by Bob Suicide

Bob Suicide’s Top 10 Geeky Books For The Naughty N’ Nice Nerd In Your Life

1. Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side by Daniel Wallace ($62.98)

It may not arrive in time for Xmas, but be sure to stick a preorder for the Book of Sith (out February 10, 2012) under the tree because embracing the dark side with this multi-faceted tome will be well worth the wait!

2. Transformers Vault: The Complete Transformers Universe – Showcasing Rare Collectibles and Memorabilia by Pablo Hidalgo ($20.57)

Speaking of robots…how about ones in disguise? The Transformers Vault is filled with all kinds of nostalgic goodies for any die-hard fan who weeps at the mere mention of Bayformers, ahem, I mean that franchise that shall not be named.

3. ‪Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson ($17.49)

There’s no denying that Steve Jobs defined a generation of gadget-lovers — and often catered directly to us. This collection of vignettes culled from a series of 40 interviews puts his life and creative genius into perspective, and may inspire some wonderful New Year’s resolutions or dev. projects for 2012.

4.‪ Let the Right One In‬ ‬by John Ajvide Lindqvist ($10.85)

Sure, the original movie was amazing, and an American version was made (for better or worse), but the original novel is a wonderful gift to re-educate all those who think vampires sparkle.

5. ‪Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith ($11.19)

And, speaking of vampires and movies…Get it before the movie comes out so you can be up on all of the fanboy banter. I could never get into the Jane Austen novels. I’m just not a girlie girl. So, when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out I couldn’t jump on the bandwagon. But, a hatchet-wielding vampire hunter who gives one hell of an address is right up my alley.

6. ‪Packing for Mars‬: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach ($10.85)

I’m a big fan of this author’s witty take on in-depth research of interesting scientific topics. In fact, her book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is one of my all time Top Ten favorite reads! Cute, funny, and pun-ny, this book looks at the next frontier for space travel and gives you the 411 on how to prepare.

7. Why does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?) by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw ($9.63)

This book is short and very easy to read. It’s a great stocking stuffer or quick holiday read for those who want a brief primer on physics — or to impress their friends at holiday parties (we all know what you’re doing!).

8. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks ($7.99)

From all accounts, the movie sounds like it’s going to destroy all of Max Brook’s amazing work. So be sure to get this book for every geek you know so we can all enjoy the story as it was meant to be.

9. The Walking Dead: Compendium One by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn and Tony Moore ($31.24)

Speaking of zombies and original stories thereof, be sure to give that zed-head you love the original Walking Dead story!

10. SuicideGirls Comic Book Series Vol. 1 thru 4 – Written by Steve Niles and Illustrated by Cameron Stewart ($7.50 for the set!)

I could be a little biased, but I think this makes a great gift. Buy it now, or accept the consequences…

Further reading: Bob Suicide’s Uber Geeky Gadget Gift Guide
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by A.J. Focht

Attached to the Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol IMAX screenings is a new six minute prologue for Dark Knight Rises. Many bootlegged copies were spread around online after its release, but Warner Bros. has done a good job of shutting them all down. For those not able to visit an IMAX theater and see the prologue, the first official trailer has been released. While Christian Bale’s voice in The Dark Knight was a running joke, it looks like Bane’s voice may be worse. Even though Warner Bros. is nervous about the fan response to the voice, Nolan refuses to change it.

Reports that Patty Jenkins left her position directing Thor 2 of her own accord may have been fabricated. Recently, sources reveal that she may have been terminated without any proper cause. Natalie Portman is said to be very upset over these changes, as she signed onto the film specifically because Jenkins was supposed to be directing it. While it’s unclear which story is correct, there is clearly drama brewing among the cast that could affect the movie’s deadline.

No more waiting for bits and pieces of information on the Amazing Spider-Man. Sony has launched the official website for the film. The site includes photos, trailers, information and more goodies. Any information on the movie that you’ve been wanting will likely be found there.

Following the release of a batch of posters last week, the producers of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance have released a new official trailer. It definitely captures the dark tone that the new film was going for while keeping the black humor that fans expect.

That’s it for the superhero movies, but there is one other big superhero project on the horizon. Marvel Comics will be making a novel adaptation of their classic Civil War storyline. Civil War was one of the most groundbreaking events in comics, and the novel, to be written by Stuart Moore, is set to hit shelves in June 2012.

Ridley Scott released a series of posters for his upcoming project Prometheus earlier this week, and has followed them up with teaser trailer footage. The first official full trailer will release this Thursday. While the project is not related to the Aliens universe, the posters and footage give it a very similar feeling.

First he’s in Oz, then he’s not, and now he is again. The roller coaster that is Bruce Campbell’s role in the upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful has kept the rumor mill turning. Most recently, we hear he’s back in and they have shot footage. While we still don’t know exactly what role he is playing, he did mention he will have a confrontation with Oz (played by James Franco).

For the manga lovers out there, there is some great news regarding Rurouni Kenshin. The first trailer of the live action movie has hit the internet. The film looks extremely well done, and the character casting appears to be spot on. It’s currently slated to hit Japanese theaters on August 25, 2012.

A full synopsis of The Hobbit has been released. No real surprises here, but a good chance to familiarize yourself with the story and what you can expect from the movie, if you don’t know already that is. To go along with that, the official trailer has been released. It’s looking to be just as epic as any of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Who is the best vampire slayer of all-time? If you answered Blade or Buffy, you’re wrong. The correct answer is, Abraham Lincoln. New posters for Tim Burton’s imagining of the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter book have been released. The official plot synopsis tells us that the film will explore the secret life of our greatest president, an untold story that shaped our nation. Amongst the wave of Twilight-inspired vampire trash, it will be nice to have a quality, dark, and likely humorous vampire story told in a way that only Tim Burton can.

On a final note, Doctor Who: Worlds In Time will preview this week. The new game based on the popular BBC sci-fi series is a free-to-play, browser based MMO game. Players choose their avatars and interact in a game environment with a traditional ‘Flash-based’ art style. While it’s not a big budget MMO, it should be a nice treat for those whole like to spend quality time with Time Lords.

by Bob Suicide

Bob Suicide’s Top 10 Gadgets For The Naughty N’ Nice Nerd In Your Life.

1. The Star Wars Wampa Rug ($99.99) or Taun Taun Sleeping Bag ($99.99)

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but inside a TaunTaun it’s SO delightful. Cozy up and get your geek on with some of the greatest plush reproductions from the best movie in the series.

2. Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter ($19.99)

Take your cooking where it’s never been before. It’s a great stocking stuffer. And, made with the same level of quality that Starfleet expects from all of its ships.

3. Lego Death Star Tree Ornament (Approx $18-28.00)

Order the parts from Lego and let the force be with you as you build a superweapon capable of destroying all other Xmas ornament competition.

4. Uncharted 3 CE for PlayStation 3 ($74.99)

You can never go wrong with a quality collector’s edition and the Uncharted 3 CE was one of the best of the season. It’s like 4 gifts in one!

5. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Xbox 360 ($49.99)

And, speaking of video games, your loveable nerd’s holiday isn’t complete without Spike’s Game of the Year: Skyrim. You may never see them again after the holiday. But, you’ll know they’re happy wherever they are — battling dragons. EFFING DRAGONS!!!

6. Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 ($264.95)

What programmer doesn’t want a robot butler? Or a robot alligator to guard the house? Give your geek a Mindstorm and they’ll build you something better, faster, stronger – but beware, this is how Skynet starts. Hey, it may be the end of the world, but it’s the thought that counts!

7. Portal 2: Light Up PotatOS ($29.99)

Remember when you were a kid and you did the potato-as-a-conductor-for-light experiment. Well, now, kids (big and small) can not only make a potato give light, you can make it insult you too — just what you’ve always wanted!

8. Munchkin Quest the Board Game. ($37.11)

Remember when you used to play D&D with your friends for hours, I mean days, on end? Well, add witty cards (and sometimes lots of Cuthulu), grab some friends, and relive the magic! And, while your at it, get the iPhone/Android app for extra perks!!!

9. 8-bit Glasses ($390.00)

They’re super-pricey and hipsters might adopt them ironically, but the geek with cash and class can admire the retro- grooviness of these 8 bit specs.

10. Star Wars Motorcycle Suits ($1,150.00)

I don’t really have to sell you on this one. The Dark Side sells itself. 😛

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by A.J. Focht

The first official teaser posters for The Dark Knight Rises have been released. The posters feature Batman’s shattered helmet and Bane walking away. This would be a good time to remember that Bane is known as ‘the man who broke the bat,’ however, Bane supposedly isn’t the only villain at play in the film…

The first teaser poster for The Amazing Spider-Man has also been released. The film will be released on July 3, 2012, and the poster more than hints that it will tell ‘the untold story.’ With Gwen Stacy cast in the film, I really hope that this film sets up for the famous “Death of the Stacy’s” storyline.

Upping the movie posters ante, the producers of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance released several posters to promote their film which will hit screens in February 2012. Designs vary from the artistic to the simplistic, with one notable one being based on the classic cult movie poster.

At the rate Hollywood is producing superhero movies, it’s very likely there could be a Black Widow movie on the way. Especially in light of the fact that Scarlett Johansson has come out saying she would be interested in signing on for a movie primarily featuring the heroine. There is nothing in the works at the moment, but Johansson has made it clear she’s up for a return to the roll.

“I love playing the Widow. I think she’s got a very interesting past, a lot of storylines to explore, and certainly Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios’ president] loves that character … I think that Marvel has a very personal relationship with their fans, and I think if the fans want it, and the audience wants it, nothing’s impossible. I would love to explore that option as well. Like I said, I love the character and it would be nice to see something nice and gritty.”

Plans to move forward with Thor 2 are progressing swiftly. The Hollywood Reporter has released the names of two potential directors looking to fill the void left by Patty Jenkins. Alan Taylor and Daniel Minahan are both being considered for the position. Marvel has also shortened the list of potential script writers; the new list includes Robert Rodat and Roger Avary.

If you thought the Transformers series was over, you thought wrong. For better or worse, Michael Bay is back at it and in final negotiations to direct a fourth film in the series. Bay has been assembling a cast for the project and it looks like formal details will be announced shortly.

Following the Men in Black 3 teaser poster which was released last week, a trailer has also hit the YouTubes. Seems, in order to fight the alien menace this time, Agent J is going to have to go to back to the past and enlist K’s help.

Despite all of the talk about Khan appearing in Star Trek 2, Simon Pegg has gone on record as saying he has heard no talk of Khan in the film. As far as Scotty is concerned, there is no Khan in the movie, and he even thinks it might be a little tacky for them to do Khan as he has been done in previous films.

Spike TV held the 2011 Video Game Awards (VGA) this last week. Amongst a flurry of trailers for upcoming games and comic award presenters, twenty-five awards were given for to the best games of 2011. Batman: Arkham City took four of the awards including Best Xbox 360 Game and Character of the Year for the Joker. The big winner of Game of the Year was The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Their studio, Bethesda Games, also took Studio of the Year. Blizzard also used the VGAs to premiere the opening cinematic for the much anticipated Diablo 3.

Finally, George Takei, better known as Sulu, has a message for everyone re. the current Star Trek vs. Star Wars war. To recap, the recent battle was started by William Shatner, who proclaimed that Star Trek was superior to Star Wars in a video that did the rounds on YouTube. Carry Fisher then posted a few rebuttals in response. Now Takei is calling for an alliance. Instead of focusing our frustrations at our other ‘star-brothers,’ he asks that we work together to defeat the evil that is Twilight.

by Steven-Elliot Altman (SG Member: Steven_Altman)

Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse), it offers a terrifying postmodern vision in the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World…

By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed its borders, instituted compulsory contraception and a strict one child per couple policy for those who are permitted to breed, and made technology-assisted suicide readily available. But in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity.

Jason Haggerty is an investigator for Black Buttons Inc, the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld Kevorkian devices, which afford the only legal form of suicide. An armed “Killswitch” monitors and records a citizen’s final moments — up to the point where they press a button and peacefully die. Post-press review agents — “button collectors” — are dispatched to review and judge these final recordings to rule out foul play.

When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now his race is on to uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they’re better off dead.

(Catch up with the previous installments of Killswitch – see links below – then continue reading after the jump…)

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by A.J. Focht

The first official character bios for the Avengers movie have been released. No big surprises here, just most of what is already known about the movie’s all-star superhero cast. Regardless, it’s a great way to familiarize yourself with any characters you might not be completely sure about, like Hawkeye.

Continuing the trend of rebooting superhero movies, David Slade has given an update on his upcoming Daredevil flick. Slade announced that Brad Caleb Kane has finished the first draft of the script and that more news would come in the new year. The original Daredevil film was better than some superhero movies, but it was by no means up to standards that superhero movies try to uphold these days. Hopefully the reboot will fix that.

While DC comics are still successfully pushing their New 52, Marvel has plans to move forward with another one of their giant world events. Raising the stakes — which is difficult since comic book events normally are quite apocalyptic — Marvel is waging an all-out war between the Avengers and the X-Men. After Phoenix Force return to Earth to seek a new host, Hope Summer (Cyclops and Jean Grey’s daughter), the Avengers want to quarantine her, and the X-Men refuse to let them without a fight – gripping stuff!

While there is no word on the upcoming Metropolis project, it looks like there will be more Smallville, kind of. Bryan Q Miller is writing a new novel that tells the story of what happens to the cast afterwards. While there is no official word on this, it seems an awful lot like this novel could be the means of transitioning into the upcoming Metropolis project.

Lots of news coming from the starship Enterprise. First off, rumors of Benicio Del Toro playing Khan have been put to rest. But in light of this news, it’s been revealed that Peter Weller (RoboCop) has officially joined the cast of Star Trek 2. His role is currently unknown, but this sci-fi legend is a welcome addition to the cast. That’s not it either. Alice Eve (She’s Out of My League & Entourage) has also joined the cast, and will play a new character in the canon. Despite all the news about Star Trek 2, producers are apparently going to great lengths to keep details of the production secret, with prominent cast members such as Chekov and Sulu, being denied access to the script.

On to the Ender’s Game movie. Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) is in negotiations for the female lead. This is the second major cast announcement in as many weeks. It’s fair to assume there will be plenty more where those came from as Ender’s Game is set to release on March 15, 2013.

Iron Man screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby have completed the script for the next Tomb Raider film. The original portrayal of Lara Croft by Angelina Jolie is being tossed aside. “For me it’s re-inventing the wheel a bit, it’s a reboot. We’re going back before she was Lara Croft,” said producer Graham King, talking to Digital Spy about the nature of the origins-style screenplay.

Anyone else getting sick of the reboots yet? ‘Cause another prominent sci-fi classic, Starship Troopers is also getting a reboot – just 15 years out from the original!

The iconic Jaws ride at Universal Studios is being removed and replaced with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The attraction will be build along the same lines as the original in Orlando, which has proved to be so successful that Universal Studios and Warner Bros. have decided that it will be augmented with a large expansion.

Finally, 2012 looks like it’ll be a big year for Joss Whedon. With the release of the Avengers already on the books, Whedon recently revealed he has completed another project, Much Ado About Nothing. Now there’s a third movie in the lineup. A poster for a Whedon project called Cabin in the Woods has just surfaced, and was followed up by the release of an official trailer. The film is looking like it could be a fantastic sci-fi/horror movie, and will premiere on April 13, 2012.

by ExAddict

Listening to: “Cinema” w/ Benny Benassi [Maurizio Gubellini Remix] [feat. Gary Go] (Available on iTunes)
Dispatch Location: @OrangeYYZ, ING Direct Cafe, Toronto

Hipster (from Hipster.com) is an application not unlike Instagram which applies filter effects, lighting screens, text, GPS integration and borders to all your iPhone or iPad photos and makes them available in your custom photo stream on Hipster.com and is instantly exportable among other social media platforms including Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Facebook, and Foursquare.

The unique thing about this “program” (although I recognize we are diverging from the use of that term) is that the app presents photos as postcards. I like the general look of this as it is presented in my photo roll on the Hipster.com website. I prefer this Hunter S. Thompson-inspired layout rather than the boxy square-tab presentation offered by Instagram. The postcards are better suited for writers or journalists augmenting their tweet-style with “notes from the front” as the GPS functionality looks tight as hell if you are broadcasting reality or your pseudo-reality.

While Instagram weighs in with a mighty 1783 ratings versus just 10 for Hipster, I prefer the latter for ease of use. User settings and menu options are easier to manage in Hipster compared with Instagram, and I also enjoy that my tweetstream is updated with references to #Hipster, which makes me feel, well, like a #Hipster. Plus, it’s one of those apps that instantly logs on with your Facebook ID meaning no extra password nonsense.

There are 14 sweet postcard filters to start with and the developer emailed me this week to tell me that a new batch of postcards would be available soon, including Christmas-themed styles. There is a certain adventurous fun to being the first in your area to populate the Hipster website with your own local postcards. I hope you can appreciate this app. It’s super fun for writers and us citizen journalists!