My Top Ten Picks for TableTop Guest-Players

So, my favorite show over on Geek and Sundry is Wil Wheaton’s TableTop.  If you haven’t seen it or at least heard of it, you are either not enough of a nerd to be reading my blog or you have been hiding under the preverbal rock.  Either way, it is a webseries in which Wil Wheaton level Celebrates play nerdy table top games (usually Euro style board games, but dice, card, roll playing, and Ameritrash games as well).  Here’s a sample episode (this episode runs about 25 minutes):

This list is my picks for Guest-Players who need to appear on the show. 

10.       Lisa Foiles – a quasi-famous former TV star turned internet phenomenon (like Wil Wheaton).  Lisa is probably best remembered for appearing on Nickelodeon’s All That, but is now better known as a video game journalist and web-star – previously hosting The Game Station’s Remag and currently hosting Top Five with Lisa Foiles.  Plus, we already know she’ll win, cause she’s a redhead, and redheads always win on TableTop. 

9.         Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer – probably not the biggest celebs to ever appear on TableTop (Jeri Ryan is at least as big, right? And Seth Green?).  This duo of BSG stars are no stranger to YouTube nerdom appearances.  Katee appears in Team Unicorn’s “Geek and Gamer Girls” music video and Tricia is in The Nerd Machine’s miniseries Trailer Park Heroes. 

8.         Adrianne Curry – this is either a stroke of genius or a recipe for disaster.  Should be fun to watch either way.  Not only is Adrianne a self admitted nerd and video gamer, but she also has a show Super Fans on Stan Lee’s World of Heroes YouTube channel and let’s face it, you can’t have more nerd cred than Stan Lee.  She is, however, a bit scandalous…and naughty…and nsfw.

7.         Joss Whedon – a god in the greater nerd pantheon, Whedon is responsible for Buffy, Firefly, Dr. Horrible, Dollhouse, and Marvel’s The Avengers.  He’s also responsible for Felicia Day (who first rose to nerd prominence in Buffy, Dr. Horrible, and Dollhouse) and he’s already made an appearance on Geek and Sundry starring in “Scary Smash,” the inaugural episode of Written By a Kid. 

6.         Dr. Drea Letamendi (@ArkhamAsylumDoc) – Fangirl, cosplayer, psychologist.  Drea is, in fact, Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon’s shrink in Gail Simone’s Batgirl.  Drea is also an expert on the psychology of “fandom.”

5.         Jim Parsons  – there is this one show, you may have heard of it.  It’s called something like The Big Bang Theory maybe, does that sound right?  Anyway, there’s this one character on the show named Dr. Sheldon Cooper and this Sheldon has an arch-nemesis named Wil Wheaton (played by Wil Wheaton, the host of TableTop).  Their rivalry is often expressed in friendly games of competition, such as bowling and the fictional trading card game Mystic Warlords of Ka’a.  Bringing Parsons onto TableTop – a show were Wil almost always looses – would finally allow Sheldon to pull one over on his mortal enemy.  Or maybe he’ll just yell “Wheeeeatoooon!”  Either way. 

4.         Liz Katz – or as my mom calls her: the naughty aerobics instructor (look for Super-Hero Boot Camp on YouTube to make that make more since).  Liz is a hard to classify girl.  She’s smart and funny and nerdy.  But she’s hot and dingy and hot, too.  Some of her videos are a little lame (I’m looking at you “I Don’t Wanna Be a Turtle”), but overall she’s pretty entertaining, if a little ADHD at times (to check her out better, head over to YouTube and take a look at her channel or watch my playlist “The Best of LizKatz.”

3.         Katie Wilson – let’s let Katie speak for herself:

A fan movement to get Katie onto TableTop is in the works and hopefully this one at least can come true.   On a side note: Chad and Angie from Screen Team Show would be another similarly ideal group to appear on the show, either in the same episode as Katie or in a separate one. 

2.         Nathan Fillion – ok, probably way out of Geek and Sundry’s budget, but we can always hope.  I mean, come on!  The Geek God himself on the Geek show!  Possibly in a themed episode with John Barrowman and Anne Wheaton.  And if you don’t know why you should definitely google image search “Nathan Fillion Wil Wheaton.”  It was the first two pics when I tried. 

1.         Me – I think that one is pretty self explanatory. 

So that’s my list.  Who would you like to see on TableTop?  Leave a comment or let me know on my twitter @nerdisnewcool.

Until next time,

Nerd Is The New Cool, signing off.

Nerdy Top Tens: #FF [Hashtag Follow Friday]

Hello, everyone and welcome to a special crossover edition with my twitter.  For those of you who are on twitter, you know that today – as this time every week – is Follow Friday.

Those of you who are not on twitter are likely asking, “What the hell is that?”  Good question.  Follow Friday is the tradition of tweeting one or more twitter feeds that you recommend for your follower to follow. 

Now, I usually try to post one or two #FFs a week… Ok, stop we should back up and establish some nomenclature. 

            Basic Twitter Glossary

Tweet – a short 140 character or less “microblog” entry.  Similar to a “status update” on Facebook.  For contextual aid, this definition is 160 characters long.

# Hashtag – the subject or subjects of a tweet.  It is a word(s) that are “tagged” to make it easier for someone interested in them to search for them or cross-reference them with other tweets.  Ex: if this had been a tweet, I might have ended it with #TwitterGlossary

There are lots more terms you need to know but for the sake of brevity you can check out this article for some of the more important ones: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/03/twitter-term-definitions/

            And now back to what we were actually talking about!

As I was saying, I usually try to post one or two #FFs every Friday – though I have missed a lot of Fridays.  But this week instead of posting a traditional #FF tweet, I’m preempting our regular programming here on Nerd Is the New Cool and posting a longer Nerdy Top Ten length #FF

Rather than a Countdown or Countup, I am doing them in no particular order. 

Nerdy Top Tens and @NerdIsNewCool Present

The Top Ten Twitter @s to Follow

Vsauce (@tweetsauce) This is your typical Stuff Is Neat/Science Show twitter feed.  Michael, the main man of the Vsauce empire, is also the host of the Vsauce channel over on youtube, where he gives quirky little science/philosophy lessons to views every week.  The @tweetsauce feed is more of the same, but in under 140 characters.  Plus, he does corny math/science jokes.  So there’s that, too.  Also, if you’ve read my blog “Top Ten Nerd Crushes” (warning banned in over 200 countries), then you know I’ve got something of a guy crush on Vsauce/Michael.  It’s the voice, it’s just so soothing.

Typical @tweetsauce tweets: “mammals come in almost every color…EXCEPT GREEN” and “If I help an astrologer divide the area of large salt-water bodies by r-squared does that make me a Pi-seas?”

Danica McKellar (@danicamckellar) Sorta kinda similar to Vsauce – but more math than science and with slightly better credentials…what’s your Erdos-Bacon Number, Michael? – but with a lot of ex-child star turned well rounded adult (#MythicalCreature?) type “my life” stuff.  Danica describes her tweeter as “Acting, Math, Yoga & Mommyhood! … and occasional random thoughts from deep inside my brain” plus on Thursdays she plays the #Palindrome game.  And oh look, I managed to make it all the way through without accidentally calling her “Winnie” once.

Typical @danicamckellar tweet: “Clue: Possible headline if Marilyn Monroe encountered some rodents. (3 wds) #NameThatPalindrome”

Nathan Fillion (@NathanFillion) Big fancy TV star really just a nerdy fanboy type.  Be he in your mind as Castle or Captain Mal or Captain Hammer or Green Lantern (suck it, Reynolds), Nathan Fillion is a fanboy’s fanboy.  Hilariously funny in his self-deprecatingly cocky “I’m-all-that” way, his feed is full of humorous quips and one-liners, usually in response to something someone tweeted @ him.

Typical @NathanFillion tweets: “Nerd HQ Haiku  So very geeked out. / How do I sleep after that? / A Game of Doctor Thrones Who.  Nailed it.” and “Must…focus on…tweeting. Too…excited… for …Comic Con.”   

Wil Wheaton (@wilw) Some odd collection of famous person/beer/nerd/crazy person tweets with a significant amount of “That’s What My Dog Said” to round it out.  You might recognize Wil from Eureka or Big Bang Theory or any one of his many things…but let’s face it, you either think he’s Wesley Crusher or Gordie Lachance. 

Typical @wilw tweets: “Me: You’re too big for the cat bed. Marlowe: IF I FITS I SITS. Me: But you don’t fits. Marlowe: IMAPUPPEH!” and “According to my email, I won a lot of foreign lotteries while I was at comicon.”

Anne Wheaton (@AnneWheaton) Wil Wheaton’s wife.  Because she’s better than him in every way.  Suck it, Wheaton.  Also, and more importantly #vandaleyes. 

Typical @AnneWheaton tweet:

 

I may have enhanced the beauty of the wall light decor in the convention center w/some #VandalEyes pic.twitter.com/t7UVYytqSq
— Anne Wheaton (@AnneWheaton) July 20, 2013

Joss Whedon (@josswhedon) Some guy, you’ve probably never heard of.  I think he describes himself best “Ladies man, man’s man, man about town… Java man, Isle of Man, Mandroid, Man Who Would Be King Ralph, girly man.” His twitter is mostly random WTF!? type stuff.  Wait…you do know who Joss Whedon is right? 

Typical @josswhedon tweets: “A fun thing to do on twitter is stop” and “ALWAYS QUSTION AUTHORITY! ‘Authority, may I use the restroom? No? Okay. Sorry.’”

Katrina Hill (@ActionChick) One of my all-time favorite tweeps.  Probably the most important reason she’s on this list is because of her infrequent #twittertip tweets. 

Typical @ActionChick tweets: “#twittertip #1: INTERACT! Also #1 Don’t be a tool unto others” and “*checks ammo, eyes the shadows*)

Drea (@ArkhamAsylumDoc) A real world psychologist, she made her bones studying the psychology of cosplay and fandom.  Also, she’s Batgirl’s shrink…no really. 

Typical @ArkhamAsylumDoc tweets: “I asked my dad if he saw Man of Steel.  He said yes we talked about it.  Halfway into the convo I realize he’s talking about Iron Man 3” and “I’d like to keep procrastinating by watching Beastmaster 2.  Apparently he travels to a future world called Los Angeles.”

Adrianne Curry (@AdrianneCurry) Ok, we all have that one person on twitter we usually don’t like to admit we follow.  I am very proud that Adrianne Curry is mine.  I’ll admit I follow her for the hot – yet often nerdy – twitpics and weird retweets as much as anything.  Warning: feed is sometimes risqué if not NSFW.

Typical @AdrianneCurry tweets:

Me and @AliciaMarieBODY with the hottest guy in the world pic.twitter.com/hP71lDe23F
— Adrianne Curry (@AdrianneCurry) July 20, 2013

And

Let us dance! #sdcc pic.twitter.com/33yBtHgNHu
— Adrianne Curry (@AdrianneCurry) July 20, 2013

Allison Scagliotti (@allisonscag) because #allisonscag4cassie that’s why!  That’s not the only reason why (love ya, Scags) but really, that’s enough. 

That’s my Ten, but now I wanna know your #FF pics.  Leave a comment below or @ me on twitter: @nerdisnewcool.

Also, some housekeeping.  There will be no new Five Dollar Bin today – you got this, don’t be greedy – nor will there be a new Nerdy Top Tens on Sunday.  I will be back on my regular posting schedule of Wednesday, Friday, Sunday – but really just whenever I feel like it – next week, so see you then.  I may even get around to a This Nerds Life on Monday but no promises there. 

Until next time,

Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.  

Top 10 Characters or Duoes Who Should Appear in the New Avengers Movie

With all the post-SDCC buzz about Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ant-Man, I felt the need to chime in with my 2 cents on the Mighty Marvel (Cinematic) Universe. 

I was originally going to do the 10 characters who should appear in the next Avengers movie, but that was impossible…so to save spaces, I made it characters or duos.  Still couldn’t weed it down.  So here is my Top 10 (+3) Characters or Duos Who Should Appear in the Next Avengers Movie

First off, the Bonus Round:

13.  Wonder Man: My absolute least favorite classic Avengers character.  Simon Williams started out as an Avengers villain but quickly redeemed himself, just in time to die.  Being a Marvel villain Wonder Man naturally didn’t stay dead, and being an Avengers villain he quickly reformed and became a member of the team. 

12.  Sharon “Agent 13” Carter: Captain America’s Silver Age (and most significant) girlfriend.  She is more important to the Cap franchise and needs to show up there (possibly first), but a quick cameo with SHIELD, of which she is a member, isn’t uncalled for here.  Also, let’s all remember that Sharon is Peggy Carter’s nearly identical looking sister/niece/whatever-the-sliding-timeline-is-currently-calling-her and can thus be played by Hayley Atwell from Captain America: The First Avenger. 

11.  The Sub-Mariner:  Cap’s debut movie featured a cameo by Marvel’s first hero The Human Torch, leaving his longtime ally/enemy Namor – who was among the Avenger’s earliest foes – MIA and desperately due for an appearance on screen.  Though, personally, I’d rather see him – along with Hulk, Dr. Strange, and the Silver Surfer – in a Defenders movie.  Stan, Joss, could ya’ll get on that for me?

And now, the actual Top 10 part of this Top 10 list:

10.  The Vision:  Another classic Avenger of whom I’m not a big fan.  But like Wonder Man, Vision *is* a classic.  Not the most glaring of errors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, but the lack of vision (ha, see what I did there? Comic gold) so far is in need of correction.

9.  Kang and/or Immortus: Kang and Immortus are among my favorite Avengers villains.  Citizen Kang being my favorite modern Avengers story.  Probably just a post-credits teaser for Avengers 3 (as my picks below will make clear, they aren’t the main villain(s) of this story). 

8.  Hercules: He should be an Avenger, he is after all one of the classics (I’m invoking that a lot on here aren’t I?) but I’d settle for a drunken brawl with Thor either here or in Thor: The Dark World  Fights with some of the others, such as Hulk, could also be enjoyable. 

7.  Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver: Yes, they were X-Men characters first, and yes Quicksilver was more or less in the third X-Men movie, but along with Cap and Hawkeye, these two were the Avengers for quite a while. 

6.  Enchantress and The Executioner: Between Thor and The Avengers how have these two not shown up yet.  The Enchantress is by far Thor’s coolest villain and is a deep, complex character – not as deep and complex as the movie version of Loki, but deep and complex none the less.  And a brawl between Executioner and Thor or Hulk would be much more Cinematically pleasing than the whipping Loki took from the Jolly Green Giant in Avengers.   

5.  Captain Mar-Vell:  Ok, so he was never an Avenger, and he wasn’t even in the title that often, but Thanos was in the post-credits scene and let’s face it Thanos wasn’t an Avengers villain.  Thanos was a Captain Mar-Vell villain, an Adam Warlock villain, and a Silver Surfer villain… Just be happy I didn’t put Adam Warlock on the list and move on. 

Side Note: Damn!  I forgot Carol!  The whole list is invalid! Side Note Ends.

4.  Black Panther: I could once again invoke the “classic” argument for T’Challa but I think a better argument would be, in a team with a rich diverse collection of characters, in a Universe where the traditionally white Nick Fury is African American, why are all the characters Caucasians?   Black Panther was among the first black heroes, Marvel’s third after Waku, Prince of the Bantu (an Atlas Comics character) and Gabe Jones (from Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandoes) and the first black Super-Hero (with super-power) from any company. 

3.  Baron Zemo:  My first pick for the main villain in Avengers 2 is – of course – Thanos.  But my second pick is Zemo – introduce him in the WW2 section of Captain America: The Winter Soldier first then have him over here leading the Masters of Evil: Enchantress, Executioner, Wonder Man, Radioactive Man (likely to appear in Iron Man 3).  Maybe do both, have this be the something “more personal.  More painful” Whedon talked about and Thanos this looming threat in the background. 

2.  Rick Jones: I don’t need to say anything here.  Marvel should just be ashamed he wasn’t in The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers and correct the situation with Avengers 2. 

1.  Henry Pym and The Wasp: Ok, what Marvel and/or Avengers fan didn’t see this coming as number 1?  Pym and Wasp were founding Avengers.  They were there before all the characters listed above as “classics”, before Hawkeye and Black Widow, even before Captain America “The First Avengers” himself.  Avengers number 1 starred Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man (Pym), Wasp, Rick Jones, and Loki. 

By the way, I say Pym not Ant-Man for two reasons.  Number 1: I want Hank Pym not Scott Lang or any of the other Ant-Men.  And Number 2: I’d be cool with Pym as Giant-Man.  Wasp is going to give us our shrinking hero, Pym can be a growing one instead. 

 

So that’s my list.  The Top 10(? 13? 17?) Characters for Avengers 2.   That is of course not counting the others characters who should be in it…Thanos, a cameoing Stan Lee, Phil Coulson, everybody from the first film…

Now I wanna see your list… Who do you want to see in the next Avengers film (or anywhere else in the Marvel Cinematic Universe).  Let me know in the comments below or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool. 

Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off

 

Top Ten Cancelled Too Soon TV Shows

On her YouTube vlog, Katie Wilson recently posted a video asking her fans what their favorite cancelled too soon TV show was. That got me thinking...there have been a lot of great TV shows, especially genre shows (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror) that have been either too smart or too original for network TV and been cancelled early on. Some classic examples like Firefly and Crusade where cancelled before the first episode ever even aired.

Here is my list of the Ten Greatest Cancelled Too Soon TV Shows

Honorable Mentions: I was very tempted to include Quantum Leap on this list but its ending was just a little too satisfactory for me (my dad on the other hand *hates* the ending).  I also originally included Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip but took it off deciding it didn’t fit with the overall theme of the rest of the list – Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genre shows. 

10. The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993-1994; 1 Season/27 Episodes) - This sci-fi/western/comedy had more inaccuracies than Xena and King Arthur combined, but that was a large part of the appeal.  The wronger it got; the cooler it was.  Bounty hunter Brisco, played by the incomparable Bruce Campbell, along with his colorful ensemble of allies – including an Elvis impersonating sheriff, a mad scientist, and a horse who puts Lassie to shame when it comes to saving the day – went up against  super-powered villains, time travelling criminals, desert pirates, and a real Psycho (in a Hitchcock inspired episode).  The first season wrapped up most of the plotlines and came to an acceptable conclusion – though a couple of series regulars were absent from the finale – but more seasons were planned and unfortunately never came to light. 

9. Crusade (1999; less than 1 Season/13 Episodes) – Ok, so Crusade kinda sucked… a lot.  But it shouldn’t have.  The followup to Babylon 5 – one of, if not the, best science fiction shows of all time – should have been great.  And it might have been, but repeated interference from the network forced changes and disrupted the storyline, which was then further hurt by the show being aired out of order.  Even with the great J. Michael Straczynski at the helm, Crusade never stood a chance. 

8.  Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009; 2 Seasons/31 Episodes) – Not as good as the first two films, on par with the third, and way better than the fourth.  I could have lived with it cancelling had the ending not been a cliff hanger.  A three hour movie or mini-series could successfully wrap it up for me. 

7.  Surface (2005-2006; 1 Season/15 Episodes) – Admittedly, Surface didn’t start very strong.  But by the season finale, it had managed to evolve into an evoking and engaging series with a compelling mystery at its center.  In my opinion, it had moved from cheap imitation of Lost to a superior entertainment.    Invasion another show from the same time suffered the same cycle as Surface. 

6.  American Gothic (1995-1996; 1 Season/22 Episodes) – It’s hard to write this one because unlike the rest of the series on this list I haven’t seen an episode in the 16 years since it went off the air.  A supernatural detective story of sorts, American Gothic had the small town mythos that has worked so well with more recent shows like Haven.  The local sheriff, played by Crusade’s Gary Cole, making his second appearance on the list, may have been the Devil, but at the very least he was a powerful and charismatic evil entity.  The show also featured Sling Blade’s Lucas Black, and Honorable Mention Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’s Sarah Paulson. 

5.  Carnivàle (2003-2005; 2 Seasons/24 Episodes) – The first book ended, but a lot wasn’t answered and a lot was left hanging is … dead? Is …? And for that matter is …?  It was what shows like Lost, Tru Blood, and Game of Thrones struggle to be – and usually successes at – but it got there first…a mythos filled television novel.  Not the best show on this list, but probably the one I most want to get brought back. 

4. Heroes (2006-2011; 4 Seasons/78 Episodes) – Aw…if only they’d brought it back for a third season…oh what could have been.  But seriously, after a couple of week seasons, Heroes left us on a compelling cliffhanger.  It made a few mistakes – as far back as the second season things were going astray – but it managed to be one of the smartest and most engaging Super-Hero shows of all time.  Excluding cartoons, it is probably second only to Lois and Clark as the best Super-Hero series ever. 

3.  Gargoyles (1994-1997; 3 Seasons/78 Episodes) – One of my all-time favorite shows of all-time.  Killed twice.  One of many reasons Disney sucks.  The Avengers movie almost makes up for cancelling Gargoyles but not quiet.  This kids show had almost as much mythos as Carnivàle and Lost and sometimes executed it better than the latter.  Demona is still one of my favorite Super-Villains…

2. Tie – Firefly (2002; less than 1 Season/14 Episodes) and Dollhouse (2009-2010; 2 Seasons/26 Episodes) – Joss Whedon is known for complex storytelling, witty dialog, quirky ensemble casts, and network interference.  Both of these shows exemplify those qualities – especially the last one.  Both shows were incredible, smart, funny and dramatic, TV.  Both were destroyed by Fox; the first quiet possibly intentionally.  Firefly’s follow-up movie Serenity concluded the show and answered the unanswered questions about River Tam, but the adventures of Mal and Serenity’s crew were far from completed and could have lasted for years if allowed.  Dollhouse suffered the same fate, forced into a too quick conclusion though it lasted a bit longer first.  Echo’s story was pushed into a conclusion but it was far from the natural fluid ending one would expect from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dr. Horrible.  Fox should be ashamed of itself, it let the Simpsons go for years after it stopped being any good but killed these two shows in their prime. 

1. Farscape (1999-2003, 2004; 4 Seasons/Episodes and a Mini-Series/2 Episodes) – Farscape was one of those shows that knew exactly what it was, but no one glancing at it understood it.  A quick look while flipping through the channels would not stop many viewers – the show featured puppets as main characters! – and its smart writing and incredible storyline were lost to many.  Killed way before its time, the show ended on a cliffhanger (the apparent death of two main characters followed by the dread words To Be Continued).  The Sci-Fi channel brought the show back a year later for a 2 episode mini-series to wrap up loose ends but condensing what should have been a 22 episode season into four hours took a toll on the finale.   The mini might have concluded the show, but a single additional season might have more successfully brought it to a close. 


Well, that wraps this countdown up, but I know I missed a ton of great shows.  Just in the course of writing this I had to kick Due South and Time Trax out to make room for American Gothic and Carnivàle, once I thought of them. 

Feel free to let me know in the comments or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool what shows you think should have made the list. 

Check out Random Thoughts With Katie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCEhyP9f-IA&feature=g-u-u.  Give her a like and subscribe…she’s a true treasure of the nerd community.

Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off