did was, I would read feeds from my friend’s blogs, and if I comment on the post, I flag the item. That way I can go back later, and check for any new comments on those posts, and be a part of the conversation. I haven’t tried subscribing to comment feeds on some sites, only because the sites I read have a lot of comments, and I don’t want to be bogged down by those comments. Maybe I will try that later, but for now it’s fine without it.

Ease of Use = 5/5 Snowballs

Aesthetics:

One thing I look at when I choose a desktop client for me, is you have to look good. A lot of times, a program may be great, but the Graphical User Interface is lost, or only implemented near the end of the software production cycle. That is mainly the case with Windows programs, but for Mac it’s a bit different. With Mac, I like programs that look good and work great. If it’s attractive but doesn’t work, then to me it’s not a good Mac program.

However, NetNewsWire does look great and works great. The GUI is definitely attractive for the Mac, and looks great on my desktop.

Asthetics = 5/5 Snowballs

Geek/Fun Factor:

Okay, so i decided to take a cue from the TWiG Reviews and talk about the Geek/Fun Factor of NetNewsWire.

The Geek Factor is that I can read RSS feeds from any site that has one, and I can read them extremely quickly.

I guess there is no “real” fun factor other than what I just said, however I do find it cool whenever the program updates it’s feeds, and I can see all the new items in each feed. Maybe that’s just me.

I would give this 5 out of 5, but honestly, how can I have fun with an RSS Reader. It’s not like I jump for joy each time it loads. If I did, I would get weird looks from the people at Starbucks.

Geek/Fun Factor = 4/5 Snowballs

Overall:

So Overall, I am extremely happy with my RSS reader of choice, and I find no reason to look at Google Reader, if this does everything for me. Unless there is some uber noob pwning thing on Google Reader that I don’t know about, please let me know, and I will pwn noobs with the rest of you.

Overall = 5/5 Snowballs

Wow, a glowing recommendation from Snowball! That doesn’t happen very often guys. Just listen to my Review of Spiderman 3 for the PSP and you’ll know why I don’t give glowing reviews all the time. If I find a product I don’t like, I am going to give it a bad review; plain and simple. If for whichever reason I receive products from companies, I will still have my “Journalistic Integrity” and if it sucks, I will say it sucks.

So that’s it for me, please feel free to comment on RSS Readers, and tell me what you like about them; and if you use NetNewsWire, let me know what you think as well.

So that’s it for this weeks edition of Snowball’s Reviews, tune in next time, Same Snowball Time, Same Snowball Channel!!!

As always, I remain, obediently yours.

Steve “Snowball” Saylor

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