Saturday, August 27, 2011

My Favourite Things - August 2011

At the end of every month I write an article for A Site Called FRED which lists my 5 favourite things I have found online in that time. It's a way of sharing stuff that people may have missed or confirming that it is awesome if you've already seen it.

This month I talk about:
  • Suicidal Astronauts
  • Throwing Things On The Ground
  • Swedish Illustration
  • Civilization Wars
  • Shameless Self Plugging
To see what the hell I was blabbing about, click THIS HERE LINK HERE>>> HERE!

Irish Magneto Art

As anyone who has been listening to Weekend Justice for the last month or two will know, my reaction to X-Men: First Class was a strong one. Not necessarily a good or bad reaction just one of intense feeling. What has become a running joke on WEJ is Michael Fassbender's portrayal of the character Magneto. Both myself and my friends noticed that towards the end of the film, Fassbender's Irish accent became very noticeable (although my American buddies didn't spot it, but go figure). We've been having fun with the idea of Irish Magneto ever since.

Well, last night the wonderful Falconx7 drew this piece of awesomeness for me as a parting gift before I leave for Dragon*Con. Needless to say, I love it.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Weekend Justice #128 - A Matter of Perspective

This is the last official Weekend Justice before Dragon*Con rolls around to mess with all our minds. So fittingly, the cast itself if a mind altering as ever. We try to talk about some of the things we're doing this year but we get sidetracked. A lot.

This week I join Widge, Rox, Leigh, Jon, Serv and Rob for the 6 or so hours this podcast seems to go on for. What? It's not that long? Well, it sure as hell feels like it.

Some of the madness discussed includes:
  • TravelCast
  • Gunshot jeans
  • Jim Carrey and being creepy
  • Aaron-approved tapping! Congrats, Tom Cruise!
  • Stormy Encounters. No, seriously.
  • Power Rangers luchadores
  • Kidlet needs food
  • Creation Museum
  • Oh, Irish Magneto, you'll never learn.
  • When should you drink a pint of Guinness?
  • DragonCon report!
  • Costumes and duct tapes
  • Leigh's DragonCon tips
  • Rob scares everyone--and DJs!
  • Doctor Who and theories!
  • Aaron vs. The Walking Dead
BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly.

Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all NeedCoffee podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To listen to the episode, click the picture!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

My Dragon*Con Schedule

Dragon*Con is just over a week away and I seem to have finally assembled my schedule for the convention. This year looks like it will be my busiest yet as my whoring skills increase to near Kanye levels. I hope you can find to time to stop in for some of these events if you're around. As always hugs are available upon request.

Make the Bad Men Stop Part 1
When: Fri 1:00 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Time: M106-107 - Marriott
Description: You should know what this is by now. Show up and have your cinematic dreams crushed. By an iron boot. While we laugh.
Who: Damn near everybody from NeedCoffee.com (including me)

FRED Panel-Palooza-Extrava-Thingee-a-Doodle
Time: Fri 04:00 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: Regency V - Hyatt
Description: Anyone who visits ASiteCalledFRED.com will know what to expect. Madness, prizes and probably some bad singing (from the boys, Molly can actually sing)
Who: Myself, Ken Plume and Molly Lewis.

BritPop
Time: Fri 5:30 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: Macon - Sheraton
Description: A discussion of British music.
Who: Rob Levy; Tuffley; Kim and Me.

The Need Coffee Dot Com Fun Fest
Time: Fri 8:00pm doors open; 8:30pm party starts (Length: 3 Hours or so...maybe...kinda)
Location: International North - Hyatt
Description: Come ready to play games, win stuff, and have a party.
Who: Everybody from Weekend Justice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lost: One Year Later
Time: Sat 4:00 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: M106-7 - Marriott
Description: The program asks if we're still bitter a year later. What do you think?
Who: Myself, Jon Boutelle; JJ Hawkins and more I'm sure

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRED Presents Yet Another Panel About Doctor Who

Time: Sun 01:00 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: International North - Hyatt

Description: Ken Plume & special guests rant/rave/giggle/titter about Doctor Who as only enthusiastic/opinionated/reasonably well-informed geeks can.
Who: Me, Ken, Molly and Paul & Storm.

Need Coffee Dot Com vs. The Whoniverse
Time: Sun 4:00pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: Crystal Ballroom - Hilton
Description: We take on the entirety of the Who canon from end to end. But mostly the recent bits.
Who: Myself, Rob, Tuffley, Kidlet, Rox and Widge

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make the Bad Men Stop 2: Bad Harderer
Time: Mon 2:30 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: M106-107 - Marriott
Description: Because one panel isn't enough for us to send you weeping home so you embrace your favorite books and comics to your bosom and swear you'll never leave them alone again.
Who: What's left of everybody from NeedCoffee

Monday, August 22, 2011

You're Doomed At Dragon*Con

Both myself and the other lunatics at The Website of Doom like to be as helpful as possible. So when the DOOM signal appears in the sky we launch into action.

The wonderful Maggie is attending Dragon*Con for the first time this year and asked us for some advice. Myself and JJ Hawkins come to the rescue with this video. Enjoy!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Mars Needs Podcasts #122 - Dragon Pros And Dragon*Cons

Myself, JJ Hawkins and Jason Wood get together for an unholy mess of a podcast. We set out to talk about the different panels and events we're doing but quickly and often get side-tracked. But you'll get most of the info in there... somewhere.

We also suggest a possible new DOOM regular segment, with the rule that unless we get enough feedback to do it, it will never happen. So let us know!

Click the banner to go listen, download and enjoy!

CLICK ME!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Weekend Justice #127: No Ladies on That Line

CLICK ME!
Weekend Justice! It's back! In pod form! Exclamation mark!

I return to the nuttiest podcast on earth once again to discuss the following:
  • The taste of crayons
  • Leigh and dating not-Robert Smith
  • Little people?
  • Family Ties and racism
  • The Alabama High School Graduation Exam
  • Overthinking the leather pants
  • The Smiths vs. Batman
  • Christopher Lee vs. Bollywood
  • Catwoman costume blues
  • Silent films and noir
  • Dutch angles and lens flares
  • Film critics
  • Bill & Ted 3 -- solved!
  • Battlefield Earth
  • Travolta's career retrospective
  • Aaron vs. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers vs. smugness
With me this week is, as always, Widge, Rox, Scott, Jon, Tuffley, Leigh and Rob!

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #127: No Ladies on That Line, then do that thing. Or click the image to go stream it!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

First Impressions: Fionn Regan - 100 Acres of Sycamore

CLICK ME!
Fionn Regan is a rare musical treasure. From Bray, Co. Wicklow in Ireland he is a magical sort of folk musician who manages to both breath new life into a well worn genre and also be the epitome of it at the same time.

His debut album The End of History was critically adored and for very good reason. Incredibly crafted guitar rhythms mixed with both dreamy lyrics and heartbreaking tones created a jackpot of songs. A Mercury Music Prize nomination raised no eyebrows when it was announced.

His second effort The Shadow of an Empire came after a long 4 years of recording, marked by a rocky relationship with American label Lost Highway Records. This resulted in a never-to-be-heard album being shelved indefinitely and Fionn being dropped. However, The Shadow of an Empire bears no marks of this trouble and while not as well received as his first album was a brave change of direction with more electric sounds and a harder edge (the edge that Lost Highway deemed unsuitable).

I was happy to see that this third installment comes just a year and half later and with Regan on record as saying it was recorded in one week, he obviously had a much easier time of things. But will it turn out to be as good as previous offerings? Let’s see as I review the album in live time. 1 play through, thoughts as I get them.

To read this review, click this link here or Fionn's mop top head.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

A Self Portrait... Kinda

I was at home with the parents this weekend. I don't get to visit too often but I've been making an effort these days. Digging through some old boxes in the attic I found a hoard of toys and books from my youth. They were all as geeky as you'd imagine. I had the full set of Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures. So yeah, I was that kid.

But one thing that I found that really gave me a giggle was a self portrait I had done at the tender age of 14. I thought I would share it here because... well, it's not really very accurate.


I don't know who that is. It's not me anyway. I don't know what hormones were pumping through my system at that age but man... they did funny things with my eyes.

Here is a photo of me today as a comparison.


You can probably see what features I was trying to ignore as a child. But it would be interesting to attempt a drawing of myself now, 13 years later, to see if I can do a better job.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

From The Vault: American Sigh-dol

Dana Snyder hosts the first ever Plume Impersonation contest AKA American Sigh-dol AKA American Idle at the Quick Stop Entertainment (now FRED) panel at Dragon*Con 2009.

4 people enter. 4 people leave... with prizes.



This panel was a lot of fun to do. Myself, Ken Plume, Widgett Walls and Dana had a blast with everyone and I'm really glad I was smart enough to get my camera out for this moment of madness.

21 Days Until Dragon*Con (and other stuff)

The guest list for the event is still growing, with voice-actor Tom Kenny getting added to the list among other (he of Sponge-Bob fame). You can see that list here. While I am not considered important enough for that list, I am attending and will be on several panels and events. I'll post my schedule as soon as I get it.

One person who won't be going to Dragon*Con is Leonard Nimoy. He cancelled this week, which is a shame. Such a shame that Spock is dissapointed in him.

CLICK TO SEE THE GALAXY-CLASS SIZE!
Big thanks to handonmouth for making this for me.

My blogging has taken a nose-dive recently due to two different video projects I'm working on. They both need to be completed by the end of the month and I'm under a bit of pressure. Editing video is a slow process.

However, rest assured, I've still been doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff with NeedCoffee.com and TheWebsiteOfDOOM.com in the build up to the big convention so you should hopefully see a flurry of things soon. We have so much new content in store for you lucky people.

Before I go, if you have a Tumblr account look me up. You won't get the same content as here, usually just some music and photographs I like. It's where you'll also find me winding down the hours in the office.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Mars Needs Podcasts #120 - Americast Two

Myself and Mars Needs host JJ Hawkins are big geeks. That's not just referencing our height. Between us we've spent a small fortune on comic books and comic book paraphernalia. We were both excited to the point of explosion at seeing the Avengers associated tie-in films as they came out so when the last of them was released with Captain America, we swore to geek-out together.

However, as JJ lives in Portland, Oregon and I live in Dublin, Ireland...


... we have to do such things over Skype and record it as a podcast.

Sure, why not?

To listen to our ranting and ravings on the show click THIS HERE LINK HERE... HERE.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Weekend Justice #125: James Spader, Acting Gristle

Oh Weekend Justice, I just can't quit you. The longest and strangest podcast on the Internet* returns once again and I'm riding that bitch like a bat from hell **. This week I join Widgett, Rox, Scott, Kim, Tuffley, Jon and as always a cameo from Rob. Here are some of the things we discuss:
  • A lack of understanding of James Spader
  • Hobo weddings
  • Hobo catch and release program
  • Porn testimonials
  • James Franco is not a verb
  • Rowling vs. Martin
  • Marvel and death
  • Unbreakable and other scripts
  • Rob's Rise of the Planet of the Apes review
  • Cast Away
BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all NeedCoffee podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here. To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #125: James Spader, Acting Gristle, then do that thing.

Or to stream from the website click THIS LINK YO!

* possibly, maybe.
** or your nearest hell-riding equivalent.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

30 Days Until Dragon*Con

Let the excitement commence!

Lost Panel 2010

I am so, so happy to have this finally put online. I often gab at length to people about the LOST fan panel I got to do at Dragon*Con last year with good people like Mighty Bill and Jon Boutelle. Concordantly I also got the experience of being on the same panel as a really cool person like Paul Dini who not only is a great TV and comic book writer but also was a writer on the show in the early seasons.

We had a packed room on the day and it was a great time. Well, it's now online in video form and I couldn't be more excited to share it with the world. So to see it follow this link or just click Kate's stupid, stupid face.

CLICK ME, RIGHT IN THE FACE!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Poole's Polls - August 2011

This month it’s another simple question for simple minds. We love you really, but if you’re visiting here instead of all the other great websites online… we understand our readership.

Comic books for years have been dominated by “the big two”. Those two have been Marvel and DC. Comic geeks for years have been arguing who has the better roster of heroes. Now it’s time for you to decide.

To vote in the poll, click the Simpsons' character below. You should know why...

CLICK ME!

Solve This: The Pilot

CLICK ME!
PLEASE NOTE: I'm late putting this up on the blog, the show was released on Friday but I was away at a wedding so apologies for the delay!
And now for something completely different. We present to you Solve This, a new improvisational panel show and podcast from the same people who brought you...the rest of this mess. Rather than content ourselves to discussing the latest pop culture trend, here we have a podcast dedicated to solving problems. All we be explained in the show proper.
That's how the host and show creator Widgett Walls introduces the world to the newest podcast in the comedy/improv/panel show genre. Which I'm sure there are thousands of out there.


This stars the above host and myself, Tee Quillin, Rox of Spazhouse and JJ Hawkins. To listen,  click the genome. To download this directly, Solve This, then do that thing.


Remember folks, this is a pilot episode. If you want to ever hear another one, let your voice be heard!