Let's all give a hearty nerds_feather welcome to Brad, our video game blogger! Brad is a man who wears many hats, several of of them fuzzy. In his spare time, he edits things professionally, so the rest of us better watch our grammar and spelling while he's around. Thankfully, he's an all-around genial and very funny guy, and has promised to go easy on us, both on language and over XBL, so we feel safe in his company. As should you.
NAME: Brad
SECRET UNDISCLOSED LOCATION: My mom's basement.
NERD SPECIALIZATION(S): Video games, sci fi movies, and books.
MY PET PEEVES IN NERD-DOM ARE: Patchouli, people who don't remember V: the Final Battle fondly.
VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, ZOMBIES, ALIENS OR ROBOTS: Let's put it this way. I believe wizards and elves once existed. I believe the robots will eventually enslave us (and not metaphorically like I'm currently a slave to my smartphone, but literally like Terminator or the Matrix). I believe Earth is all just a big experiment constructed by aliens. Whether or not they dabbled in the undead or half-human, half-beasts like Dr. Moreau, I'm not sure. Probably, so I'm just going to say 'yes' to all of them.
RIGHT NOW I'M READING: Dance with Dragons (I'm behind, I know! I tore through the first four so quickly that I've always regretted it. I should have taken more time to savor. Not having that problem with book 5 :)
...AND A COUPLE BOOKS I RECENTLY FINISHED ARE: Handbook of Sports & Media, Eds. Arthur A Raney and Jennings Bryant. It doesn't sound nerdish, but it was for my thesis which was on the topic of online message boards, so it qualifies as nerdish in a roundabout sort of way. Also, The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
NEXT TWO ON QUEUE ARE: Pale King by David Foster Wallace's editor (Maybe. I've got to emotionally work up to this one). Also, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
MY FAVORITE SUPERHERO AND SUPER-VILLAIN ARE: Luke Skywalker. I'm a Star Wars baby, literally. I was born the week it came out. My first dog was named Luke. You may think I'd go Vader to balance that out, but I'm going Sidius/Emperor/Palpatine. He was the architect. He should get the credit.
IF I WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN, MY POWER WOULD BE: Like the Hulk. The more pissed off I get, the stronger I get.
THE BEST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: X-Men: First Class
THE WORST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: Spider-Man 3
I JUST WATCHED [FILM X] AND IT WAS AWESOME: Funny Games (German)
I JUST WATCHED [FILM Y] AND IT WAS TERRIBLE: Green Lantern
EVERYONE SHOULD SEE [FILM Z] BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE: Titanic. I'm not sure anybody caught it, but it was actually a lot better than I expected.
BEST SCIENCE/SPECULATIVE FICTION SHOW OF THE PAST 10 YEARS: Aqua Teen Hunger Force
WORSE ENDING--LOST OR BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Didn't watch Lost, so Battlestar.
THE OFFICE--BRITISH OR AMERICAN VERSION: American. I can't stand Gervais. I quit watching when Jim and Pam got married, though, so don't ask me about anything after that!
GAME OF THRONES--LIKE OR DISLIKE DEVIATIONS FROM THE BOOKS: I'm okay with it. They had to do some cutting. You simply can't fit that much detail in without having 20 seasons. I think they're doing a pretty good job with it, although I've never been a fan of the Dany scenes. Somehow I imagined Dothraki hordes had more than 20 people, but I guess that was just my imagination.