Second Geekhood

Monthly Archives: May 2015

Liv and let Liv Unliv

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iZombie - LivHold on there, Geekateers!  How can we let Zombie Awareness Month go by without mentioning my favorite, and the cutest, of all zombies, Olivia “Liv” Moore from the CW’s iZombie?  Death is not the handicap it use to be, but it does force Liv to leave a promising medical career to get a job in the King County morgue.  There, she can get all the brains she can eat while her boss and only confidant, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, tries to find a cure for her zombieness.

Liv is a good zombie, the same way Angel was a good vampire.  When she eats a murder victim’s brain, she gets visions of their lives.  She uses these visions as clues to figure out how the victim was murdered.  She then shares these visions with Detective Clive Babineaux, who doesn’t know she’s a zombie, but thinks she’s a psychic.  She also takes on traits of the person whose brain she eats.  This is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

There are other pitfalls to being a zombie as well: when she became one, she broke off her engagement to Major Lilywhite.  She still loves Major, but she doesn’t want to infect him and turn him into a zombie…and she hasn’t told him about what she is.  Between you and me? If I was Major, I’d undie for her.

Of course, just like there are good zombies, such as Liv, there are also bad zombies. One such animal is Blaine “The Candy Man” Debeers, who kills homeless teens and sells their brains to other zombies. With only two episodes left to go, a big showdown is about to happen…and I can’t wait!

I’m not into this whole zombie thing, but I do enjoy this show, which has been renewed for a second season. If you would like to learn more about the zombie lifestyle–or just more about iZombie, check out Wikipedia for more information.

The AFOL Husband

GEEK RANT – Discovery Family, I love and hate you!

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Discovery Family Rant on My Little Pony at Second GeekhoodIt’s Saturday, May the 30th, and Discovery Family played both Equestria Girl movies AND the prequel shorts to Equestria Girl:  Rainbow Rocks.  For those of you who don’t have the Rainbow Rocks DVD, these shorts are the extras.  They can also be seen on the Hasbro YouTube Channel.  Six of the shorts show how each of the six girls playing their chosen instruments, or how they came to play them.  It also shows how they “pony out” when they play, which is sort of like a magical girl transformation sequence in anime.  One of these is an original music video of the song, “Shake Your Tail” from the movie.  The last two are original songs and videos not in the movie, so these shorts are well worth watching if you are an Equestria Girl fan. It’s like a bonus twenty two minutes…and that’s why I love you, Discovery Family!

And now, why I hate you.

Do you not view what you are airing?  I know you’re not directly owned by Hasbro anymore, but do you not understand dramatic story structure?  You aired Rainbow Rocks, but cut off the last song and replaced it with minimized, generic credits in the background of a programming promo piece.  I know this is commonly done to save airtime, and that most people don’t care about the credits.  However, most movies replay songs from earlier in the movie over a plain background, and this is not how the pony movies work.  The closing song, “Shine Like Rainbows,” is an original piece with original animation, and the last bit after the credits is VERY important.  I won’t spoil anything, but not showing it is like walking out of an AVENGERS movie and not staying to the very end. Serious Marvel fans know what I mean.

This may seem trivial to some…allow me to explain to you why this hack and slash job is a sin deserving of you having your life energy sucked out of you by three sirens from another world.

Most people assume that, because it’s a pony movie, Twilight Sparkle is the star, that it’s her movie…only it’s not!  Yes, she has problems to deal with.  She has to learn that she doesn’t always have to have all the answers. In the end, however, it’s really Sunset Shimmer’s movie.  She’s the protagonist.

starlight glimmer and the rainbooms on Second Geekhood

In writing terms, the protagonist is the one who goes through change.  More than one character in a story can go through changes, but the protagonist is the one who goes through the biggest, life-altering change.  You will recall that in the first movie, Sunset Shimmer is the antagonist who raises an army of hypnotized students to try to take over Equestria.  In the end, she is defeated and repents, intent on changing her ways.  In this movie, Rainbow Rocks, she is still struggling with the repercussions of her past, and the student body has not forgotten what she did, dividing friendships and setting them against each other.  The five friends who accept her: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, have formed a band, but she’s not in it.  So, even among her friends, there is still that feeling of being an outsider.   She watches her friends being torn apart by petty arguments, but doesn’t feel she has a right to say anything. In addition, she has the sirens tearing her down by reminding her of her past in much the same way she once did to Twilight when she told her, “You don’t know the first thing about fitting in.”

In the final musical battle, it’s only when she adds her voice that they are able to defeat the sirens.  When she sings, “You’re never gonna tear me down,” she finally has her magical transformation and it’s the Equestrian magic of the seven that finally defeats the sirens.

So why is the last song such a big deal?  Because it’s not an epilogue, it’s the end of her story arc.  In the end song, she is part of the band.  There is no more sense of being an outsider.  It is the defining moment that tells the audience that she, Sunset Shimmer, is part of this world’s Mane Six.  Through the end credits we see that those who once rejected her now accept her.  The Cutie Mark Crusaders pick up the book she drops and walk down the hall with her.  Bulk Biceps picks her up to retrieve Fluttershy’s bunny.  Twilight has gone home to Equestria.  This world’s magical protectors are Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, Rarity, Fluttershy, AND Sunset Shimmer.  They all shine like rainbows, just as the song says.

But, of course, we missed that today.  I know it’s there because I have the DVD, but others don’t.  There is a philosophy in the theater world that says an actor may preform the same part a thousand times, but for someone in the audience, it’s their first time.  It was someone first time seeing Rainbow Rocks today, and they missed the ending.

For those of you who did, here it is.  It’s a beautiful piece all by itself.  Enjoy.

– The AFOL Husband

Zombie Awareness Month – Part 3 of 3, The Final Foray

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The grand finale of Zombie Awareness Month! For our last foray into the realm of the reanimated, I Zombified the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Which one chills your blood the most? Let me know in the comments! I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay on the spookier side of Second Geekhood!

[tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”3″]

My Little Pony: What’s in a Name?

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My Little Pony Season 5 Starlight Shimmer cutie mark vault and staff of sameness on second geekhood

In the recent Bronies React review of the My Little Pony Season 5 premier, one of the bronies went on about how a pony’s personality seems to be tied to their cutie mark.  For example, when Pinkie Pie has her cutie mark taken away, she stops being funny and energetic.  But wait a minute, let’s analyze this a step further.  As we heard Applejack say in “Bloom and Gloom”, a cutie mark reflects what’s inside you.  So can what’s inside you be taken away as well?  But then that begs the question, how did what’s inside you get inside you?  A cutie mark may show what you are meant to do, but, perhaps, the real question is how much power does the name given you have?

Think about it.  AJ’s parents named their first two kids Macintosh and Apple Jack – and they end up with apples on their plots.  And we’re all expecting the same for Apple Bloom.  Two other ponies named their daughter Fluttershy. She flutters (as opposed to high-speed flying like Rainbow Dash) and is shy.   Rainbow Dash dashes around in the sky.  Rarity has gems on her plot, which are rare and beautiful, which segways  into fashion.  So do cutie marks really show their destiny, or was their destiny set by what their parents named them?

And if that is the case, are pony parents aware of what they are doing?  Do they set their foals destiny on purpose?  Did AJ’s parents (when they we still around) name their three kids Macintosh, Apple Jack and Apple Bloom so they would always stay on the farm to run it?  Did the Cakes name their kids Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake so some day they would take over Sugar Cube Corner?  Did Fluttershy’s parents want her to be shy?  Why would they want that?

Which makes you wonder, what were some parents thinking?  Snips and Snails?  Did Snips’ parents want…what, a barber in the family?  And Snails…did his parents want him to be slow?  Did Filthy Rich name his daughter Diamond Tiara so she would be a snooty prima donna?  Was Trixie destined to a life of low-level magic that would amount to no more than some parlor tricks?  No wonder she doesn’t like Twilight.  She must be as jealous as Tartarus.  And if this line of thinking is correct, aren’t you just asking for trouble if you name your twin sons Flim and Flam?

And then there’s Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer.  Is there something inherently magical about a “sparkly” name?  Can you give you foal a name like this if they are not a unicorn?  Or will the name police come down from Canterlot and arrest you while you’re filling out the birth certificate?

Is this all some cultural phenomena that nopony is even aware of, or is it a deep, dark secret that no pony speaks of?  I don’t have the answer.  But if I were a pony living in Equestria, I’d stay away from any pony named Kill Joy, Buzz Kill, World Wrecker or Sun Snuffer.

~The AFOL Husband

Geek Cred: What Is It, And How Do You Get It?

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Geek Pride at Second GeekhoodHow many episodes of MY LITTLE PONY are on your DVR? Where were you when THOR 2: THE DARK WORLD premiered? How many video games, sonic screwdrivers, or original props from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION do you own? In a world where ‘geek is chic,’ the debate never ends when it comes to proving your mettle as a true geek or nerd. It even extends to more serious subjects such as feminism, where the accusation of being a ‘fake geek girl’ has become a gatekeeping insult from male geeks to females of the species.

Gender equality, however, is not what I’m discussing here today. I’m speaking to the people out there that are geeks after my own heart. I’m talking to the MCU fans that have never picked up a comic book. I’m talking to the STAR TREK nerds that are just discovering the original series thanks to the thrilling scripts and epic lens flares of JJ Abrams. I’m here to talk to the gamers who, like me, are playing DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS for the first time and helplessly romancing Alistair for the 19th time while the rest of the geek world has devolved into a DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION-inspired Cullenmancing trash party.

To the neophytes of the geek world, little fishes standing in awe of those who have seen STAR WARS a hundred and twenty nine times, who gawk at the sages that own an actual Vulcan lute, who dream of being as geeky as the folks that have been given fashion advice by Catwoman herself, Julie Newmar, I say to you: there is a way to earn your stripes. In a world full of those who were there when fandom life began, long before the advent of Tumblr and AO3, there is a way to find your place among the big shots.

Seven words is all it takes…say them with me…

“I’m a geek…and proud of it!”

BGeek Cred - All it takes is pride! (courtesy of starburstmagazine.com)eing a nerd may be cool these days, but none of us are in it to be cool…that’s the point of being a geek! We capslock in forums and squeal in the presence of friends because we all have one thing in common: we are giant, hopeless, vibrating masses of bone, tissue, and passion. We love what we love because there are geniuses among us with ideas so vibrant and gorgeous and just plain crazy that we can’t help but be enchanted! They thrill us, amuse us, and when we’re very lucky, they inspire us to go out and do something just as vibrant, just as gorgeous…and probably just as plain crazy.

The proof? It’s not just in this story, it’s in the very existence of this website! Every example here is based on a real person. The “Cullenmancing trash party?” That would be my best friend, whom you can find on Tumblr under that very username. The legend with Star Trek props and a Vulcan lute? That would be Krypton Radio founder, Gene Turnbow.

And the woman who saw STAR WARS a hundred and twenty nine times? Well, she’s the reason for the season–I mean, the website. Now in the happy throes of her Second Geekhood, if you listen very closely, you can just about hear the sounds of a TimeSiren arming her light saber and squeeing at the words that now have every fan’s heart going pitter-pat: “Chewie? We’re home.”

They’re all geeks, every last one of them, and that’s just three of the people I have described in this article…but it’s not the video game hours, or the movie viewings or the props that make them what they are. Once upon a time, they were all the same as me, just getting their footing as they entered their first geekhood. They hadn’t done anything cool, or acquired any precious relics back then. They began life as geeks with those same seven words, and that is what made them what they are.

So, as I publish my first story on this site? I’m going to make my own Second Geekhood official by showing off a little of my geek cred.

I’m a geek, and proud of it!