We delve deep into the mechanics of geek nostalgia. And we run down the week in geek with the help of GWC tech guru Juan and our resident news whiz The Operator, including an analysis of the Sony Playstation Network disaster, a discussion of recent movie trailer releases, and lots more.
Just thought I’d chime in on the podcast. Back in high school I had a friend who draped the rebel flag over the backseat of his car. He took it off the second someone told him what it really represented. He just thought it was a cool design from the General Lee. He never watched a single episode, or knew anything about the flags history. He only knew that the car was cool, and he wanted the car’s symbol on his car.
In the more rural parts of town I see the flag on bumper stickers or windshield decals, mostly on jacked up 4x4s. I don’t think any of the drivers are actually racists, but it’s part of the look of the truck. Like to have a real redneck rig, you need the flag, like how you have to have a K&N Airfilter sticker on your 88 Honda Civic. I don’t think the symbol carries the same weight in Canada, as it does in the states.
I love how you guys were talking about how sick we’d probably be of hearing about the royal wedding, then within a couple hours of you recording, it got completely wiped off the front page.
For those who are not familiar with Ms Wire… Here ya go.
Smoky and the Bandit is racist? Did not know that, have to watch that avian one of these days. If The Cannonball Run is misogynist, what does that make Bay(babe)watch?
Royal Wedding
It was good seeing the display and the outfits and it is true that things like that do not happen that often. In terms of significance, did yu see that everytime William salated, Duchess Catherine bowed her head. Is that a military thing or am I missing something.
The car is actually very green and not a gas hog, Ol’ Big Ears as we like to call him is very green and is very eco minded in my county (herefordshire) as he has some land here that he does some farming. Anyway, the car has been converted to run on bio fuels.
As for them driving, William and Kate are more in touch with the modern world and are a sign of bridging the ol tradition and new world. Also its a big deal compared to Harry as William is more likely to be King so hence the big deal.
Nostalgia
I’m all for the cartoons like everyone else such as Mask, spiderman and his amazing friends, thundercats, silverhawks, centurions, visionaries, ulysesses,etc. So I love to watch them on youtube as it reminds me of the ol times.
I was really into my marvel comics as I used to have a frisbee that I pretended was Capt Americas Shield, a bath hammer that I pretended was Thor’s Milnjor.
In terms of gaming, I do like the old ocean games (as terrible as they were) plus all the c16/64 games, I love the megadrive games like streets of rage, sonic, road rash, echo,etc and when it comes to PC, I love the point and click games like police quest, gabriel knight, simon the sorcerer,kings quest,etc. Those were the good times.
I so want an old style lunchbox but they don’t make them anymore, its all canvas bags which sucks.
I loved Dukes of Hazzard but it was for the car, I so wanted to enter the car through the window.
Doctor Who
I was introduced to Dr Who during the Slyvester McCoy run but I do prefer the modern Ecclestone, Tenant and Matt Smith ones. In terms of companions, I would choose
Donna Noble - She wasn’t so gooey eyed like the others so she stood up to the doctor and actually said ‘No, your idea is stupid’, she was the needed counterbalance that he needed compared to the others who were ‘I love you Dr’.
Ace - This was the first companion that I liked, I mean a leather jacket wearing companion who wielded a baseball bat 
But if it was who I really wanted, it would be River Song, a red haired woman who can shoot, is smart and quite tasty (I have a thing for Alex Kingston).
I don’t buy it. The Jackie Gleeson character is racist as hell but the movie overall? No way. Hell http://commentarama.blogspot.com/2009/08/film-friday-smokey-and-bandit-1977.html makes the point that Smokey and the Bandit represents the birth of the new south. Moving AWAY from racism.
Based on the previous podcast - here is what I sound like.
That was a good accent by Topgun - although he did sound like Hank Azara from Mystery Men.
I also like all the Star Wars movies. I could’ve done without Jar-Jar, but I really like the new movies. I love the old ones too, because I remember my parents taking me to the theater to see them. Hell, I remember waiting a month after the initial release for Return of the Jedi to get to the theaters in podunk Missouri.
Chuck, if I still had my Millennium Falcon playset, I’d send it to you.
I’ve still got mine from the 80s - only thing missing is a cpl of door hinges, and the string that had the jedi training ball on it.
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Just saying.
Wrt Kirk on Firefly. Wouldn’t Kirk steal Inara…and Zoe…and Kaylee…? Not sure he’d mess with River. d:
I was not Someoned by Sean in this cast! Yay! d:
Kinda crazy. I’m African American, but I loved the Dukes of Hazard as a kid. I didn’t get the flag. I watched for Catherine Bach and the car (the order depends on the year d: ). My yee haw was pretty good back then I think. d: The early and mid 80s were full of car shows. Dukes of Hazard, Knight Rider, Automan (who didn’t want the Autocar?), and there was Streethawk and The A Team.
I laughed at Smoky and the Bandit, but I don’t think I’ve seen it in decades.
For the What If question, I’d like to put random T-888(s) into AVP or Aliens vs Predators movie(s) with even odds to see who would win. d:
Here is my take of Kirk on Firefly:
Kirk: Greeting. Crew. Of…Serenity. I AM, James Tiberius Kirk.
Jayne: <sniffs Kirk>
Zoe: Cap’n?
Mal: <eyes Kirk suspiciously> Hey Doc, what do you think of him?
Doc: I like him. He seems like he is a good and fine …
Mal: BLAM (shoots Kirk in the forehead)
Inara: Mal!
Mal: What? He had a look about him!
…and scene…
Enjoyed the whole thing on how our mind breaks down our favorite memories, and how emotion works into our nostagia. Very interesting…
On T5: (In Arnold voice) Two Govenah’s facing each othah! 
Crossovers:
- Alice from the Resident Evil movie franchise, into the Blade universe (after Snipes is out of prison of course).
- Riddick meets the crew from Firefly, possible bromance with Jayne… With River;… maybe not.
- Hannah vs Bourne. :eek:
- Aliens vs Predator vs Starship Troopers!
- River Tam meets TSCC’s. :eek:
- Master Sargent and Starship Troopers.
I tell you just for nostalgia, I would like to see Megaforce and see if my memories still hold up.
On the Gyms using RPG type leveling systems:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2985-Gamification
Pretty good video on “Gamification” which is basically what you were talking about.
And this:
I remember loving this strange show called Otherworld where a family touring a pyramid and get transported to an “Otherworld”. It was like Buck Rodgers and Land of the Lost combined (from what i remember). I’m sure if I went back and re-watched it now it wouldn’t hold up at all. Did anyone else ever see that show?
Well my 2 cents, I never liked people calling it the rebel flag, it was the flag of the confederacy, a nation state.
So its like any other flag there were good parts to it and bad parts to it.
To some it means a legacy of slavery and racism, and they are correct for others its about freedom from government oppression and they are right, and to some it was just this really cool car you watched as a kid jumping over a river.
I think my point is if I have one in this rambling post is that, I have no problem with any symbol, if its important enough to you, to rise it up or burn it down. Do just realize that others will see that symbol differently, and judge you by there perception of it, but if its important enough to you, go ahead cause I say that’s what we call free speech,
so ill quote my favourite spy movie no one has seen,
in the end it some will tip there hats and some will turn there backs. It’s all the same.
The Royal Wedding may not have been as off topic for a Science Fiction podcast as you might have thought.
Madmen is very good tv.
imho.
You know what would have fit into this discussion perfectly? The recent iPad release of all the Atari games. I am going to be many people jumped on the $15 download everything option and slowly realized that (besides the controls being almost unusable) these games are imbued with an awesomeness that shouldn’t be tampered with…I remember vividly playing Adventure and having wonderful mental images of the castles, my steel sword that I would cleave dragons who chased me through the countryside.
Yeah, it turns out the sword is literally:
…@
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and the dragons are not nearly as scary as I remember them.