Monday Meanderings: Flying Cities

 Books, Diablo, Monday Meanderings, Movies, News, Video Games  No Responses »
May 142012
 

Monday Meanderings hopes to break up the Monday Morning Monotony by bringing you a quick run-down on notable things occurring in the various geek sub-cultures at large.

The Battle of Blood and Ink: A Fable of the Flying City
One of the original members of The Yachting Club has done something many of us dream about. He’s written a graphic novel and this past week it was published! With illustrations by Steve Walker this graphic novel details the adventures of Ashe, a streetwise girl raised in the flying city of Amperstam, as she uncovers the secrets of the city while evading those that would seek to stop here. See our article on it here.

Diablo III
Tomorrow Blizzard releases a game that has been twelve years in the making. I could probably write an entire article about the history of Diablo 3’s development (and maybe I will) but for right now I think it’s best to focus on the present. Starting at 11:01am EST today folks whom have digitally pre-ordered will finally be able to install and troubleshoot their games. At 3:01am tomorrow (May 15th) the servers will open up and folks will finally be able to buy the boxed copies and log in to Sanctuary to square off against the forces of the Burning Hells once more. I got to play the Beta briefly and I am very excited 🙂

The Avengers
Congratulations are in order for the Avengers for joining the Billion Dollar Movie Club. They broke a new record this weekend for having the highest grossing second weekend ever with $103 million, which was enough to also catapult them over $1 billion worldwide; A feat that has only ever been accomplished by eleven other movies in history. Marvel has certainly spent a lot of money and a lot of time ramping up to this film and to me it’s nice to see it all pay off in the end. So congratulations once again to The Avengers 🙂

Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows premiered this past weekend with a gross of $28.8 million dollars ($65.5 million worldwide). Reviews have been mixed to negative with some people loving it and slightly more feeling quite disappointed. Most agree the acting and character backgrounds were great but the consistency and direction of the story are haphazard as if the movie couldn’t quite make up its mind on what kind of movie it wanted to be. Regardless, if you’re a Johnny Depp or Tim Burton fan you may want to see the movie just based on visuals, but unless you’re a die hard there’s probably no harm in waiting until the DVD/Netflix release.

Also to the right side of the page is a list of upcoming events and releases. If you know of something geeky and noteworthy that should belong there or have a suggestion for something to post on Monday Meanderings please let us know!

From where Dark Shadows Rise

 Movies, TV  No Responses »
May 012012
 

On May 11th the latest cinematic strip of Tim Burton’s imagination will premiere in the form of Dark Shadows. Those of my generation are quite familiar with the dark comedic works of Tim Burton, but we might not be fully familiar with the original basis for this next film. Yet it is so noteworthy that we can not pass up the chance to mention it.


The original Dark Shadows was a Soap Opera that spanned 1,225 episodes between 1966 to 1971. It possessed a gothic and supernatural theme including Ghosts, Vampires, Witches, Werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. It also included elements of Time Travel and Dimensional Shifting.

Set in the fictional town of Collinsport Maine the show centered on the character of Victoria Winters, an orphan researching her past, and the Collins Family for whom the town was named. Sagging ratings by the end of the first year led to the introduction of Barnabas Collins, a vampire cursed to undeath by a spurned witch with whom he’d had an affair (this is a soap opera after all). He was intended to be a temporary antagonist on the show for no more than 13 weeks, following a very Dracula-like path of killing people and seeking to turn one of the characters in to his perfect wife in the likeness of a lost love. The character was so wildly popular with fans however that his role was extended and eventually he became a central character with a far more protagonist position. Though his many foibles would prevent him from ever being the true hero of the series, his remarkable presence on screen solidified him as the most memorable and beloved character of the show even decades after its cancellation.

The new movie draws upon many of the original themes of the series, including being centered around the Collins family and their many troubled lives. Barnabas returns as the central character and mostly a protagonist, seeking to resolve the many troubles facing his descendants. Being a Tim Burton directed film it should come as no surprise that Johnny Depp is portraying the role of Barnabas Collins. Depp stated that in his early youth he had dreamed of portraying the character of Barnabas Collins, and he was excited with the opportunity to finally do so on screen.

Dark Shadows the Movie will premiere on May 11th and if you’re a fan of either the original series, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, or just gothic camp classics in general then we highly recommend seeing it. Feel free to send us a review if you do 🙂

Want to know more about the original show?
Want to know more about the new movie?

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