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Game On for ‘Game Over’

August 27, 2012
Cool Interviews with Cool People, General Geeky News
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Every second Tuesday of the month you may hear the unmistakable high-pitched sound of Mario squeaking “let’s go”, or Pikachu’s “Pika, Pika” emanating from a bar in Downtown Boston. You may hear somebody shout, “I don’t rub salt in wounds. I use sulfur”. You may wonder what the hell is going on. The answer is…. Game Over

Described as a night for gamers by gamers, Game Over is one of the nerdiest events taking place on the East Coast of the US. Scott Trano is the man responsible for organizing the bi-monthly event which takes place in Good Bar, Boston and is aimed at gamers of all descriptions.

Scott is also the organizer of Boston’s annual Zombie March now in it’s ninth year. The affable Seth Rogen sound-alike is impossible not to like and his energy for the projects he organises is contagious.

Scott took a few minutes to sit down and tell us about his latest venture; Game Over

What is Game Over?

Game Over is… interesting! It’s kind of an amalgamation of a hodge-podge/melting pot of a lot of things, pretty much everything nerdy! Everything short of sitting down and watching old Dr. Who episodes! We have Magic: The Gathering, old Nintendo Games, Xboxes, Dungeon and Dragons games, tabletop games, card games and pretty much everything that a nerd could hope for I guess!

What made you start Game Over?

So I manage another nerdy event called Barcraft where people watch live streams of StarCraft 2 tournaments and the manager of the bar that we do that at – he’s a big Magic: The Gathering player. So he proposed that we run Magic tournaments at the same time [as Barcraft] and I thought how cool it would be if we could mesh that in somehow. But Barcraft takes up the whole bar, so that wasn’t really an option.

Then I found out that Tuesday nights were free at the bar because a long-running event had ceased operation and I thought why don’t we give this [Game Over] a shot. I wanted to create something that wasn’t just for Magic: The Gathering players but incorporated lots of other games too.  So we bought a bunch of N64’s, new games, and we just let it ride and about 120 people showed up on the first night.

So what’s the plan for the future?

I’m going to keep doing it for as long as people keep showing up. The thing about Boston is that we’re pretty much the biggest college town in the States so at the moment we lose 75-85,000 people when the semester ends and we’re not seeing the numbers that we would normally see if the kids were in town.

Once they get back we’re hoping to see much better numbers and hopefully we can do it weekly instead of every other week. That would be awesome!

Game Over is 18+ and takes place the first and third Tuesday of every month at 6pm in Good Life Bar. You can follow Game Over on Facebook or Twitter for updates.

BAD KIDS GO TO HELL FILM REVIEW

July 23, 2012
General Geeky News, SDCC 2012, Uncategorized
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Imagine you’ve been called in on a Saturday of all days for detention with a whole bunch of different archetypal characters! Sounds like a coming of age John Hughes film right? In actual fact, Bad Kids Go To Hell bypasses the schmaltzy path and goes straight for the gory bloodbath option. Six students from Crestview Academy begin to meet horrible fates as they serve out their detentions on a stormy Saturday afternoon.

Bad Kids Go To Hell has a tight, ensemble cast with some young, up-and-coming stars. Amanda Alch plays Megan, the know-it-all geek girl, Marc Donato plays Tarek, the smart, mysterious Arab guy, Augie Duke playing Veronica, the hard-core goth chick, Roger Edwards playing Craig, the popular jock, Ali Faulkner playing Tricia, the perfect, blonde coke-head and finally Cameron Deane Stewart playing the main character Matt, the new “bad boy” of the school. This ensemble cast is assisted by Farscape’s Ben Browder, who plays the bumbling school janitor and of course, Judd Nelson who ironically plays the role of Headmaster Nash.

The film opens with Matt on his way to detention on a Saturday. As the cast are introduced and taken into the creepy detention hall, the characters quickly find themselves arguing amongst themselves about whether or not the hall is haunted. A series of events takes places triggering the revelation of the secrets these “bad kids” have tried so hard to hide from one another.

The twist in film is that the horror is not in fact found in the ghosts that haunt the hall, or the sound effects or even by the fact that they have no logical way of escape from the building. The horror is actually inherent in the kids themselves.

It is evident the creators were keen to avoid many of the cliches apparent in too many horror films and haven’t taken themselves or the genre too seriously. Overall the film is well developed and has a strong storyline, it is held together particularly well by the performances of these young stars.

The music score is fantastic; clearly thought out and perfectly in tune with the theme of the movie and serves to draw the audience into action. It can however be overpowering at times and hinders our ability to connect with some of the characters on a deeper level. In terms of character development, certain nuances are easy to miss and therefore make it difficult to fully understand each individual character. From chatting to the creators, it’s evident that they do understand the motivations and compulsions of the characters but some of this understanding hasn’t transcended the final edit ensuring the ending isn’t as explosive as it might have been otherwise.

Given the great mix of humor and horror (neither of which is overdone) this film would be recommended for teenagers (probably over 15 considering the bits of gore) and twenty-something’s.

In terms of a horror film, “Bad Kids Go To Hell” was a notch above the rest. While the scenario these kids are put in might seem all too familiar, the storyline certainly is not. A mix between great acting and a great storyline makes it an engaging psychological horror.

9 Best Nerd Sites on the Interweb

June 22, 2012
Let Us Be Brief, The World of Curicon
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Never let it be said we don’t do anything for you guys! Whether you’re out of the nerd closet and proudly wear your nerdiness on your sleeve or if you have yet to let your friends know that you’d rather watch all of the Star Wars movies back-to-back than go to the latest club, we’ve compiled a list of the best websites to keep you on top of nerdy/geek current affairs. Consider this your ultimate nerd news channel. You’re welcome.

Comic Booked

In terms of comic book review, Comic Booked is right up there with the best of them. Don’t be fooled by the name – they’re not just comic book readers but podcasters, gamers and massive toy fans too. They have a huge team of incredible nerds led by Jordan DesJardins. They rock. And you should rock with them too. There’s nothing more to say. Check them out at www.comicbooked.com

MTV Geek

An offshoot of the hugely popular MTV juggernaut, MTV Geek was launched in 2010. Some said it was thanks to the MTV name that it gained such a substantial following but in truth, nerdette extraordinaire, and comic book editor Valerie Gallaher has guided it from the beginning to the dreamy heights of success it’s reached today. Known for her pull-no-punches approach to reviewing comic books, Gallaher has curated a top-notch team of writers and contributors to cover all the latest in pop culture news, reviews, conventions and gaming.

Get thee to the Geek on http://geek-news.mtv.com/

Nerd Reactor

Featuring news and reviews on movies, video games and comics, all written in an invariably witty writing style, Nerd Reactor will make your day more interesting just for being there. It’s up-to-date, it’s topical and always has something fun/witty/interesting to say at least once a day. They also always have the most hilarious posts on Facebook. Don’t like them if your sensibilities are easily offended. Go to www.nerdreactor.com to check them out.

Nerdist

If you haven’t heard of Nerdist, get out of the room. Now.

Ok, seriously come back, we have something awesome to tell you. So, Nerdist is like a mish-mash of all of these awesome writers and podcasters who have come together to make geeky heaven. It’s truly fantastic and a great site to add to your general reading/listening. It’s also becoming a juggernaut nerd site – everything we used to listen to is gradually becoming amalgamated with Nerdist. Which is no bad thing. It just means that you have all your (soon-to-be) favorite channels in the one place. It won’t make you smarter, just nerdier. You’ll be no use in a general knowledge pub quiz but it’ll make you a happier person. Click on www.nerdist.com

Geeks are Sexy

The title tells us what we all knew already, but in case you were in any doubt there’s a picture of a very suggestive young lady sitting right next to the logo. Just in case there were any Doubting Thomas’s lurking about.

Quite aside from the ‘sexy secretary’ look which if nothing else has brightened up many a dreary day, Geek Are Sexy covers tech, science and social news. Not alone that but they cover cosplay in some detail as well as attending some conventions – Denver Comic Con being the most recent. The site evolved from a Canadian blog and while it’s mainly aimed at IT pros and Computer professionals, it’s still well worth a look even if you’re not either. Trust us! Go to http://www.geeksaresexy.net/ for more.

Kabooooom

Face it, you’ll never be able to spell the name if this site properly because there are just too many o’s. Spelling aside, we definitely insist that you check out this complete nerd-fest in all its awesomeness. It doesn’t just cover comics but anime/manga, games and toys too. They do fantastic, comprehensive reviews of all the above AND they’ll take suggestions if there’s something in particular you want them to review. What else do you want? Check them out on www.kabooooom.com

(For the record, there are 5 o’s in Kabooooom)

The Mary-Sue

Here’s one for the girls! Well not just the girls. The Mary-Sue is the ‘guide to girl geek culture’ but we definitely know a few guys who have been known to peruse the plethora of nerdy goodness found on its pages. To be frank, The Mary Sue can be absolutely hilarious.  It’s essentially a site with tonnes of really cool, funny, intelligent writers including Jill Pantozzi. Whether you’re a guy or a gal or you’re just not sure, get over to the The Mary-Sue at http://www.themarysue.com/

This isn’t a definitive list by any means. Tell us what you think. Start a discussion here and let us know what you think are the best nerd websites. We undoubtedly missed some awesome ones from the list above. There could potentially be a list of the top 100 but really, who has the time?? Let us know what you think.

With as much nerd love as possible. <3

Kerrie & the Curicon Team

Hey Dollface!!

May 29, 2012
Uncategorized
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As regular readers will know, we don’t often do an entire blog on any one company but we had to tell you about Makie Lab for the sheer awesomeness of what they’re doing.

Any of you doll collectors are going to be so excited when we tell you the latest! Makie.me is a 3D digital printing start up where you can design your own dolls, order accessories for them and then order them at the click of a button. The design of your dolls doesn’t just stop at the types of accessories you can choose from but you can literally choose minute details such as types of eyebrows, eye colour, types of hands and ears. They’re amazing.

The 10 inch poseable action dolls are unlike anything we have ever seen before. Aside from the fact that they’re eco-friendly and are made from bio-plastic, a really cool feature is that the dolls are designed to fit a Lilypad Arduino so while they can’t talk just yet, you could potentially try your hand at fittin LEDs, RFIDs and battery packs, voicechips, Bluetooth and Arduino. Cool right?

Yes, they’re very white and have been likened to zombies but they’re adorable! They’re really cool and as avid doll collectors, we think these are the next big things.

Here’s one Kerrie made (of herself)

and which she has now made her Curicon profile picture. There’s an uncanny likeness! Here’s the cold hard evidence;

It’s really great to see somebody doing something so different in the toy industry. You can sign up for your Makie account here. Just look for this sign

Are we missing anything else? Is there anything that’s not on the Curicon website that you think should be there? Let us know through Twitter, Facebook or Email.

A new era in collectables

April 5, 2012
The World of Curicon
4 Comments

aka The Legend of Matt, the Magical Collector Imp

About us you ask? Well, we’re just a bunch of nerds who are fanatical about collecting. We love pop art, pop culture, comic books, gaming, KidRobot, Manga, etc. We’re not very old however some of us recall with fondness the days when you had to get off the phone to use the internet . Others among us remember the pre-Napster days of recording our favourite songs from the radio onto a tape recorder while willing the DJ not to talk over the track. The younger ones among us think that books are ‘retro’.

 This is a blog. A very sparse one as yet but we hope to rectify that soon-ish. This blog is here, mainly as a distraction from important work we should be doing, but also as a means of logging our quest to take over the world. Or at the very least conquer a significant portion of it. A ‘Dear Diary’ if you will…

Let me tell you a story. Not that long ago, on a sunny island on the Northern Beaches lived a little collector imp. We’ll call him Matt. Matt lived down by the creek with an impressive collection of hats. He had collected hats from all over the world and when he was feeling whimsical, he would wear two at the one time. He could be crazy like that.

Living with Matt at the Creek were three other collector imps; John, Glenn and, because no tale would be complete without a lovely heroine, there was a beautiful dark-haired impette called Aimee.

Matt liked to collect things, like comic books. Nothing made Matt  happier than to go to all the different markets out there and find his favourite comics. Aimee would go along and add to her collection of KidRobots, Glenn had a thing for metal and John, being the quintessential impettes-man would come along and charm the collector impettes.

The three friends found that sometimes it was easy to find what they were looking for but often, it was nigh on impossible. They would meet other collector imps who would empathise with them that it was so difficult to find anything you needed. But nobody seemed to have a solution to the problem. It seemed like it was getting more and more difficult to find anything for your collection. Why was it so difficult? It was a conundrum. Even Glenn was finding it difficult to add little bits of metal to his pile.

Matt felt sure that the problem wasn’t that there weren’t any collectables but that they were so scattered across all the different markets in the world, that they were proving impossible to find. Being an industrious little imp, and a hard-core collector, Matt made it his business to find a solution to the problem so that he and his friends could complete their collections and live happily ever after. He decided that, as with all epic tales involving a search, this one required a long walk.

He set off from the creek early one morning, bringing with him his collection of hats, a rare copy of Spiderman #1 and an unnamed energy drink so that he would have enough stamina to fulfil his quest. He traversed mountain-y terrain, swam through treacherous rivers and fought off fearsome chihuahuas  who mistook him for a postman. He traveled until it got dark and his energy fuel had run out. At this stage, he was a long way from home and it would be foolhardy to try to get back to the creek under cover of darkness. He was also not any closer to finding an answer to the interminable problem; where can collectors collect? He decided that he should rest for the night and so, finding a warm cave he settled down for the night on some dry leaves to read his Spiderman comic.

It was dry and warm in the cave and Matt was just becoming really sleepy when he heard the faint sounds of the Super Mario theme song. Rising from his make-shift in bed in some trepidation, Matt moved slowly further into the cave. He carefully felt his way over large boulders, ducked his head to avoid crashing into the bats who lived in the cave and followed the distinctive digital bleeps of the 1990′s video game. As he reached what felt like the back of the cave, he lost his footing, stumbled and fell headlong into a colossal pit.

Once he had regained consciousness, and his eyes had become accustomed to the gloom, Matt realised that he was lying on a treasure trove of collectables including Action Figures, KidRobot, Comic Books, Manga, Games Consoles, Video Games (including the aforementioned Super Mario game), Vinyl Toys, Plush Toys, LEGO, Posters, DVDs, Digital Pets and much more. It was every collectors dream but…it was also anarchy. Aside from being quite the comic book connoisseur and avid hat fanatic, Matt is quite an organised individual. So he had a thought; why not organise all of these collectables so that they are in their own categories and make it a place where all his collector friends could hang out, make new friends, swap/share/sell their items, get advice from other collectors and generally, you know, collect.

His exhaustion forgotten he leaped up, scrambled out of the cave and ran as fast as his little imp legs would carry him back to the creek, where fellow imps John, Glenn and Aimee were waiting for him. Breathlessly, Matt described his adventure, leaving out the bit about the chihuahua in case anybody judged him, and told them a tale of a wonderful cave filled with everything they had ever dreamed of. He began to describe his vision of a world where people could come together and share their passion and feel part of something amazing.

Needing no further encouragement, the other three immediately agreed to help Matt organise, collect, sort, file, and make awesome the new place for all of their friends.  They gathered their stuff and started on the long road back.

On their way back to the cave, they came across a wandering impette at the side of the road. She spoke with an Irish accent and had hair whiter than the sun (natural, of course). They first had to ascertain that she wasn’t in fact a leprechaun (because leprechauns are renowned for their trickiness and would be no help in creating this awesome community). She explained to them in her thick Irish accent that she was lost and looking for somewhere to call home. In an effort to stop her talking so much, the three friends told her about their magical cave and brought her along on their adventure.

They called it Curicon. It is a place of magical adventure, a place for collectors to call home and somewhere where everybody is welcome to hang out.

Other collector imps heard about this wonderful place and turned up with wagon-loads of their individual collections, looking for a place to meet other imps. Now Matt, Aimee, John, Glenn and Kerrie are busy at work creating the world of Curicon. It’s a fun and happy place where nobody is ever sad and nobody has really grown up.  Come join us on our adventure at www.curicon.com

THE END

(NOT REALLY – THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING)

P.S: We’re creative, not delusional. Some of this blog constitutes substantial creative license on our part. Except the part about the hats. Matt quite likes those. So feel free to send him some :)

PPs: That awesome cartoon of Matt is by the lovely Leilani Krenn. You can check her art out at http://lazerkitteh3000.deviantart.com/


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