Giant Geek Vs. Mega N00b

I never really got into anime in the way that a lot of other geeky kids did. Dragonball Z? Did not care. Pokémon? I watched the first season or two of the anime, but the video games were always first in my heart. Digimon? Yeah, no.So, I was surprised in college to really get into the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which borrows heavily from anime. It tells the story of an epic war fought by element-"bending" humans, a group of children who must save the planet, and some bizarrely cute hybrid animals.On this episode of Giant Geek vs. Mega n00b, I tasked Emily with watching the first five episodes of season one of Avatar: "The Boy in the Iceberg" through "The King of Omashu." Join us!If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you can watch Avatar: The Last Airbender for free on Amazon Instant Video. You can also stream some episodes on Nickelodeon's website (not all of them, like we said in the episode). Or, you can buy individual episodes from iTunes or Amazon for $2 apiece.Oh, and prob

Topic: A Tale of Two Cities (books one and two)Geek: EmilyThis week embark on our lengthiest bit of culture yet: reading Dickens.I'm not sure when or why I read A Tale of Two Cities the first time, but I was pretty quickly hooked - and immediately started rereading it. You must understand, I'm not a big re-reader, in general. There are very few things I read over and over (basically this, Harry Potter, and Sabriel), and this tops the list BY FAR. It's just so good! And frankly so complicated that you kind of have to go back over the details again once you finish it.So needless to say, I was pretty pumped to see what Eric thought. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

WE'RE BACK!Here's the first episode of Giant Geek vs. Mega n00b Season 2. In it, Eric challenges Emily to overcome years of video game evasion and play Hearthstone, a free digital card game made by Blizzard.You can play Hearthstone on iOS and Android devices (just search for it in the App Store), or download a PC version of the game for your Windows or Mac computer at Battle.net.For more Giant Geek vs. Mega n00b, visit GVNpodcast.com. And please leave a review for us on iTunes! We'll be back next week to talk about the first half of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Christmas special! Eric's favorite Muppet Christmas movie is "A Muppet Family Christmas," a TV special originally released in 1987. Emily's is "The Muppet Christmas Carol," which was released theatrically in 1992. So, who is right?Naturally, we watched both of them, and to get the most out of this episode, you should, too. "The Muppet Christmas Carol" is available to rent for $3 from Google, Vudu, Sony and Apple. And "A Muppet Family Christmas" is available to stream on YouTube at http://tiny.cc/muppetgeek.Happy holidays to all of our listeners. Giant Geek vs. Mega n00b will be back in January for a new season of episodes. For more, visit http://geekvsn00b.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topic: A View to a KillGeek: EmilyFor the second part of our super special double-whammy season finale we're circling back to where we started: James. Bond.We're vaulting from one end of the Bond spectrum to the other, from the sublime(ly awesome) to the ridiculous(ly sublime). A View to a Kill is Roger Moore's last movie as the superspy, and he's got the world's best possible Bond villains opposite him: Christopher Walken as a psychotic genetic experiment and Grace Jones as his unspeakably great right-hand woman.It rocks, you guys. It just rocks.Just bask in the Duran Duran. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Eric and Emily discuss the second half of Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hello friends! We'll be back this week with another new episode, finally rectifying the fact that although he is obsessed with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Eric is oblivious to Sarah Michelle Gellar's other iconic teen starlet roles of the late 90s and early aughts.Yes, that means we're watching Cruel Intentions.As always, be sure to watch it before you listen! There will be many spoilers. Find it here: Amazon; Google Play; Vudu. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topic: Watchmen (first half)Geek: EricThis week, we finally get to something I've been wanting to discuss since before we started this podcast: The graphic novel Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.Even if you saw the mediocre 2009 film and didn't like it, don't close this tab. I saw it, too, and was confused more than anything else. It's only in the shadow of the far, far superior book that its problems come into clarity.But we're not here to talk about a lousy movie (well, Emily and I talk about it a little bit). We're (mostly) here to talk about a great book, which was also my introduction point to the world of "grown-up" graphic novels.Published in 12 installments between September 1986 and October 1987, Watchmen is both a story about superheroes and a story about superheroes, and the comics that depict them. Along with the seminal Batman miniseries The Dark Knight Returns*, it interrogated ideas long taken for granted, like if/how super-powered beings (or, variously, normal-powered vigilantes with a

It's time for another book! And that means another two-parter. This week, we're tackling the first half of Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.Watchmen is no ordinary book. It's what some folks call a "comic book," but those of us who know better call a "graphic novel." Unlike the innumerable serialized Superman or Spider-Man stories, it's a self-contained work, starring characters that don't appear elsewhere. It's also a goldmine of ideas to discuss.Given that Watchmen is widely considered to be a crossover title to the broader literary world, it shouldn't be too hard to find Watchmen at your local bookstore, or (since those are becoming as rare as Coke in green glass bottles), at your local box-shaped corporate monolith. For those not inclined to leave the house, it's also available for $12 on Amazon. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topic: Four Weddings and a FuneralGeek: Emily See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hello again, fearless listeners, and sorry for the slight delay on this week's podcasting!For our latest episode, Eric ventures into territory he's not super into while Emily gushes endlessly about Hugh Grant. Have you guessed it yet?It's Four Weddings and a Funeral! This is also known as the best Hugh Grant movie of the very Hugh Grant-heavy 90s (disagree? I'll fight you.) And yes, sure, Andie McDowell is also in it, so huzzah for her if that's your thing.In any case, you have no excuse not to watch this film, because it's a. delightful and b. now on Netflix. If you'd prefer, you can also find it on Amazon. So that's helpful.Enjoy, and see you in a couple days for the full episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topic: The Cabin in the WoodsGeek: EricBelieve it or not, that title doesn't refer to yours truly. At least not in this context.To understand what it does refer to, please go watch The Cabin in the Woods before listening to this episode. We will spoil everything about it!I saw this movie in theaters right after it came out in 2012, and loved it so much that I went back three days later. I enjoyed Cabin in the Woods even more on another viewing, but that second trip left me fuming mad.(Rant incoming!)After the movie, I eagerly asked the person sitting next to me what they had thought. They had to have loved it, right?"I mean, it was good, but I'm not sure if it was 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes good," this person said.Why does this make me so mad? Because, and a lot of people don't realize this, that 93 percent is not a grade for the movie. It's the percentage of reviewers surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes who were "fresh" rather than "rotten" on it. It's how many people said "yes," not an average of their total gra

quae vigilate in silvis CameramAlso, don't watch the trailer for this week's movie, The Cabin in the Woods. It's super-spoilery and we strongly recommend going in to this 2012 horror flick cold, knowing as little as possible about it.That said, if you're anything like us you may care to know that it shares some creative DNA with Buffy the Vampire slayer; it was written by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon, and directed by Goddard. For fans of the Whedonverse, there's also more than a few actors you'll recognize.Here's where you can find The Cabin in the Woods online. Make sure to watch it before listening to the episode that comes out on Wednesday, because we will spoil everything.Netflix - free with DVD planAmazon - $7.87 on DVD, $12.49 on Blu-RayAmazon - $3-4 to rent, $5-8 to buyGoogle Play - $3 to rent, $10 to buyiTunes - $5 to rent, $13 to buySee you on Wednesday! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topic: The SopranosGeek: EmilyOh, the Sopranos. We (here defined as "the TV-obsessed population of the internet) are so caught up in the last set of Mad Men episodes at the moment, or the latest season of House of Cards, or how Breaking Bad ended, or whatever prestige show we're focusing on at the moment. It's easy to forget how much we used to focus all this energy on this one amazing show about the modern-day mafia in North Jersey.Or maybe - if this week's hubbub about that infamous final scene is any indication - we don't forget at all; we're just waiting for it to come up again.Anyway, I'm being melodramatic when the real point is: this was a damn great show. And Eric's relative ignorance about it is as good an excuse as any to revisit why.The Sopranos was extremely present in my life well before I started watching it, because it was EVERYWHERE. But I didn't have HBO, so it was one of those things where you hear someone talk in great detail on Fresh Air about a club you're not a part of and you, yet again

All right, all right, so that's from The Godfather. But they idolize those movies SO MUCH on this show that it makes it ok to use the world's most overused mafia cliche, right? Right. So in case you haven't gotten this, we're watching The Sopranos this week. Specifically, we're watching Season 1 - Episodes 1, 2, and 5. It's ok, you can start nodding along with the theme song...now. For the somehow uninitiated (do you exist?), this HBO series starring James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, and basically anyone who's ever been in a mobster movie before or since premiered in 1999 and is widely credited with ushering in our current Golden Age of Television. Tony Soprano is also the TV antihero that spawned a million successors and imitators. So get watching, or Paulie might come visit you.* Where to find it: HBO GoAmazoniTunesVudu *No one involved in this podcast is "connected" in any way and we are not actually threatening you. Geez. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out in

Topic: In The LoopGeek: EricI went back and forth on whether or not to star-star-out the swears in that title, but I don't want to risk getting in trouble with iTunes. So, here we are: You win, Linton Barwick.If you don't know that name or what it has to do with censoring swears, you should go watch In The Loop. That's the topic of this week's podcast discussion, and we do spoil several of the best jokes!OK, enough nagging. Hat tip to the /Filmcast (which is an excellent podcast, by the by) for introducing me to this film back in 2009. I went into the theater not quite knowing what to expect and walked out with a new favorite political satire.Any Kubrick fans reading this might be wondering after that last sentence if I've never seen Dr. Strangelove. Don't worry, I have, and I really enjoyed it. But movies like it and In the Loop are always more powerful when their audience has lived through the events they send up, and by the time I entered preschool the USSR had been dissolved.To share what you thought of I

Although this podcast is rated "explicit" for our occasional swearing, most of what we watch here on Giant Geek vs. Mega n00b is relatively all-ages-appropriate. This week's movie, In The Loop, is very not family friendly, and gloriously so.In The Loop has no nudity or violence (sorry), but achieves that "glorious" label entirely through words. To see what I mean, you really should watch the movie before you listen to our discussion, which comes out on Wednesday.Here's how to find it: Netflix - StreamingAmazon (Digital) - Rent for $3-4 or Buy for $6-10Amazon (Disc) - DVD for $5 or Blu-Ray for $12iTunes - Rent for $3 or Buy for $6Google - Rent for $3 or Buy for $10 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Topic: The Bourne IdentityGeek: Emily What can I even tell you about the Bourne Identity? As I’ve said 1,000 times if I’ve said it once, what’s remarkable here isn’t that I think these movies are great; it’s that Eric has somehow avoided seeing them. They’re so ubiquitous. Seriously, turn on your TV. If you have cable, one of these movies is probablyplaying somewhere. They always are.I think I saw all of them when they came out or shortly thereafter, and obviously immediately loved them – how could you not? They’re just so well-done, so engrossing, so AWESOME. For more of my gushing – and my one quibble with the franchise – just listen, already!The only thing I’ll add, since our discussion is mostly limited to the first film, is that I love how strong this trilogy is. The sequels don’t feel like action movie sequels, churned out to capitalize on the first one’s success but quickly becoming shells – or mockeries – of what made the original great. They’re all excellent. They all work.Jason Bourne 

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It only took us seven weeks (not counting part one of Sabriel and another episode, the audio for which was exterminated by Daleks) to get back to Doctor Who -- and there's a good reason for that.As we noted earlier this week, Emily binged on Doctor Who after our second episode, The Angels Have the Phone Box, and Eric wanted to make sure he had a chance to discuss two of his favorite episodes, The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor, with her in podcast form.Dumb, dumb Eric.What he/I didn't know then was that when both of us are already geeks about something, rather than having one person go in knowing nothing, we go on and on and on and on and on and on about it.The unedited audio for this episode was about an hour and twenty minutes, but I've edited it down here to a much more listenable (and still pretty thorough!) 45 minutes, for your auditory consumption. So take a listen, let us know what you think by dropping us a line at geekvsn00b@gmail.com, and if you want to support the show, please back us