Last week was another busy one here at the Geekly Factory. First up, we were interviewed for AnotherPassion.com, a blog “created to inspire and motivate creative professionals and those seeking to make a living following their passion”. We were incredibly flattered, not only to be thought of as worth interviewing but also to be associated even peripherally with the words “creative” and “professional”. In addition to being a top notch blogger Rasmus Rasmussen, the man behind Another Passion, is an accomplished photographer and snapped a few pictures of us to accompany the interview. Check it out at AnotherPassion.com.

On Sunday we hit up Mourning Market and ran into a number of goth friends and other superbowl-dodgers including Dmitri from Tormented Artifacts who clued us in on his latest creation; steampunk playing cards. The art on the cards is amazing and I just wanted to share the coolness.

There is a lot of local/follow-up news as well before we get into the official roundup.

Alert listeners will remember our interview with Leo from Geeky Cookies in Episode #47. At the time of the interview the Geeky Cookies website was undergoing a major revamp and was down. It is now all done and available to handle all your sugary snack needs. OMNOMNOM!

Next in the follow-up section, way back in Episode #21 we talked about chiptuners I Fight Dragons as part of our Geek Music 2 show. The big news from them is that they have been signed to a major label! They will be recording and releasing their first full length album for Photo Finish / Atlantic Records and playing live shows around the country as part of the MTV “Too Fast For Love” tour.

Finally, some news for those going to Emerald City ComiCon who want to get something signed by Stan Lee. Obviously Stan Lee is going to be a huge draw, he is only at the convention for Saturday and only doing one autograph session so to help regulate the crowd the con is going to require tickets to get items signed. Here is the word, straight from the ECCC website –

Autograph ticket for Stan Lee’s SATURDAY ONLY signing are now on sale through Brown Paper Tickets. Tickets are $40.00 and each ticket entitles you to one (1) autograph from Stan “The Man” Lee – there is a limit of three (3) tickets per person. Here is the direct link:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98792

After purchase, you will be e-mailed a confirmation and ticket number. Print this out and bring it along with your matching photo ID to booth #1105 and there you will receive your on-site autograph ticket.

You will be assigned a time slot for signing – this time will be e-mailed to you in advance so you can plan ahead and know when to show up for your autographs. You can show up for later signings, but not earlier ones, and your ticket will still be honored. This ensures that there is a set number of people per signing and everyone gets a chance to get their items signed in an orderly fashion. There will be no photos available during the signing times, there will be a separate photo opportunity with Stan Lee at the show.

All information will be e-mailed by March 7th.

Monday News is under the fold

Boardgames

• Boardgame News has a few details on a future expansion coming for the wildly popular Dominion to be titled Dominion: Alchemy. Dominion: Alchemy will include 12 new Kingdom cards (instead of the 25/26 in the previous releases), along with a new type of Treasury card called “Potion”. The box will include 16 Potions, all of which will be on the table available for purchase no matter how many players are in the game. The official announcement of the expansion is expected at Toy Fair Nuremberg which starts tomorrow.

Books

• Author K.W. Jeter, who coined the word “steampunk”, has signed with publisher Angry Robot, a division of Harper Collins. The short term results of the signing will be the re-release of Jeter’s book Infernal Devices, generally credited with starting the steampunk genre, which has been out of print since the early ’80s. Angry Robot will also be re-releasing Jeter’s Morlock Night, described as “a wild sequel to Wells’ The Time Machine“. Both are planned to be out in the U.S. in December of this year.

Comics

• Shannon Wheeler, creator of Too Much Coffee Man, has a new book from BOOM! Studios. Official press release below:
  

  BOOM! Town, a new imprint of BOOM! Studios, announced today I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE FUNNIER, a collection of rejected cartoons submitted to The New Yorker by cartoonist Shannon Wheeler.

  “This is some of the best work I’ve ever done,” says Wheeler.

  Please note, Wheeler has also had many cartoons accepted by The New Yorker.

  I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE FUNNIER comes in a 8.75” x 8.75” softcover format, priced at $19.99.

  You can also find Shannon Wheeler’s work on her occasional webcomic How to Be Happy

Movies

• There are not one, but two documentaries on the horizon that may be of interest to the geek community. First, premiering South by Southwest next month, The People vs George Lucas “a no-holds-barred cultural examination of the conflicted dynamic between George Lucas and his fans over the past three decades” featuring interviews with Lucas supporters such as David “Darth Vader” Prowse and detractors like, well, just about anyone who saw The Phantom Menace.

  

• Next, premiering at ComiCon in San Diego, a new documentary from director Jeffrey Blitz and producer Sean Welch on the history of DC Comics. Blitz and Welch are the team behind the 2002 documentary Spellbound about eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee.

TV

• In what has the potential to be one of the coolest guest-writer spots of all time, British science fiction magazine SFX has confirmed that Neil Gaiman has written an episode of Dr. Who. Unfortunately the episode will not be airing until sometime next year “NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that”. No further details were available.

Has it been a year already? Why, yes it has! This week we celebrate the anniversary of the Seattle Geekly podcast with e-mails and voice mails from some of our amazing friends and listeners, plus we interview Len Wein, one of our Geek Heroes and co-creator of Marvel Comics’ Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler, DC’s Swamp Thing, editor for Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons on Watchmen and innumerable other accomplishments. We also have our first impressions of Star Trek Online and an interview with Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated curator Mike Schneider.

And, as always, we have the weekly Geek News and geek events in the Seattle area.

Our Geek Week

• Listening to the audio book of Lamentation by Ken Scholes
• Reading Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (who is the Guest of Honor at this year’s Norwescon!)
• Watched the finale of Dollhouse
• Went to Nerdcore Night at the Blue Moon with Billy the Fridge and Death*Star.
• Went to the Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival
  The films shown were:
  • Alma (full movie) *Second Place winner*
  • Beast of Burden (trailer only)
  • Charlie Thistle (full movie) *Third Place and Audience Choice winner*
  • Die Schneider Krankheit (trailer only)
  • Extra•Ordinary
  • S.S. Humanity (full movie)
  • Shuttle T-42
  • The Control Master (full movie) *Grand Prize winner*
  • The Kirkie (full movie)
  • To The Moon (full movie)
  • Afterglow (trailer only)
  • Arthur’s Lore (full movie available in the spinny menu)
  • Burden (trailer only)
  • CC2010 (full movie)
  • Elder Sign (full movie)
  • Hands Off
  • Hangar No. 5 (full movie) *Douglas Trumbull Award for Best Special Effects*
  • Nanosporin AI (full movie)
  • Singularity
  • Third Day’s Child
• Watched Caprica
• Watched Moon
  

• Played Star Trek Online
  Ogou, Matt’s Human Science Officer and Xandia, Shannon’s Trill Tactical Officer
  

One Year Madness

Thanks so much to Gamewatcher and GrrlGotGame, Jim Krieg, Gary Brantner, Rob Welch, “Bonehand” Steve, Brother D, Geek Girl Kristin, Brenda Cooper, C0splay and MC-3PO, David Wu, Dr. Vern and all the listeners who wrote or called to wish us well.

Let it be said no more that geeks are anti-social! There is an amazing community out there and we are delighted to be a small part of it.

Geek Hero Interview: Len Wein

Best known for co-creating DC Comics’ Swamp Thing, Marvel Comics’ Wolverine and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons’ influential DC miniseries Watchmen.

Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 2009, former X-Men writer Chris Claremont said, “The history of modern comics would be incredibly different if you took [Wein's] contributions out of the mix. The fact he doesn’t get credit for it half the time is disgraceful. We owe a lot of what we are – certainly on the X-Men – to Len and to Dave [Cockrum]”
–Wikipedia

The “New X-Men” that Len Wein helped to create in Giant Size X-Men #1 was the X-Men team that we grew up with and were a big part of why Matt started and continued reading comics. Having the opportunity to talk to people like this is one of the biggest benefits of putting in all the work we do for the Podcast. Thanks to Caite in Olympia who helped to facilitate us getting the interview and, of course, huge thanks to Len for taking the time to talk with us.

Dare Shannon to Watch a Bad Movie

This week’s movie was Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li trailer

Next week’s movie will be Pathfinder (2007)

News

• Night Of the Living Dead: Reanimated returns to Seattle! The film will be playing February 12 – 21 at the Grand Illusion Cinema 1403 NE 50th St, Seattle
  

• The 82nd Academy Award Nominations were announced this week. Get your predictions ready and print out a copy of the Seattle Geekly Awards Show Drinking Game. The awards will be given out Sunday March 7 and the ceremonies are going to be broadcast on ABC.
• A PS3 version of the bestselling Settlers of Catan board game is headed for North America

Events

Conventions
• February 5 – 7, 2010 – Gotta Con – Victoria, BC Canada
• February 6 – 8, 2010 – BeyondCon – Gig Harbor, WA
• February 12 – 14, 2010 – RadCon 5B – Pasco, WA
• February 19 – 21, 2010 – Tsukino-Con – Victoria, BC Canada
• February 20, 2010 – Chibi Chibi Con – Olympia, WA

Events

• February 5 – February 15, 2010 SIFF Cinema 321 Mercer Street, Seattle – Akira Kurosawa Screenings. SIFF presents five films from one of the world’s great masters—Akira Kurosawa—in beautiful 35mm prints from Janus Films. Films showing are Stray Dog (1949), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), The Hidden Fortress (1958), High and Low (1963), The Seven Samurai (1954). See the SIFF site for details.
• February 5 – 6 midnight, 2010 Egyptian Theater 805 East Pine Street, Seattle Midnight Movies: The Evil Dead – See a director’s print of the uncut version! Not to be missed!
• February 6, 2010 1pm Seattle Public Library Central Branch 1000 4th Ave, Seattle – George Clayton Johnson. Join legendary Twilight Zone writer George Clayton Johnson to discuss his career as an award-winning science fiction author, screenplay writer and director. This event will be moderated by local science fiction and fantasy author Greg Bear.
• February 6, 2010 1pm Borders Books Redmond 7525 166th Ave NE, Redmond – Lee Fodi. YA fantasy author Lee Fodi reads and signs his latest book Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers.
• February 6 – March 6, 2010 Odd Duck Studio 1214 10th Ave – Seattle – I Still Won’t Be Ignored. Blood Squad presents fully improvised shows live onstage in the style of horror films based on a made-up title from the audience. For this run they will perform in the “bunny boiler” genre. Your wife is out of town, your marriage hasn’t exactly been paradise. And then, after some heavy drinking and solemn reflection about who you are as a couple, a super hot chick comes out of nowhere for a night of crazy sexy time. It’s just one night…or so you think. Who’s leaving strange messages on your wife’s phone? What about that strange woman who visited your daughter at school? Why are those closest to you….dying. If that crazy bitch can’t have you, then no one can…and she won’t be ignored!
• February 7, 2010 1pm University Bookstore 4326 University Way NE, Seattle – Connie Willis. Connie Willis reads and signs her latest book Blackout.
• February 12, 2010 7pm University Bookstore 4326 University Way NE, Seattle – Walter Jon Williams. Nebula Award winning author Walter Jon Williams reads and signs his latest book This Is Not a Game
• February 12 – 14, 2010 Market Theater 1428 Post Alley, Seattle – Comedy Of Love. Unexpected Productions presents Comedy Of Love, an improv show that pokes fun at relationships, sex, babies, marriage, blind dates, and everything else love plays a part in! As a special twist, all the improvisors are real life couples! Shows February 12 – 13 at 8:30pm and February 14 at 7pm. Tickets are $15.

Contests

Zombie Valentine Giveaway!

We have a selection of 8 greeting cards from Monkey Minion Press including 4 valentines, 1 birthday, 1 St. Patrick’s Day card and 2 generic greeting cards. The cards are sealed individually in plastic and would make great wall-art if you didn’t want to use them as cards.

The contest runs from today until February 7 with the winner picked on February 8. We’ll ship them to you via USPS in time for Valentine’s Day!

“How do I enter?”
Please register / log in to our website, and leave a comment on THIS POST. You can just say “hi” or whatever! One entry per person please, we’ll delete any multiple or offensive posts. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when you register so we can contact you if you win!

“How will you randomly pick someone?”

We have D&D dice of all shapes and sizes, even a 100 sider! We’ll roll and see who wins!

Music

Music this week was selections from Death*Star and Kirby Krackle. Catch Death*Star live March 12 at Cafe Venus / Mars Bar and March 25 at the Skylark Cafe and look for Kirby Krackle’s second album E for Everyone coming the first week in March.

Next week’s show will be all about Geek Romance – we’ll talk to a couple of geek couples and give you hope about finding that perfect geek boy or girl for you!

Billy the Fridge (middle) and Death*Star’s Cosplay (left) and MC3PO (right)

Just a couple of quick items before the news roundup. This Friday was Nerdcore Night at the Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle featuring performances by Billy the Fridge and Death*Star. It was a really good show and an impressively large crowd. Hopefully this means that there will be more weekend nerdcore nights in the future. We also learned that Death*Star is going to be playing a set and appearing on panels at this years Norwescon! We’ll have more pictures up on our Flickr page and some video on YouTube from Friday’s show soon.

Also this weekend was the Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival put on by the EMP|SFM. We’ll be having a full rundown on this week’s podcast but the short version was that it was an incredible slate of films and we quite happily sat in the Cinerama for close to seven hours to see everything. There was also a big announcement regarding a new exhibit coming to the Science Fiction Museum in October. Details are still sketchy but the staff at the SFM is putting together what sounds like will be an absolutely amazing Battlestar Galactica collection. EMP|SFM officials told us that the exhibit will be mostly artifacts from the new series, including a full sized Colonial Viper and a full sized Cylon Raider. What makes it especially exciting is that this is not a travelling show, this is being put together by and for the SFM. The BSG exhibit is scheduled to open October 10 and you can bet we’ll be talking more about this as additional details become available.

Finally, don’t forget to tune in this Thursday for the First Anniversary Seattle Geekly Podcast! We have an interview with a really cool guest and we’d love to hear from our listeners about how you all discovered our little corner of the geekiverse. Send us an e-mail or leave us a message on our voicemail line, 206-201-2352.

Monday News is under the fold.

Books

• Amazon suddenly and without any prior warning pulled titles from publisher MacMillan from their site late last week in a dispute over the pricing of e-books. MacMillan imprints include Tor Books, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, St. Martins Press and Henry Holt. By Sunday however, Amazon reversed themselves and restored MacMillan to its catalog. Amazon posted the following announcement of their site.
  

  “We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books.”

  Tor author Brenda Cooper has a writer’s perspective on the dispute posted on her blog.

Comics

• Comics distributor Diamond has announced the winners of their 2009 Gem awards for sales in the comics and collectibles market. DC Comics dominated the awards, picking up ten including Publisher of the Year (Over 4% Market Share), 2009 Comic Book of the Year Under $3.00 for Batman & Robin #1 and 2009 Comic Book of the Year Over $3.00 for Blackest Night #1. Other notable winners included Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer which won 2009 Licensed Trade Paperback/Hard Cover of the Year and Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog DVD which won for 2009 Audio/ Visual Media of the Year. The full list of winners can be found on Diamond’s website.

Movies

• Rumors of the demise of the movie adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book are apparently greatly exaggerated. The rumors began circulating because of the recent closure of Miramax by parent company Disney. Miramax had been developing the film but according to a post on Neil Gaiman’s blog the project has been moved to another studio and “everything seems to be coming together just fine”. The movie’s new studio home has not yet been announced.

TV

• The BBC series Being Human has been renewed for a third season. Being Human centers on a Ghost, Werewolf and Vampire who become roommates in order to try to fit in with the local community and restrain their more supernatural nature. It is being written by Dr. Who/Torchwood alumnus Toby Whithouse. The first season is available now on DVD and the second season is currently airing in England.

We are always on the lookout for new, unusual or unique projects in the world of geekdom and this week we are highlighting some of the better ones we have found recently. We talk with Dane Ault from Monkey Minion Press about his zombie greeting cards, Dave Calabrese from Cerulean Games about their first game for the iPhone, playwright Alexander Harris about his new superhero themed project and we welcome back Star Trek historian Larry Nemecek who fills us in on the significance of the number 47 in the Star Trek universe.

All that plus a new giveaway contest and the weekly geek news and geek events in the Seattle area!

Our Geek Week

• Still reading The Silver Ship and the Sea books by Brenda Cooper (check out our Author Spotlight with Brenda Cooper if you haven’t already)
• Playing Heavenly Sword and Burnout Paradise on the PS3
• Watching Slayers Revolution streaming on YouTube
• Watched The Book of Eli and Legion in the theater. Mixed review. Shannon enjoyed them both, Matt not so much.
  

• Listening to the Yoda and Me podcast.

I Didn’t Know That Existed!

• Dane Ault of Monkey Minion Press
  Dane was struck down by The Funk™ and rather than cough and sneeze his way through an interview, he sent us an e-mail
  

  I have been enamoured of drawing monsters and geeky things since the tender age of 5 when I would attempt to draw the Universal Monsters faces from my mother’s Halloween Pepsi boxes. when I started middle school, I learned about comic books and my route was set. I spent the next few years drawing instead of paying attention, drawing temporary sharpie tattoos for kids in my high school, etc. Then I started college. While there I met my wife, Ashlie who has really been the driving force behind Monkey Minion Press, our illustration, design and geekery shop. Now, as Monkey Minion Press, we make all kinds of geek-related items from hand-made buttons and wallets made from actual comic books and original creations, our unique all-occasions Zombie Greeting Cards, to our upcoming Zombie book, “Zombies Next Door”

  

• Dave Calabrese from Cerulean Games
  Dave was NOT struck down by The Funk™ but sent us an e-mail anyway to talk about a couple really cool features of Cerulean’s first game Shinobi Ninja Attacks!
  

  When we were doing the interview, there was one huge and very awesome feature of the game that slipped my mind. If you take the game on your iPhone physically to a Shinobi Ninja concert, you can unlock freebies such a free music through the Shinobi Live feature in the game. Also, playing through the game will unlock other music tracks as well as music videos.

  Check out some screenshots from the game! (click to embiggen)
  
  

  And be sure to follow Cerulean Games on Twitter

  

• Leo from Geeky Cookies
  
  
  As of this posting the Geeky Cookies site is still being upgraded, but you can find them on Facebook and Twitter

  

• Alexander Harris, author of Alecto Issue #1
  
  
  Alecto Issue #1 is playing at the Annex Theatre until February 20.

  

• Larry Nemecek, author of Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion and all around guru of Trek.
  
  We can’t pretend that we didn’t know Larry Nemecek existed, but the whole story behind the number 47 in the Star Trek Universe was new to us. You can keep up with Larry on Twitter and look for him at Emerald City ComiCon in March!

  We’ll have another show like this in the future, so if you know about something geeky that isn’t well known, email us at seattlegeekly@gmail.com!

  Thanks to Dane, Dave, Leo, Alex and Larry for all of the info!

Dare Shannon to Watch a bad Movie

This week’s movie was Forbidden Zone (1982) dared by Ogre from the Stabbing Contest podcast.

If you want to dare Shannon to watch a bad movie, e-mail us at seattlegeekly@gmail.com or call us at (206)201-2352

Check our Dared Movies Page to see what is on the list and what Shannon has already watched.

Next week’s movie will be Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)

News

• Seattle Geekly T-Shirt Sale! The sale has been extended since some dork of a “web guy” broke the store widget. Well it’s working again and from today until February 28th our t-shirts will be on sale for $15 (down from $20) with free shipping to U.S. addresses!
• Lobo loses its director to a Sherlock sequel
• Clash of the Titans, Harry Potter VII to be 3-D
  

• Marvel Begins Exciting New Direction. Beginning in May 2010 with the release of AVENGERS #1, The Heroic Age ushers in a brighter Marvel Universe and a bold new era for the world’s greatest super heroes as they emerge from darkness with a renewed sense of hope and optimism, leading to the formation of all new teams with new members…and brand new characters! (But it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Disney buyout. Honest! Really!)
• Court Upholds Ban on ‘D&D’ For Wisconsin Prisoners

Geeks With Heart

A fundraiser for earthquake relief in Haiti.

Geek Girls Network’s Geeks With Heart fundraiser is still accepting donations. The fun part is that everyone that donates is automatically entered into a raffle to win some awesome prizes from Geeky Clean, a signed print from Scott Johnson, caffeinated java brownie mixes, etc! TONS of cool things for geeks and gamers. Follow the link and make a donation!

Events

• Jan 22 – Feb 20, 2010 Annex Theatre 1100 E Pike St, Seattle – Alecto, Issue #1. A troubled heroine with an incredible power discovers that the popular superhero team she’s joined has questionable notions of good and evil. Alecto, Issue #1 translates the world of comic books to the stage, mixing social satire, physical spectacle, sly comedy, and an imaginary pig. Performances Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Monday February 8 at 8pm
• January 29, 2010 9pm The Blue Moon 712 NE 45th St – Nerdcore Night at The Blue Moon. Live performances by Billy the Fridge, All Purpose and Death*Star. Tickets are $5 at the door.
• January 30, 2010 EMP|SFM 325 5th Ave N Seattle – Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival 2010. Bringing together industry professionals in both filmmaking and the genre of science fiction and fantasy to encourage and support new, creative additions to science fiction and fantasy cinema arts.
• January 31, 2010 3:30pm Key Arena 305 Harrison Street, Seattle – Rat City Rollergirls Key Arena Bout #1. The economy is still spiraling down, but the Rat City Rollergirls are here to help! The Rat City Rollergirls are having their first home bout of the 2010 season Sunday, Jan. 31 at KeyArena. All four home teams will be playing against each other in short, tournament-style bouts for their favorite charities.
• February 2, 2010 8pm The Blue Moon 712 NE 45th St – Blue Moon Double Feature Tuesday. Screening at 8:00 Big Trouble in Little China and at 10:00 The Goonies! Free admission!
• February 5 – February 15, 2010 SIFF Cinema 321 Mercer Street, Seattle – Akira Kurosawa Screenings. SIFF presents five films from one of the world’s great masters—Akira Kurosawa—in beautiful 35mm prints from Janus Films. Films showing are Stray Dog (1949), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), The Hidden Fortress (1958), High and Low (1963), The Seven Samurai (1954). See the SIFF site for details.

Contests

NEW CONTEST

We have a selection of 8 greeting cards from Monkey Minion Press including 4 valentines, 1 birthday, 1 St. Patrick’s Day card and 2 generic greeting cards. The cards are sealed individually in plastic and would make great wall-art if you didn’t want to use them as cards.

The contest runs from today until February 7 with the winner picked on February 8. We’ll ship them to you via USPS in time for Valentine’s Day!

“How do I enter?”
Please register / log in to our website, and leave a comment on THIS POST. You can just say “hi” or whatever! One entry per person please, we’ll delete any multiple or offensive posts. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when you register so we can contact you if you win!

“How will you randomly pick someone?”
We have D&D dice of all shapes and sizes, even a 100 sider! We’ll roll and see who wins!

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born Giveaway!

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With those words, millions of readers were introduced to Stephen King’s Roland – an implacable gunslinger in search of the enigmatic Dark Tower, powering his way through a dangerous land filled with ancient technology and deadly magic. Now, in a comic book personally overseen by King himself, Roland’s past is revealed! Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times bestseller Peter David, this series delves in depth into Roland’s origins – the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world; while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels. Be there for the very beginning of a modern classic of fantasy literature!
–Amazon Review

We have a BRAND NEW hardback copy of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born to give away. This volume collects the first seven issues of the comic and is a perfect way to start catching up on the series.

This contest runs from now until Sunday, January 31 and the winner will be picked Monday, February 1. We’ll ship the book to you via USPS.

“How do I enter?”
Please register / log in to our website, and leave a comment on THIS POST. You can just say “hi” or whatever! One entry per person please, we’ll delete any multiple or offensive posts. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when you register so we can contact you if you win!

“How will you randomly pick someone?”
We have D&D dice of all shapes and sizes, even a 100 sider! We’ll roll and see who wins!

Music

Music this week was Space and Time by Sci-Fried off of their album Geek Unite.

Next show: Episode #48 Seattle Geekly’s 1st Anniversary show! We have a special interview for that show! Stay Tuned!

Seattle Geekly by http://www.seattl-geekly.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

We have a selection of 8 greeting cards from Monkey Minion Press including 4 valentines, 1 birthday, 1 St. Patrick’s Day card and 2 generic greeting cards. The cards are sealed individually in plastic and would make great wall-art if you didn’t want to use them as cards.

The contest runs from today until February 7 with the winner picked on February 8. We’ll ship them to you via USPS in time for Valentine’s Day!

“How do I enter?”
Please register / log in to our website, and leave a comment on THIS POST. You can just say “hi” or whatever! One entry per person please, we’ll delete any multiple or offensive posts. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when you register so we can contact you if you win!

“How will you randomly pick someone?”
We have D&D dice of all shapes and sizes, even a 100 sider! We’ll roll and see who wins!

I am totally out of ideas for something to lead in the news post with, so I’ll just throw out a quick reminder that this week’s podcast will be another iteration of our “I Didn’t Know THAT Existed” theme in which we hope to introduce you to some geeky products, activities and trivia that you may not have known about. There is also still plenty of time to enter our The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born giveaway.

Your Monday news is under the fold

Anime

• Anime News Network is reporting that North American anime distributor Funimation has begun streaming the first four episodes of the series Slayers Revolution on YouTube dubbed in English. Slayers Revolution is the fifth TV series in the Slayers franchise which has also spawned five movies and three video games. All thirteen episodes of the fourth series are also available on YouTube.

Books

• News site SF Scope has a tiny little announcement noting that Kat Richardson has turned in the manuscript for her latest novel. The new book, Labyrinth, will be the fifth in the urban fantasy Greywalker series featuring Seattle-based supernatural private investigator Harper Blaine. If you’re an urban fantasy fan and you haven’t read this series you are seriously missing out. Pick up the books and listen to Episode #23 of our podcast for our Author Spotlight interview with Kat Richardson about the fourth Greywalker novel Vanished.

Comics

• Marvel Comics has announced that they will be publishing an adaptation of Philip K Dick’s short story “Electric Ant”. According to the press release the limited series will feature work by David Mack (Daredevil, Kabuki) and Pascal Alixe (Ultimate X-Men), along with cover artist Paul Pope (Strange Tales) and consulting editor Brian Michael Bendis (Siege, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man). Electric Ant was originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine in October 1969. It tells the story of Garson Poole who, after losing his hand in a car crash, realizes that he is an organic robot with the ability to alter the reality he perceives by changing his programming. Philip K Dick’s Electric Ant #1 will be in stores this April.

Movies

• Plenty of awards news today. Genre films and TV continue to do well in the nomination department with the release of The British Academy of Film and Television Arts slate of film nominees. Avatar, District 9 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Star Trek and Coraline all picked up nominations in various categories. Genre works actually winning awards is a different matter it seems, as both the Producers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild have given out their awards and genre films did not fare as well. The sole winner in the SAG awards was Star Trek which picked up the award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture and the PGA shut out the genre films entirely.

Video Games

• PS3 owners in the U.S. may finally be getting a version of Settlers of Catan for Playstation Network. Game developer Game Republic, which has produced Catan for the PS3 in Japan and Hong Kong, just got a rating for an English language version from the ESRB which implies an impending release in the United States. Catan has been available on XBox LIVE since 2007.

There is a lot of cool stuff on the horizon this year, including a lot of great conventions. This week we talk to three local geeks to get the scoop on just a few of the events to look forward to. We have interviews with organizers from Crypticon, Steamcon and the Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival and the Oracle of Seattle Geekly, Isaac Alexander who collects and maintains the Cascadia Events and Convention news page for the Northwest Science Fiction Society blog.

As always, we also have the weekly geek news and Seattle area geek events.

Our Geek Week

• Finished Lucifer’s Hammer on audiobook
• Reading The Silver Ship and the Sea books by Brenda Cooper (check out our Author Spotlight with Brenda Cooper if you haven’t already)
• Downloaded the Kevin Smith iPhone app
• Read Peter Pan the Vampire by Seattle Geekly listener Gary Brantner
• Downloaded the digital version of The Goon #7 (featuring Hellboy) from Dark Horse
• Played around with Google Chrome
• Played Civilization IV on the PC. 5 years old and still one of my favorites.
• Read a preview copy of Solomon Kane: Death’s Black Riders by Scott Allie and Mario Guevara
• Had our Star Trek Trivia Night. There are some very cool things on the horizon with the Trivia Nights so stay tuned!
• We are joining the ranks of the PS3-heads! Mostly wanted a blu-ray player, games will be a bonus!

2010 Geek Preview

Con Preview with Isaac Alexander
Isaac has been a friend of the Seattle Geekly podcast right from the beginning. He found us early and has provided us with invaluable help and information over the last (almost) year. Matt refers to him as the “Oracle” of Seattle Geekly because, like the DC comics character, he is “a computer expert and information broker [who provides] intelligence and computer hacking services to assist other superheroes“. Unlike Oracle, he is neither a paraplegic nor the feisty daughter of Police Commissioner Gordon and as far as we know he has never dressed up as Batgirl. He has, however, almost been eaten by a shark.

• Cascadia Conventions and Events News maintained by Isaac
• Check our Conventions Page for more convention links

Crypticon/MIFFF


• Crypticon 2010
  

• 2010 Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival

SteamCon


• SteamCon 2010 official site
• Follow SteamCon on Twitter

Dare Shannon to Watch a Bad Movie

This week’s movie was Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009)

If you want to dare Shannon to watch a bad movie, e-mail us at seattlegeekly@gmail.com or call us at (206)201-2352

Check our Dared Movies Page to see what is on the list and what Shannon has already watched.

Next week’s movie will be Forbidden Zone (1982) dared by Ogre from the Stabbing Contest podcast.

News

• Seattle Geekly T-Shirt Sale! From today until February 15th our t-shirts will be on sale for $15 (down from $20) with free shipping to U.S. addresses!
• Director Marc Webb Hired for ‘Spidey’ Reboot
• Pilot for Walking Dead TV Series Gets Official Greenlight from AMC
• A rebooted Questor could be bigger than Star Trek
• Adult Swim orders lots of ‘Chicken’

Geeks With Heart

A fundraiser for earthquake relief in Haiti.

We received this e-mail from Jess at Geeky Clean

Need help from geeks!
Hi Shannon & Matt,
GeekGirlsNetwork.com and I started a charity for fund raising for Haiti called ‘Geeks with Heart’
Our goal is $2,500!! So far we have..$300! Which is great because we started Monday morning. The fun part that no one knows about yet is that everyone that enters is automatically entered into a raffle to win some awesome prizes from Geeky Clean, a signed print from Scott Johnson, caffeinated java brownie mixes, etc! TONS of cool things for geeks and gamers. Right now we just need the word out!

–Jess Geekyclean.com

Read more about Geeks With Heart on Geek Girls Network and follow the links to make a donation.

Events

Conventions
• January 29 – 31, 2010 – Conflikt – Seattle, WA
• February 5 – 7, 2010 – Gotta Con – Victoria, BC Canada
• February 6 – 8, 2010 – BeyondCon – Gig Harbor, WA

Events

• Jan 22 – Feb 20, 2010 Annex Theatre 1100 E Pike St, Seattle – Alecto, Issue #1. A troubled heroine with an incredible power discovers that the popular superhero team she’s joined has questionable notions of good and evil. Alecto, Issue #1 translates the world of comic books to the stage, mixing social satire, physical spectacle, sly comedy, and an imaginary pig. Performances Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Monday February 8 at 8pm
• January 24, 2010 7pm Theater Off Jackson 409 7th Avenue S, Seattle – Radio8Ball with Levi Fuller and Celebrity Skype-In Guest Andy Dick. Part experimental theater, part rock and roll cabaret, part mystic mind-expansion. The Radio8Ball Show is a night of live rock and roll divination hosted by Andras Jones featuring a different live musical guest every night. In the stage show the songs are chosen by spinning a large wheel that determines which song the artist plays as the answer to the questions posed by audience members.
• January 26, 2010 7:30pm Town Hall Seattle 1119 8th Ave, Seattle – Jaron Lanier reading and signing. Computer scientist Jaron Lanier, known as the father of virtual-reality technology, was among the first to predict the revolutionary changes the World Wide Web would bring to commerce and culture. In his latest work, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, Lanier says the Web’s first designers made crucial choices (such as making one’s presence anonymous) that have had enormous—and often unintended—consequences, including elevating the “wisdom” of mobs and algorithms over the intelligence and judgment of individuals.
• January 26 7pm University Book Store 4326 University Way NE, Seattle – Robin Hobb signing. Local author Robin Hobb reads and signs her latest book Dragon Keeper: Volume One of the Rain Wilds Chronicles
• January 29 – 30, 2009 The Egyptian Theater 805 East Pine St., Seattle – Midnight Movies at The Egyptian: Ghostbusters
• January 29 – February 4, 2010 AMC Southcenter 16 3600 Southcenter Mall, Tukwila – Zombies of Mass Destruction. Your chance to see Zombies of Mass Destruction, the hilarious, politically charged zombie horror-comedy that was a hit at the Seattle International Film Festival and Revenant Film Festival last year. A must see for zombie fans! Call the theater for show times.

Contest!

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born Giveaway!

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With those words, millions of readers were introduced to Stephen King’s Roland – an implacable gunslinger in search of the enigmatic Dark Tower, powering his way through a dangerous land filled with ancient technology and deadly magic. Now, in a comic book personally overseen by King himself, Roland’s past is revealed! Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times bestseller Peter David, this series delves in depth into Roland’s origins – the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world; while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels. Be there for the very beginning of a modern classic of fantasy literature!
–Amazon Review

We have a BRAND NEW hardback copy of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born to give away. This volume collects the first seven issues of the comic and is a perfect way to start catching up on the series.

This contest runs from now until Sunday, January 31 and the winner will be picked Monday, February 1. We’ll ship the book to you via USPS.

“How do I enter?”
Please register / log in to our website, and leave a comment on THIS POST. You can just say “hi” or whatever! One entry per person please, we’ll delete any multiple or offensive posts. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when you register so we can contact you if you win!

“How will you randomly pick someone?”
We have D&D dice of all shapes and sizes, even a 100 sider! We’ll roll and see who wins!

Music

Music this week was The Future Soon by Jonathan Coulton. He and Paul & Storm will be coming to Seattle to the Moore February 26th, at 8pm. Tickets are only $23 each and still available!

Next week’s show will be “I didn’t know THAT existed #2”. Great interviews with purveyors of zombie valentines, a new iphone game, geeky cookies and more!

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With those words, millions of readers were introduced to Stephen King’s Roland – an implacable gunslinger in search of the enigmatic Dark Tower, powering his way through a dangerous land filled with ancient technology and deadly magic. Now, in a comic book personally overseen by King himself, Roland’s past is revealed! Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times bestseller Peter David, this series delves in depth into Roland’s origins – the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world; while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels. Be there for the very beginning of a modern classic of fantasy literature!
–Amazon Review

We have a BRAND NEW hardback copy of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born to give away. This volume collects the first seven issues of the comic and is a perfect way to start catching up on the series.

This contest runs from now until Sunday, January 31 and the winner will be picked Monday, February 1. We’ll ship the book to you via USPS.

“How do I enter?”
Please register / log in to our website, and leave a comment on THIS POST. You can just say “hi” or whatever! One entry per person please, we’ll delete any multiple or offensive posts. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when you register so we can contact you if you win!

“How will you randomly pick someone?”
We have D&D dice of all shapes and sizes, even a 100 sider! We’ll roll and see who wins!

If you missed our game night this month, keep an eye on our Game Night Page for next month’s date.

Before getting into the news, I wanted to pass on one quick announcement from the fine folks at Norwescon. Tickets are now on sale for the Guest of Honor Banquet which will be the Thursday of Norwescon, April 1st, from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM. Tickets are $30 and the night includes a talk by Guest of Honor Vernor Vinge, the presentation of several awards and scholarship donations, and you may win a prize! There is a PDF of the banquet registration form on the Norwescon site and of course you must be registered for the convention as well.

Credit where credit is due department: the strip at the top of the page is from one of my favorite webcomics Garfield Minus Garfield which is pretty much a must-read.

Your Monday news is under the fold

Books

• Titan Books will be publishing a collection of short stories set in the Joss Whedon’s Firefly/Serenity universe. i09 is reporting that Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica writer Jane Espenson will be writing a new 2,000-word story featuring Kaylee and Wash that will be included in the anthology. There is no word on other writers or a release date as yet.

  

• The Phillip K. Dick award nominees have been announced. The Philip K. Dick Award and Special Citation are presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States and are given out at Norwescon each year. The nominees are:
  • Bitter Angels by C. L. Anderson (Ballantine Books/Spectra)
  • The Prisoner by Carlos J. Cortes (Ballantine Books/Spectra)
  • The Repossesion Mambo by Eric Garcia (Harper)
  • The Devil’s Alphabet by Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)
  • Cyberbad Days by Ian McDonald (Pyr)
  • Centuries Ago And Very Fast by Rebecca Ore (Aqueduct Press)
  • Prophets by S. Andrew Swann (DAW Books)

Comics

• Writer Matt Fraction is bringing back the character of Kitty Pryde this March in Uncanny X-Men #522. Kitty has been missing in action since the end of Joss Whedon’s run writing Astonishing X-Men back in 2008. The folks at Marvel are so excited about it they’ve released a trailer for the event.

  

• In more Marvel news, April will see the end of all the Avengers titles currently being published. That month will mark the series finales of The New Avengers, Dark Avengers, The Mighty Avengers and Avengers: The Initiative. The Avengers line will be wrapped up with a 64-page one-shot called New Avengers: Finale by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Bryan Hitch. Comic Book Resources has a few more details.

Movies

• The Golden Globe Awards were given out last night. Winners included
  • Best Director: James Cameron for “Avatar.”
  • Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds.”
  • Best Animated Film: “Up.”
  • Best Series, Drama: “Mad Men,” AMC.
  • Best Actor, Drama: Michael C. Hall, “Dexter.”
  • Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: John Lithgow, “Dexter.”
  • Best Motion Picture Drama: “Avatar”

  The full list of winners is up at the HFPA site.

  

• Geek Tyrant is reporting that Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston has confirmed that not only will there be a 4th Jurassic Park movie but that it may possibly be the first of a brand new trilogy. The original movie came out in 1993 and spawned two sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001). According to the article the confirmed fourth movie and its proposed sequels would follow a completely different storyline than the first three.

TV

• The series finale of Fox’s Dollhouse, originally scheduled for Jan. 22, will be bumped a week to accommodate the Haiti telethon, airing on many broadcast and cable networks; “Epitaph Two: Return” will instead air on Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. In further Dollhouse news, Joss Whedon recently told Comic Book Resources that the series finale will, in fact, be the end of the Dollhouse story and that he has no plans to continue it as a comic (or anything else for that matter) as he did with Buffy the Vampire Slayer;
  

  I don’t think it’s a comic. It’s a TV show…apparently not a Fox show, but it is a TV show. There are themes in it and ideas that could work in a comic, but for me to spend the amount of time it would take keeping the comic true to what’s already out there when I’m already doing that with ‘Buffy’ would be a ridiculous waste of my time. And ultimately that would net me a piece of something that belongs to Fox. It just makes no sense to do a comic with ‘Dollhouse.’ I don’t get it, and I’m not sure I’d read it.

Video Games

• PlayFirst is celebrating five years of their casual video game franchise Diner Dash with a special edition of the latest title Diner Dash 5: BOOM! The special Collector’s Edition will include:
  • 5 Advanced levels of exclusive Diner Dash 5: BOOM! game play
  • Strategy Guide Walkthrough to reach expert level
  • Behind the Scenes Digital Art Book (sketch art and production concepts)
  • Animated Screensaver and Wallpapers
  • “Flo Over Time” Historical Retrospective

  Diner Dash 5: BOOM! The Collector’s Edition is launching February 16th on PlayFirst.com with a PC and Mac version for $19.99. The standard edition of Diner Dash 5: BOOM! for PC and Mac will launch approximately 2 weeks later on PlayFirst.com for $6.99.

We had a great time with our Star Trek trivia night at Neptune Coffee. Five teams competed, answering questions written not only by us but also from two guest contributors!

Keep an eye on our Trivia Night page to find out what is coming next month!

If you couldn’t make it this month, all the questions are under the fold. How would YOU have done in the competition?

Star Trek Trivia!

(highlight the answer line or select all text on this page to reveal the answers)

• Round 1
• Round 2
• Round 3
• Name the Species
• Name the Actor
• Name the Character

Round 1

1. When Captain Picard was turned into a Borg in the TNG episode The Best of Both Worlds parts 1 & 2, what was his Borg name?
   • Answer: Locutus
2. How many episodes did Star Trek The Original Series consist of?
   • Answer: 79
3. What quadrant of the galaxy did the wormhole near Deep Space Nine lead to?
   • Answer: Gamma
4. Deanna Troi is half human and half what other species?
   • Answer: Betazoid
5. What is Captain Picard’s drink of choice?
   • Answer: Earl Grey, hot
6. Who plays “Scotty” in the new JJ Abrams’s Star Trek movie?
   • Answer: Simon Pegg
7. Deep Space Nine was the name that the Federation gave the space station near the wormhole, what did the Cardassians originally call it?
   • Answer: Terok Nor
8. What’s the name of the no win scenario given to cadets at Starfleet Academy?
   • Answer: The Kobayashi Maru
9. Other than Vulcan and Romulus, what other major Star Trek species’ homeworld was seen in “Star Trek 2009″? (contributed by Larry Nemecek author of Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion
   • Answer: Earth
10. What was the name of Data’s cat?
    • Answer: Spot

Round 2

1. In Star Trek: First Contact, what species was the first to make contact with Earth?
   • Answer: Vulcans
2. What Beastie Boys song was playing in the Mustang that young Kirk drives in the 2009 Star Trek movie?
   • Answer: Sabotage
3. How many movies have been produced in the Star Trek Universe?
   • Answer: 11
4. What was the name of the “terrorist” group that Voyager’s Chakotay was a member of?
   • Answer: The Maquis
5. What beverage does Worf called “a warrior’s drink”?
   • Answer: Prune Juice
6. What’s the name of the Talaxian chef on Voyager?
   • Answer: Neelix
7. What is the name of the biological cycle that Vulcans go through every 7 years?
   • Answer: Pon Farr
8. Which Las Vegas hotel housed Star Trek: The Experience from January 1998 to September 2008?
   • Answer: The Las Vegas Hilton
9. Who was the only Original Series Enterprise crew member NOT included in Star Trek: The Animated Series?
   • Answer: Chekov
10. Which Star Trek series or movie does NOT have Gene Roddenberry’s name on it? (contributed by Larry Nemecek author of Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion
    • Answer: None–They ALL do

Round 3

1. What piece of sporting equipment does Deep Space 9’s Benjamin Sisko keep on his desk?
   • Answer: a baseball
2. In Star Trek: Enterprise the registry number of The Enterprise was NX-01, what was the name of the ship numbered NX-02? (contributed by Trek Cast co-host Darren Benjamin)
   • Answer: Columbia
3. What color of uniform shirt vastly increases your probability of dying on an away mission?
   • Answer: Red
4. The Federation called them the “Wormhole Aliens” what did the Bajorans refer to them as?
   • Answer: The Prophets
5. What epic poem was the Voyager episode entitled Heroes & Demons based on?
   • Answer: Beowulf
6. Which cast member from Star Trek the Next Generation was recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth the second?
   • Answer: Patrick Stewart
7. What do the Ferengi use for currency?
   • Answer: Gold Pressed Latinum
8. What is the mystical number “postulated” as being more common in nature than any other random number by researchers at Pomona College that now turns up constantly in Star Trek? (contributed by Larry Nemecek author of Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)
   • Answer: “47″ thanks to being planted by Pomona alumnus and Star Trek: The Next Generation writer Joe Menosky
9. What color blood do Vulcans have?
   • Answer: Green
10. Of all the Star Trek television series, which one produced the most episodes?
    • Answer: Star Trek: The Next Generation with 178 episodes

Name the Species

(mouse-over the pictures for the answers)

Name the Actor

(mouse-over the pictures for the answers)

Name the Character

(mouse-over the pictures for the answers)