The Geeked Life

Hey! It's your friendly neighborhood spider-man! Again! Animated! Again! But now with more Spider…folk! Spider-Man into The Spiderverse was directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman. Written by the guy who wrote The Lego Movie (1 and 2), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (1 and 2), Phil Lord. The new Spidey flick stars the voice telents of Shameik Moore as Spider-Man, Jake Johnson as Spider-Man, Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee) as Spider-Gwen/Spider-Woman, John Mulaney as...

Review: Advanced Screening of The Bumblebee Movie Bumblebee is a spin-off from the Michael Bay Transformer's movie franchise. Directed by directed by Travis Knight (I don't remember what name I gave the director in the car) (Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings) and stars Hailee Steinfeld (Charlie), Justin Theroux, Dylan O'Brien, John Cena, Angela Basset, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., and Pamela Adlon. It was written by Christina Hodson (Unforgettable, and also writing...

Black Panther: Wakanda Leads to War Black Panther is Ryan Coogler's third film, following the success of Creed. Starring Chadwick Boseman (Justified, Fringe, 42, Marshall) as T'Challa, Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four, Creed) as Eric 'Killmonger', Lupita Nyong'o (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Jungle Book, 12 Years a Slave) as Nakia. It follows the events of Captain America: Civil War, with the death of T'Challa's father, King T'Chaka (John Kani). T'Challa comes home to be crowned the...

Does The Last Jedi Bridge Generations? The Last Jedi picks up immediately after The Force Awakens. The Resistance is scrambling, even though it has dealt The First Order a heavy blow. The Resistance is lead by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fischer). But their base of operations, Yavin IV has been discovered and is forced to flea. Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), and BB-8 remained with the group while Rey (Daisy Ridley) seeks the aide of an Old Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker (Mark...

Does Thor: Ragnarok Live Up To The Hype? Thor: Ragnarok is the third Thor movie, directed by Taika Waititi, and in the third phase of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston reprise their roles as Thor and Loki respectively. At the start of the film, there is a plot setup regarding Ragnarok; the Norse mythological end to Asgard, the Gods, and existence as a whole. Cate Blanchett plays a playful, yet serious villain in the Goddess of Death, Hela. Tessa Thompson...

An Interview with Michael G. Williams In this episode I speak with award winning author, tabletop game writer, and podcaster Michael G. Williams. Some of his credits include Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition and an independent setting for Pathfinder. Michael has also written numerous short stories. Michael and I talk about the ways he expresses his life's experiences in his writing in his series of novellas called The Withrow Chronicles, about a vampire that struggles with his...

Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Director James Gunn presents movie-goers with a second installment of the intergalactic misfit band of universe savers in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Lead by Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) or better know as Star Lord. Rejoined by Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax The Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), and a maturing "toddler" Groot (Vin Diesel). We follow this band of anti-heroes being heroes for hire as they save planets from...

We ask the question "What Prep?" The Global Geek Defense Force convenes once again to determine the fate of the world. We ask the all important question "What prep?". The Bearded Maker goes over his challenges with video editing for his eventually to be launched YouTube Channel. Angry Black Man decides to be a commentator. Matt takes a page out of Angry Black Man's playbook by referring to notes and tries to get conversations started by mentioning the feat the SpaceX program accomplished...

Now in Stuttering Technicolor In this episode of GGDF, we try streaming live in Stuttering Technicolor. "The Bearded Maker" talks about his trial and errors recording video of his projects, and Matt and "Captain Villain Black" offer up some advice. Next, Matt talks about NASA's discovery of Trappist-1, another galaxy with potentially habitable planets. We discuss whether books are better than their visual counterparts, even if you haven't read them. The "Angry Black Man" gives us his sleeper...

An Interview With Gabriel Dunston I speak with illustrator-artist Gabriel Dunston. We talk about his path as an artist from a child just doodling to attending music school and discovering his true calling. Gabriel and I also cover the philosophy of art and the culture behind the world of comic artists and illustrators. Gabe also talks about his experiences at conventions. He also shares the fact that he is color blind, and how he works within and around his unique situation as an artist....

Global Geek Defense Force: An Adventure in Live Streaming In this episode of the Global Geek Defense Force, our heroes face the dreaded "Attempt At Live Streaming", and failed miserably. However, we did get audio from the display of the heroic battle. Byron was on a mission to convince Matt to watch Netflix's The OA. Byron administered a viewership compatibility test that he swears wasn't from the fashion magazine "Elle". LeRon covers errors we made in the previous podcast (of which I...

Interview with Gail Z Martin On January 14th, I went to Illogicon in Cary (I know I say Raleigh, because they have held it there in the past). I got to interview Gail Z. Martin. Over the course of December, Gail I had planned multiple times to Skype the interview, but she was busy promoting her projects and the holidays, and it was a mess trying to sync up. However, when I found out that she was attending Illogicon, I knew this was our chance. Gail is a Charlotte based writer of Sci-Fi,...

Spoiler filled Rogue One Review I would like to preface this episode with "GO SEE THE MOVIE FIRST!" I do not want to taint your view of the movie going in. If you are one of those people that can deflect opinion and get passed other people's hang ups, then listen on! Now, let us continue on with my Rogue One review! Overall, I enjoyed this movie. It was fun. It had a lot of thrills. And the characters by and large were likeable. I had many things that I disliked about the movie, but it...

First Episode of Global Geek Defense Force This episode is the first using the mobile studio for the Global Geek Defense Force podcast. We set up shop at Byron's house where we are joined by LeRon and the Bearded Maker, Justin. Initially, the recorder wasn't receiving a loud enough signal and would shut down. So after a few false starts and redoing the intro once or twice, we were off and running. LeRon and I discuss Westworld at the beginning. We move on to our impressions of the...

Spoilerific Review: Doctor Strange Synopsis Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular role, Doctor Strange follows the famed surgeon through his downward and obsessive spiral following a devastating car crash which left him unable to continue his illustrious career. He finds himself in search of a mystical healer in Kamar-Taj to restore his hands to their former glory. He receives an education for which he did not prepare. Impressions My friend Byron and I took in the IMAX 3D showing of...

An Interview with Richard Rouse III Richard Rouse III started his game development career working for some major studios when he discovered that he needed to find his own voice and broke into the independent realm. He had previously started a publisher called Paranoid Productions to get his vision to the masses. The Church in the Darkness is Richard's upcoming release which follows a husband and wife religious "group" to South America to establish their perfect community. This overhead open...

An Interview with Josh Viola Josh Viola is an author, artist, and former video game developer (Pirates of the Caribbean, Smurfs, TARGET: Terror). In addition to creating a transmedia franchise around The Bane of Yoto, honored with more than a dozen awards, he is the author of Blackstar, a tie-in novel based on the discography of Celldweller. His debut horror anthology, Nightmares Unhinged, was a Denver Post number one bestseller. Josh's next anthology, Cyber World, co-edited by Jason Heller,...

And Interview with Bobby Stein Bobby Stein is a veteran writer and narrative designer for ArenaNet, the developer of the Guild Wars franchise. Bobby started his career with Microsoft, later moving onto Nintendo Entertainment. In addition to his love of writing, Bobby also have an ear for music. He's in a band with childhood friends and recently released a once thought lost recording: Boss Jim Gettys - Handy Street Sessions. @import...

An Interview with Jason Batt Jason Batt is the Creative and Editorial Director for the 100 Year Starship project founded by NASA and DARPA. And he happened into this role by chance, and his love for the stars and what possibilities the future may hold. Through this project, Jason founded the Annual Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing which covers fiction as well as nonfiction works. In addition to the organizations and boards he belongs to, Jason also writes. His early work...

An Interview with Jaym Gates Jaym Gates an an accomplished editor, writer, promoter, publicist, and PR guru. Her talents and work ethic proceed her, so much so that many writers in the Science Fiction community look to her to give their latest pieces a once over. She is the PR Officer for the Science Fiction Writers of America. Jaym is also a staple at conventions; She is usually sitting at the big table on numerous panels, or participating in impromptu gatherings outside of convention...