This time it’s a whole lot easier to order and pay for the T-shirts.   Plus, they’re new and improved.   If you want the classic GOL shirt, click on the link at the top of the page to the official Big Honkin Show/Geek Out Loud store.   There are two new GOL shirt designs coming later this week, but if you’re looking for a new and improved classic look to the Geek Out Loud original, it’s ready to be ordered now.   Orders will be available through Friday, August 6th, so don’t hesitate…order now!

The year was 1987.  I was ten years old and was super excited that a new Superman movie was on the horizon.  I had worn out our copies of  SUPERMAN THE MOVIE and SUPERMAN II that we recorded from the ABC Sunday night movie.   I had gone with some friends of our family to see SUPERMAN III and now we got a new a Superman movie?

In my book, Superman movies were just below Star Wars in my little guy geek spectrum.   So it was that my dad took me to see what would be Christopher Reeve’s final portrayal of The Man of Steel.

Even as a chunky ten year old kid I knew something was off about this movie.  There was too much humor.  Superman always looked just the same when he came flying onto the screen.  By “looked the same,” I mean that it appeared that someone had cut out a picture of Superman flying and pasted it onto the film.  (Apparently that’s exactly what they did.)

In the years that followed, whenever I talked to friends or fans about SUPERMAN IV, it was always the same thing.  ”That’s the worst Superman movie EVER!”  ”They should have stopped with three.” “It’s sooo bad.”

The problem is I could never not watch it.  If it happened to be on TV, or if it was in a video store to rent, I loved to watch it.  When I finally got the first set of Superman movie DVDs that were released back in 2001 I would often come home on a Sunday afternoon, pop in SUPERMAN IV and watch it again and again.

For a few years, this was something I would never admit to my geekier friends except jokingly.  Why?  Because everywhere I turned, whenever Superman IV was mentioned, it was mentioned in groans and moans.

I refuse to accept that SUPERMAN IV is a movie with NO redeeming qualities, and I refuse to believe that it’s simple childhood memories that fuel my love for SUPERMAN IV.  In fact, I maintain that were it not for the poor special effects, SUPERMAN IV may not be held in such disdain.

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Let’s just stop and think about Pixar for a second.  It seems that every film that Pixar has done has been the new standard by which other animated films are judged…until the next Pixar film comes along.  I remember seeing TOY STORY for the first time in 1995.  I was blown away by how real some of the backgrounds looked.  I genuinely laughed at all the jokes.  I was was caught up in a fun story about two characters forming an unlikely friendship in the most unlikely of places.

The Pixar movies that came after equally impressed me.  From the retelling of  ”The Ant and The Grasshopper” in A BUG’S LIFE to Sully’s fur in MONSTERS INC.  to the Super Hero team movie that showed how other team up movies should be done in THE INCREDIBLES to the very adult themes in UP, Pixar has consistently surprised me with the ability to knock it out of the park everytime the studio steps up to the plate.

Right off the bat, I will tell you that, for me, TOY STORY 3 was no exception.   I would never say that Buzz and Woody are part of my childhood.  I was in college when Toy Story hit the scene.  So, there was no way that the gang from Andy’s room could have been a part of my childhood, but they were a big part of the point in my life when movies began to become something a little more than a distraction to me.  Toy Story was part of a time in my life when I began to watch movies a little more critically, when I began to pay attention to trailers a little more closely, when I began to seek out reviews from respected critics, and when I began to truly define my cinematic tastes.   So, Pixar holds a special place for me inasmuch as in the past 15 years or so, I have been able to point friends and other geeks to Pixar as THE movie studio that “gets it.”

Now, confession time.

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Jesse from Star Wars Book Report is back with number 9 of his top ten favorite Star Wars Expanded Universe moments of all time.  This time he takes us to the pages of THE PARADISE SNARE and a quite emotional moment from the life of everyone’s favorite smuggler-rebel Han Solo.

I grew up in Florida, and I have a great deal of family in Tennessee, and there was nothing in this world I hated more than the drive to Tennessee to visit relatives.  It was not because I had to hear about how much I have grown even though I was the same height and weight of my last visit.  It was not that I had to share a bed with who knows how many cousins.  It wasn’t because my cheeks could only take so much pinching.  It was not even because of my crazy Aunt Jo Blair, nor the long drive itself.  I hated going to Tennessee because of my dad’s music collection that we had to listen to for nine hours…there is only so much Porter Wagner, Hank Snow, and others who all sing through their noses, that one man can take.  These old country and western stars of yesteryear drove me crazy.  I begged and begged my dad to listen something current like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi; heck, I would even have listened to New Kids on the Block if it got us off of country oldies for a few minutes.  But of course, I had to hear about the time my dad met this star or that star when he worked at the Grand Ole’ Opry in 1968, and he just cranked the oldies even louder.

I made a vow on one of those long journeys with myself that I would never listen to just oldies.  I vowed that I would always keep my musical taste current.  There was just one problem with that vow.  No one told me that music was going to become horrible at the turn of the millennium.  That whole Y2K business we were worried about missiles, banks, electricity, water and the like, but we totally ignored the music business, and that is where the Y2K bug attacked. and music has never been the same.  Now, in my car, my kids are cultured on good music like Def Leppard, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, The Bangles, and even the New Kids on the Block.  Please Don’t Go Girl, I must admit is a great song.  One day as I was teaching my eldest daughter the lyrics to Allison’s Starting to Happen by the Lemonheads…I realized something…I have turned into my father, and you know, as horrible as I thought that was twenty years ago, now, I am kind of proud to be him because music today is just terrible.  We are all products of our upbringing, and since I work with teenagers, I am fascinated about how our upbringings shape us either by imitation or by revulsion.  I find the events that shape people to be fascinating, and that it why the number nine scene made the list of my favorite scenes of all time.

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I have this friend named Crevice.  Well, his real name is Matt, but I call him Crevice.  He calls me Crevice.  It’s complicated.

Crevice knew that I was going to see IRON MAN 2 at midnight last night, so he stopped by today to ask me what I thought.  His main question was, “Is it as good as the first one.”  My answer?  I don’t know.

IRON MAN 2 is a great movie.  The action is ramped up from the first movie.  The characters are all like friends that have been missed for a while.  The story is…well…it’s an Iron Man story.   The story…moves…

I liked the movie.  I really did.  But I think there are a few factors that may play into me being a bit more critical of the movie than I want to be.  Read on after the jump to see what you think.  Spoilers will be present and heavy, so you may want until you’ve seen it to read my full review.  I DO recommend that you see the movie.   Its one not to be missed…flaws and all.

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