Comic Book Thursdays: Basic Tips for Impressing Lady Nerds

Being a single, female nerd in a world where people rarely understand what you’re looking for is tough. Considering that most stereotypes assume we are all losers with no lives and limited intelligence and/or maturity makes it tougher. As a single nerd of the female persuasion, I’ve run into a lot of Sheldons and Simpson’s comic book guys while I search for that nerdy significant other.

This week, I’ll attempt to provide some tips that while obvious; tend to fly over intelligent brains. They are based on my own experiences and while they may not work on all nerdy girls out there, I think it will significantly raise your odds at approaching one successfully.

Gaming Wednesdays Supplement- So What About Final Fantasy XI?

I’ve decided to assist Doctor Q’s article and provide an overview on one of the main Final Fantasy games he missed out on.

Final Fantasy XI earned its place in the chronology as the first online entry. Released between 2002 and 2003, it was the first MMORPG that could be played on different platforms but on the same servers. Throughout the years, versions for PS2, PC, XBOX and Steam were released and players on all these platforms were able to unite under one banner.

Gaming Wednesdays 4.5: The (de?)evolution of Final Fantasy - Part III

Earlier today we went over the 32 bit Fantasies, and it came to light that 2 out of the 3 titles were really solid, whereas one was rather mediocre despite having the more complex (and unlikable) characters of the three. This brings us to Final Fantasy X. This Final Fantasy has incredibly interesting characters and a solid, fleshed out story featuring interesting protagonists. Featuring a cool mentor character (who happens to be undead), a wannabe sports star, a summoner torn between duty and life and love, and your hero trying to live up to his father's legacy who is torn from his world and is suddenly forced to decide between going back home or saving the world, the story in FFX is one that focuses on human sacrifice, human nature, the struggle of humanity vs nature, control by religion, and a duality of realities. The battle system which allows active switching of characters is also solid. What keeps this game from possibly being one of the greatest Final Fantasies of all time is the 'feel' of the game. The game world feels more linear than the previous fantasies, and in a full chronology of the design of the Final Fantasy worlds this would be the game to point at which led to the disaster that was the full linearity of Final Fantasy 13. However overall, FF X was solid, and in my mind it does represent a leap in quality. While subjectively it is not the best game we have covered so far (in my mind that would be a tie between 6 and 7), objectively it does improve over the others so much because of technology that we can consider it the superior title. 

Gaming Wednesdays 4: The (de?)evolution of Final Fantasy - Part II

Last week we went over the 2D fantasies and explained how Final Fantasy 6 was not only the pinacle of storytelling in any 2D final fantasy, but also probably one of the greatest stories ever created. However, despite all its narrative glory and its multi-layered characters (a playboy king with brother issues, a knight struggling with the loss of a kingdom and the afterlife of his family, a commander torn between loyalty to her country and doing what's right and who is also a love interest for a treasure hunter who is dealing with the loss of a loved one and his desire for this commander), Final Fantasy 6 is not the most important fantasy in the series. That title goes to Final Fantasy 7. 

A battle from FF 7

Released on 1997 for the Sony Playstation, Final Fantasy 7 brought the genre of role plaing games to the mainstream. The visuals were excellent for the time, and the low-poly models still look cute to this day. Although the characters were fairly one dimensional when compared to those of FF6 (here we have a kid with multiple personality disorder, a villain with mommy issues, a 'nice girl' flower girl, the stoic goth vampire, and the "everything that's wrong with African American stereotypes" character), the overall story itself lives up to the epic proportions set by FF 6. While the story in 6 featured a corrupt empire, freedom fighters, the end of the world, suicide, and the quest for identity, the story in 7 features a more straightforward yet equally important story of a corrupt organization exploiting the planet for the sake of profits and a deranged maniac bent on mass genocide. If anything, the overall story of 7 gives players a better premise than 6 (although it does fall a bit short in the implementation). The mechanics are fairly standard. Normal exploration, turn based battles, and a new system for learning skills (as is the trend of FF, to introduce a new skills system with almost every game) are fairly standard fare. What puts FF7 over the top is the Golden Saucer and its minigames. Chocobo Racing and the snow boarding minigames (among others) give the game a very high replay value. In the end, how does FF 7 stack up to 6? It depends. If you value story and characters, 6 comes out on top. If you value overall concept and replayability, 7 wins. In my mind, they are just about the same.

Reality TV: Are You Not Entertained?

Some time back, I spoke about role models for girls and how I thought that this new generation of girls and women didn't have good fictional heroines to look up to. Sure, talking about fiction is all nice and dandy, but what about when it's real? What are we aiming for with reality TV? What are we supposed to take from it?

I guess the answer is nothing. It is meant to be entertainment after all. But when you inject reality into the equation, we have to begin to question how disturbing is our desire to be entertained. What do we as a society consider too much in regards to our amusement?

Reality TV as Represented in Fiction

Reality stars acting real.

Though Reality TV dates back to the mid 40s, the version of it we know today began with MTV's The Real World (1992). Then, in the early 2000s, Survivor made reality TV even more popular. These two shows are the ones that set the template for contemporary reality TV. On the one hand, we have the Kardashians show, Duck Dynasty, Jersey Shore, and other shows similar in structure. These are the "follow a group of people around and see what they do" side of reality TV. On the other side, we have the competition reality TV; that is, we have your Master Chefs, American Idols, and Bachelors. Whatever other sub-genres they fit into (extraordinary people, dating, law enforcement, etc), almost every major reality show will follow one of these two formats: see people do things in their everyday lives, or see people compete.  And it seems that with every new iteration of a reality TV program, these shows are becoming more invasive and extreme.  Join me now in a flight of fancy as we think about the future of reality TV and its ultimate unraveling as a tool of control and intimidation, rather than one of mass entertainment.

Supernatural: The Anime Recap - Episode 1 "The Alter Ego"

Due to the semi-obscure nature of this anime and the fact that people have very mixed reactions to it, I proposed to the Pop Trends crew to allow me to run this feature in order to spare the Supernatural fans the trouble of watching it. Otaku K and Doctor Q have different opinions on it and since I covered it in a previous post, we decided to recap this 22-episode series.

The fact that I own it on DVD didn’t hurt my chances either. Though if you want to follow us by watching, I think YouTube has the full episodes.

So, let’s begin.

Comic Book Thursdays #2: Cinderella Robins

To celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary, DC is releasing a new direct to video animated movie. With the trailer just released, Son of Batman stars Batman and the latest Robin, Damian Wayne, his biological son.

Yes. Batman has a son. Drugs were possibly involved, but that’s another subject.

It raises the question, with this Robin having so little history compared to others, how come he gets a movie? Let’s take a brief look at the five main Robins and see which one is Cinderella, the hardest worker with the least recognition.

Gaming Wednesdays 3: The (de?)evolution of Final Fantasy - Part I

The original Final Fantasy was released  on December 17th 1987, almost a year after the first Dragon Warrior. Following the Dragon Warrior formula of swords and sorcery fantasy but improving on the exploration and battle mechanics, Final Fantasy quickly became a prominent name in the RPG genre. Featuring a turn-based battle mechanic and a large and somewhat open world, the game tickled the imagination of those fortunate enough to play it.

Since this first title, the franchise has undergone many revisions. Many fans of the series, as does my friend, have commented on how the series began an exponential rise in quality which peaked somewhere between Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy VII, and since then the series has been in a steady decline. I'm here to argue that this is not the case, that the history of Final Fantasy and the quality of its (main, numbered) games is filled with ups and downs, and that, if graphed, it would look more like a cordillera than a lone peak. 

Adaptations - The Bizarre Case of Supernatural: The Anime Series

   Adaptations plague us these days. I cringe whenever I hear Hollywood is turning a beloved book, cartoon or even toys I love into a movie or series. Available in all kinds, if you want an adaptation of your favorite show or book in another medium, it probably exists. Most popular shows right now come from other sources. True Blood and The Walking Dead came from a book and a comic book series respectively.  Almost everything  is adapted from something else and every industry does it, from making books into movies to turning TV shows into books.

                (Left) Cover for Dead Until Dark, book 1 of the Sookie Stackhouse novels (2009 Ace Books edition) ; (Right) Cover for The Walking Dead #1 (Image Comics, Oct. 2003) 

Adaptations And their Merits, Source Material Aside

There are nearly countless commentators who say that book versions are better than movie versions and movie versions are better than the game versions. There is, it seems, a hierarchy of media supremacy that ranks the oldest media as the "best". It has to do with faithfulness to the source material, it seems. "The book is better". It's a common mantra of criticism that along with "the book has more details", "the book has better character development", and " the movie is not faithful to the book" seem to form a mantra of adaptation commentary. Instead of repeating it, let me instead posit that the value of adaptations should not be measured on how accurately it follows the original, but on how well it uses the native elements unique to its given form of media. 

Comic Book Thursdays #1- How Death and True Stories Defined a Lifetime Obsession

  

   When I was eight years old, DC Comics killed Superman in 1993. Having only known Superman from the Christopher Reeve movies, I really didn’t know him in the comics. I remember the news raving about it and before I knew it, there was a copy of Superman #75 in my house. I read it, loved it and later on, began collecting the Reign of the Supermen story line. Since comics weren’t a big thing where I lived, I managed to get most of the singles. Though I missed a bit of the story at the time, it was still my favorite.

Superman #75, 1993. DC Comics.

    As a teenager, I worked at a bookstore’s cafe which ironically was on top of a comic book store. It was the best job ever. I met local authors, served them coffee and got advice that made my teen years bearable. To my literature addicted fifteen year old self, it was like being star struck every day. Little by little, I begun to deviate from superheroes and begun reading fantasy comics or darker super hero stuff. Mainly titles like Aria, Rising Stars and Sandman.

Gaming Wednesdays 2.5: How to Get Into Gaming (if you're new to gaming) Part II

So... get a PS 3.

Now, you will no doubt hear people say it's old tech and that the new hardware is better, and that's certainly true. However, this doesn't mean that 7th gen games  are inferior. Indeed, they look a bit less impressive than their 8th gen counterparts, but as of right now the difference isn't that impressive. More importantly, while it's true that from sometime this summer moving forward games will be released on the new consoles, the 7th gen has plenty of amazing titles to give. In fact, I'm not sure that games in the 8th gen will measure up to the greatest of the 7th gen in any way but visuals. 

Gaming Wednesdays 2: How to Get Into Gaming (if you're new to gaming) Part 1

I promised last week that I would talk a bit about people who are new to gaming. They are, after all, the only logical potential consumers of the Steamboxes which were the subject of last week's post.  And so, if you, dear reader, are not a gamer but think that videogames seem fun and are thinking about getting into gaming, this post is for you. And for everyone else, feel free to flame in the comments section.

So you want to get into gaming. A lot of other places will recommend whatever their personal preference of latest console is. Instead, I will give you the lowest cost gateway. 

Period Pieces in Comics- A Light Reflection on Maus and Pop Culture

When my two colleagues and I were discussing time period pieces, I was skeptical. I didn’t know what to write mine on, since I tend to dislike period pieces. I admit I like things with a history, but not history in general. There are some exceptions of course, in my case they are graphic novels.

Graphic novels and comics don’t always get the respect they deserve as a storytelling medium. However, they often present us with a semi-accurate portrayal of pop culture relevant issues.

Gaming as Period Pieces

                         

In various conversations, V, K, and myself decided that on the weekends each of us would post a short piece on a given broad topic, and or Most Glorious Master, Otaku K, put on her big girl clothing and decided that this weekend the topic would be "period pieces". Ok, it was a bit of a democratic selection process in which I was outvoted 2-to-abstain, but still. 

So I started thinking about period pieces to write about. I recently saw two seasons of Borgias (not the Showtime version) on Netflix, I've seen an episode or two of Tudors, I've seen a few films that deal with Victorian or Medieval era characters, but nothing that really caught my attention. Then, I thought: what if I write about videogames?

Why not indeed. Let's give it a try.

Gaming Wednesdays 1: Steam Machines

I've decided to start a section called Gaming Wednesdays, where I fondly write about games and gaming. And today I want to talk about the Steambox. In the works for a while, a Steambox is somewhat of a cross between a game console and a personal computer in the sense that it runs a proprietary version of Linux and its main purpose is to play games purchased through Valve's highly overrated online distribution platform known as Steam. Techradar, Digital Trends, and other places have raved about these machines at length. They are put together by third party companies and sold at prices ranging from $500.00 to almost $2,00.00. I don't intend to make announcements, or even rank the different boxes in any order. Instead, I want to raise a question: who, exactly, is the target audience for these pieces of hardware?

Everyday pop culture- Glitter, Smarts and Zombie Hunting Princesses

   As I went Christmas shopping one day, I decided to treat myself to a yogurt.  As I snacked and mused on my journal, a mom and her four year old girl sat down next to me. I smiled at the girl and she struck up a conversation with me. Complimenting my Batman T-shirt and noticing a Disney store bag, she asked what I bought. I answered that I purchased a Queen Elsa doll for my niece but I hadn't seen the movie at the time, so I wasn't sure if she might like it. The girl delightfully assured me that my niece would love it because all girls wants to be princesses and wear glitter.

   Princesses and glitter? Is that what all girls want to be now? Did I miss that memo?

Welcome! Bienvenidos! Bienvenue! Benvenuto!

Welcome to Pop Trends!!

Now there's a simple little plot line isn't there? You adventurously clicked on a link that somehow led you here and you reached this post. Then you saw that this is (for now), a simple little blog that wants to grow and somehow it not only appealed to that geeky side of you, it seemed quaint enough for you become a regular visitor. "Carpe Diem" you said to yourself, "I'll keep watch just to see how high these guys' geek flag can fly".

Except that like most "Nerds", "Geeks" and other terms blatantly abused by the media, we've been flying it for ages. Whether it's games, movies, literature or TV shows, we've always run under a banner that some people just tend to look the other way in order to not admit it exists. Luckily, in this day and age, society is way more accepting. Perhaps to an intricate degree. You know it is a victory for pop culture everywhere when the Doctor Who 50th anniversary is top worldwide news, The Avengers are recognized worldwide as a new standard of awesome and E! Entertainment covers the San Diego Comic Con.

But we wonder, what happens to that "Nerd" that wants to go beyond standard stereotypes? That Nerdette who wants to match her Dalek dress with designer heels or the geek who studied psychology and wants to psychoanalyze Superman? What about that literature student who wants to find the link between the Divine Comedy by Dante and its meaning in Assassins' Creed and that one guy who wonders every day in his waking life if Katniss Everdeen is a better shot than Green Arrow? That's what we offer you, fellow mouse clicking adventurer. A haven for these things and I promise, no one will judge you (unless you are disrespectful).

So here I extend a hand in welcome to you. Sit down, drink some hot chocolate on us (or tea if that's your thing) and let your imagination fly. We'll be right here waiting for you to click back and visit us again.