Friday, October 31, 2014

Contributor Profiles: Tia, Brian and Charles

Today we officially investigate our three---three!--new contributors!

Tia

Not Tia
NAME: Tia

SECRET UNDISCLOSED LOCATION: Somewhere in Penn's Woods.

NERD SPECIALIZATION(S): Books, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy.

MY PET PEEVES IN NERD-DOM ARE: Nerds being bullies.

VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, ZOMBIES, ALIENS OR ROBOTS: Vampires.

RIGHT NOW I'M READING: Steven Erkison, Toll the Hounds; Karen Miller, The Falcon Throne.

...AND A COUPLE BOOKS I RECENTLY FINISHED ARE: Erikson's Malazan series books 1-7; Teresa Frohock, Miserere: An Autumn Tale; Tad Williams, The Dirty Streets of Heaven.

NEXT TWO ON QUEUE ARE: Final 2 in the Malazan series

MY FAVORITE SUPERHERO AND SUPER-VILLAIN ARE: Batman, Syndrome.

IF I WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN, MY POWER WOULD BE: Telepathy!

THE BEST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: Guardians of the Galaxy.

THE WORST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: The Amazing Spiderman 2.

I JUST WATCHED [FILM X] AND IT WAS AWESOME: Guardians of the Galaxy.

I JUST WATCHED [FILM Y] AND IT WAS TERRIBLE: Transformers 4.

EVERYONE SHOULD SEE [FILM Z] BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE: Death to Smoochy.

BEST SCIENCE/SPECULATIVE FICTION SHOW OF THE PAST 10 YEARS: Cowboy Bebop.

WORSE ENDING--LOST OR BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Lost.

THE OFFICE--BRITISH OR AMERICAN VERSION: American.

GAME OF THRONES--LIKE OR DISLIKE DEVIATIONS FROM THE BOOKS: HATE!


Brian

Not Brian
NAME: Brian.

SECRET UNDISCLOSED LOCATION: Soy City.

NERD SPECIALIZATION(S): video games, science fiction, fantasy

MY PET PEEVES IN NERD-DOM ARE: Console/PC "Wars." Just play the games you like on the platform you like! What other people play their games on should not be of anyone else's concern!

VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, ZOMBIES, ALIENS OR ROBOTS: Robots. They are as unliving as vampires and zombies, as tough as werewolves, and as inscrutable as aliens. The best of all worlds

RIGHT NOW I'M READING: Steven Erikson, Reaper's Gale.

...AND A COUPLE BOOKS I RECENTLY FINISHED ARE: Steven Erikson, The Bonehunters and Midnight Tides.

NEXT TWO ON QUEUE ARE: The rest of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, interspersed with some SF to keep things interesting.

MY FAVORITE SUPERHERO AND SUPER-VILLAIN ARE: Batman and Mr. Freeze, though those answers are subject to change depending on whenever a good comic book video game is made.

IF I WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN, MY POWER WOULD BE: Wishlist? Probability manipulation. If I were hit by cosmic rays enhancing one of my existing human traits? Invulnerability. I've taken a lot of hits and falls and I've never broken a bone.

THE BEST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: Dredd, hands down. Guardians is a close second.

THE WORST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: I try to avoid bad movies unless I'm watching them because they're bad, so I'm going to cop out and say I have no desire to see Ryan Reynolds' floating head cracking wise in Green Lantern. Otherwise, I have to say Thor, which was pretty alright.

I JUST WATCHED [FILM X] AND IT WAS AWESOME: Guardians of the Galaxy. It was fun, and there were very few humans in it.

I JUST WATCHED [FILM Y] AND IT WAS TERRIBLE: After Guardians, my wife made me watch Howard the Duck. It was pure torture.

EVERYONE SHOULD SEE [FILM Z] BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE: Brazil. Terry Gilliam is fantastic.

BEST SCIENCE/SPECULATIVE FICTION SHOW OF THE PAST 10 YEARS: Battlestar Galactica. Although I was very fond of Almost Human.

WORSE ENDING--LOST OR BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Battlestar. It was such a letdown! Lost always kept us guessing, and I never expected everything to be wrapped up at the end of it.

THE OFFICE--BRITISH OR AMERICAN VERSION: Yikes, now we're getting to the tough questions. I have to say I prefer the American version. The lows are so low, but the highs are so high. The British version is absolutely more consistent but it never reaches the height that the American version does.

GAME OF THRONES--LIKE OR DISLIKE DEVIATIONS FROM THE BOOKS: I'm a cord-cutter, so I haven't seen Game of Thrones the TV show. Since I read all the books well before there was a TV show, I'm inclined to say I would dislike any variation from them. Also, I read that they cut out Vargo Hoat and that doesn't even make any sense to me.


Charles

Not Charles
NAME: Charles

SECRET UNDISCLOSED LOCATION:
Eau Claire, WI

NERD SPECIALIZATION(S): Short Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction

MY PET PEEVES IN NERD-DOM ARE: "objectivity"

VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, ZOMBIES, ALIENS OR ROBOTS: All at once, please.

RIGHT NOW I'M READING: While Mortals Sleep (Kurt Vonnegut), The Curse of the Mistwraith (Janny Wurts), The Weird (ed. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer)

...AND A COUPLE BOOKS I RECENTLY FINISHED ARE: Through the Woods (Emily Carroll), Shadowplay (Jo Clayton), Mirror Mirror (Gregory Maguire), Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay)

NEXT TWO ON QUEUE ARE: Dr. Bloodmoney (Philip K Dick), The Ladies of Grace Adieu (Susanna Clarke)

MY FAVORITE SUPERHERO AND SUPER-VILLAIN ARE: Multiple Man (Jamie Madrox) and Q

IF I WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN, MY POWER WOULD BE: Eidetic Memory

THE BEST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: Thor

THE WORST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: Man of Steel

I JUST WATCHED [FILM X] AND IT WAS AWESOME: Guardians of the Galaxy
I JUST WATCHED [FILM Y] AND IT WAS TERRIBLE: Man of Steel

EVERYONE SHOULD SEE [FILM Z] BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE: Star Trek  VI: The Undiscovered Country

BEST SCIENCE/SPECULATIVE FICTION SHOW OF THE PAST 10 YEARS: Supernatural

WORSE ENDING--LOST OR BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: umm?

THE OFFICE--BRITISH OR AMERICAN VERSION: British

GAME OF THRONES--LIKE OR DISLIKE DEVIATIONS FROM THE BOOKS: If done well they should be fine. That said, most of them are not done well.