Author: somegeektoldme@gmail.com

Touring the Solar System: Meet the Family

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

One of my simple goals for 2023; not in terms of teaching the public about the dangers of Sour Cream and Chives, is to write more science based content. So to kick the new year off, I’m going to be writing about astronomy; namely the Solar System. Each month I’ll use a badly scratched and well used magnifying glass, to look at some of the stellar1 features within our Solar System.

I chose to write about astronomy, because it’s the first field of science I fell in love with. I didn’t even have to ask its phone number either; though to be fair, if it did give me a phone number, it would be fake. Nice.

I plan on starting off in the centre of the Solar System and slowly work my way out, so with each new month, I’ll be adding a new entry into my expansion pack. They will be full of facts and information, so they may look, sound, and read a bit differently than my other blogs. Hell, it could even be an improvement.

So for the first tour, we’ll be making very brief stops across the Solar System. A quick introduction will be made to each family member, then we’ll move onto the next one. Clear as mud? Great, so you need to strap yourself in, because we’re going to meet the family!

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

Our first stop of the Solar System is meeting the single parent that looks after the family. The funny thing about this parent, is that it’s actually a fusion reactor. We call it the Sun and just to make sure everybody understands how important the Sun is to us and rest of the family, we need to remember a few small things:

1.) The Sun is actually a star.

2.) The Sun is around 4.5 billion years old.

3.) The Sun’s mass is so large, that everything within the Solar System orbits it. This includes comets, asteroids, planets and us.

Moving on from the Sun; which many of its ex-partners simply can’t do, we need to discuss the siblings; also known as planets. And just like nearly everything, you can place siblings in groups. A person could have a brother or sister, half-brother/half-sister, step-brother/step-sister or an adopted brother or adopted sister.

The same can be said for the planets of the Solar System. They can be grouped into three simple types: terrestrial planets, dwarf planets and gas planets.

The four planets closest to the Sun, in order are Mercury, Venus, Earth (Yay!) and Mars. These are the terrestrial planets, also known as the rock planets or Inner Planets. They are rocky planets that are dense and small, they contain various metals and have a solid physical surface; as well as a few or no natural satellites (moons).

Beyond Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, and Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, lies a region called the Asteroid Belt. This area of space has millions of asteroids of various sizes, that orbit the Sun as well. It’s here in the Asteroid Belt, that we meet Ceres, the first member of the second group; the dwarf planets.

Just to clear things up, dwarf planets do not have beards, swing axes, enjoy singing, living with princesses, like mining or wear mithril. They are known as dwarf planets because there is a small difference between them and planets. This difference was established by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006 upon three criteria.

Remember when everyone’s favourite ninth planet from the Sun, Pluto, was demoted from planet to dwarf planet? Pluto remembers, because it failed to achieve one of the three criteria; which I will cover in another blog, very soon. People are still emotional about Pluto getting kicked out of the club, but I will explain it, I promise.

Ok, are you still with me? Great, let’s push on. Now we visit the four gas planets, also known as the gas giants or Outer Planets. These are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets are different from the Inner Planets, because they filled with different gases, they have no physical surface and they are extremely cold. They also have rings, multiple moons and they’re huge; each one is larger than the Earth.

Past Neptune’s orbit, we have the Kuiper Belt. This region of space could possibly be the source and origin of short-period comets. The Kuiper Belt also has a collection of dwarf planets, which fall under the label of trans-Neptunian objects or TNOs. These include Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris.

There are some other TNOs named Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Orcus and Salacia; and from what I understand, these TNOs have not been given the prestigious title of dwarf planet. Yet.

There are many other parts to our Solar System, but I’ll just be sticking to the Sun, Inner Planets, the Asteroid Belt and Ceres, Outer Planets, along with the Kuiper Belt and dwarf planets for the time being. So the first blog will be about the Sun in February, and I’ll try to put the Solar System post up on the fourth Monday of the month. Maybe, though it depends on how enthusiastic I feel.

This side mission is different for me, so I hope it makes sense. Alright that’s it, go watch some football, read a banned book, walk your dog and I’ll see you next week.

1 Pun very much intended.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Review (Finally)

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Television

I want to talk about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Why? This is a no brainer. I’m a modest fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s work, so the concept of a tv show set in Middle-earth during the Second Age, was always going to interest me. When the show was released, I happily read several articles about it; which included positive and negative reviews, plus everything in between.

In September, I wrote a blog about some creative negative reviews about the show, because I didn’t know when I would get a chance to view it. That changed a few weeks ago, when I promised myself a reward for surviving 2022, in the form of watching the show.

So during my holiday break, I watched the show over three nights, which involved rain, a snoring and farting dog; as well as UMC2 getting out of bed multiple times, to check to see if the house was still there. I’ve also just finished The Fall of Gondolin, so the timing was written in Varda’s stars.

After watching the first season, I thought in my infinite wisdom that reviewing The Rings of Power would be a smart idea. Maybe.

Image by Marco Ianna from Pixabay

The first thing I want to discuss and acknowledge, is how difficult it is to adapt any prequel medium; let alone a famous one like The Lord of the Rings. The pressure on the crew and cast to satisfy the media, fans, critics, and the public would be immense. Imagine if a tv show was developed to focus on the founding of Hogwarts, from Harry Potter, or the creation of Panem, from The Hunger Games? The social media response would be madness.

The reaction to The Rings of Power was always going to be mixed. The show’s expectations would be higher than a person that’s fantastic at jumping, on a day they have a special reason to be jumping. Among the viewership, there would die hard Tolkien fans, The Lord of the Rings trilogy fans, movie fans, fantasy fans, critics, and the casual viewer.

Would people be comparing the show to the movies? How accurate do you want the show to follow the source material? How much artistic license can you use? How do you keep old fans happy, but not alienate new fans, and vice versa? Would people want to see more of Middle-earth or are the movies enough?

That’s all well and good Scott, but what are your thoughts on the show? Wow, what an original question!

Let’s break this down into four sections.

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Things I feel The Rings of Power, may need to improve on

  • The sets were amazing, but they looked new. They didn’t look like they were hundreds or thousands of years old.
  • Some dialogue could do with some polishing.
  • Elrond’s oath to Prince Durin about mithril was strange, because he ended up discussing the metal with many non-dwarven people.
  • Even though time is not absolute, it was difficult to determine how much time had passed. eg The Númenóreans journey to Middle-earth and Galadriel’s adventures.
  • Why was Halbrand in the middle of the Great Sea in the first place?

Things I liked in the The Rings of Power

  • Having a mortal human man (Aragon, Beren and Tuor) falling in love with an immortal elven princess (Arwen, Lúthien and Idril) had been done before. So it was refreshing to see a immortal male elf (Arondir) in love with a mortal human woman (Bronwyn).
  • The costumes, sets, CGI and music were outstanding.
  • Witnessing the creation of Mount Doom and the conversion of the Southlands into Mordor, was an unexpected and excellent surprise.
  • Adar and the Orcs winning, was actually a moral victory.
  • The concept that not everybody hated Sauron, was a quite clever idea.
  • The design of Númenor was visually gorgeous; especially their ships.
  • Travelling by map was great for viewers unfamiliar with Middle-earth.
  • Elrond and Durin’s relationship was special, because not only did it highlight inter-species friendships, but it also looked at what it would be like having an elf as a friend. Elrond missed 20 years of Durin’s life, because 20 years is nothing to an immortal elf.
  • Finally showing us female dwarves was great.
  • Having Sauron play the hero and victim in his own story, was unexpected. The more I thought about it, I more I liked it.
  • Because Nori discovered and helped Gandalf, it explains as to why the wizard has a soft spot for hobbits. Not including Bilbo, of course.
  • I’m bias as a New Zealander, but the cinematography was beautiful.

Things people are angry about

Complaining about casting non-white characters:

This is embarrassing and idiotic. We live in the 21st century, so we have evolved into a global community. Because of this, stories like The Lord of the Rings have been translated and spread around the world; it’s a global brand. This means people from all walks of life, in hundreds of different countries, are already or possibly potential viewers and fans.

Why would the production company alienate these people, by casting all white actors? People need to see themselves on the big and small screen, because we need to reflect society and reality. The fantasy genre is not just for straight white males; it’s for anybody. So anyone complaining about non-white actors in the show, really need to join us in the 21st century. Seriously, come join us, we have Salt and Vinegar chips!

Complaining about the pace of the show:

I’ve read several complaints about how the show was slow, boring and lacked action. I can understand this, but for me it was a slow burn. Yes, it did start slow, but it didn’t end that way. As the show progressed, tension, intrigue, drama and action, started to develop. You can’t have a show that has action and drama in every scene, because that would be exhausting and pointless.

Yes, some parts of the show were slow, but that was by design; it needed to be that way. An example of this was when Theo found the sword hilt, that just happened to be what Adar was looking for; but what did it do? What was its function? You had to wait to discover the secret.

Basically, I had the attention span to watch all eight episodes and not be bored. The pace of the show was fine.

Complaining about Galadriel’s personality:

For this one, people were upset about how Galadriel was so combative, argumentative, arrogant, selfish and unpleasant. The main reason viewers felt that way, was because they were comparing Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel to Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel; which was always going to happen. That was unavoidable.

Yes it’s true that Galadriel is not all about kittens and rainbows at the start of the show, but we need to remember two things:

1.) Galadriel’s brother Finrod, was killed in battle against Morgoth, and her husband Celeborn, is missing, believed dead. She is suffering and angry. She knows Sauron is alive, she just needs the evidence to prove it. The way is she is obsessed with finding Sauron is questionable, but Galadriel’s not wrong.

2.) Clark’s Galadriel is thousands of years younger than Blanchett’s Galadriel. The Galadriel in the future (The Lord of Rings) is wise, compassionate and sympathetic. She has crafted these traits over thousands of years, because she has evolved and changed; just like us. Are you the same person you were 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years ago?

No, you’ve changed, along with your opinions and the way you see the world. Why would a fictional elf that is thousands of years old, that has gone through terrible life experiences, be any different? In order for Galadriel to be the wise elf we know in The Lord of Rings, the journey that she has started in The Rings of Power, will take her there.

You can actually see Galadriel’s emotional growth from the first episode to the last. It’s her story arc; all great characters have them. Galadriel has made mistakes, because even fictional elves are not infallible. We know what Galadriel’s final destination is, but we get to tag along with her on that journey. Galadriel will change and develop over the course of the show; that’s the point many people have missed.

Things I’m looking forward to seeing in the show

  • Hopefully watching King Durin III and Gil-galad, become more compassionate leaders towards other races.
  • Exploring what the three elven rings, Narya, Nenya and Vilya can do.
  • More battles.
  • Spending time with Sauron and his shenanigans.
  • The forging of the seven dwarf rings, and exploring their abilities.
  • The forging of the nine rings, destined for the leaders of Men; but also the corruption of the mortal men. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
  • The forging of the One Ring by Sauron and how he uses it.
  • More battles.
  • The downfall of Númenor.
  • The return of Celeborn and Isildur, but also the rise of Elendil.
  • Maybe some Balrogs.
  • Gandalf interacting with the world.
  • More battles.
  • The Harfoots settling in the Shire. Maybe.
  • Seeing Arondir and Bronwyn marry.
  • Watching the relationships between the elves, dwarves and mortals develop.

If it’s not obvious, I liked The Rings of Power. Is it perfect? No. Is there room for improvements? Yes. Am I going to return for Season Two? Yes, yes I am. The show has added to the Middle-earth lore. There is huge potential for the show, so we can pray to Eru Ilúvatar, that Season Two will blow us away.

But that’s my humble opinion. Have you seen The Rings Of Power? What are your thoughts? Please let me know.

That’s it for me, I’ve off to raid the pantry before bed. Thanks again for following Some Geek Told Me, read some banned books, walk your dog, and I’ll see you next week.

Are there things to look forward to in 2023?

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Books, Comics, Movies, Sports, Television

I want to talk about 2023. Why? Um…let’s see. It’s nice to see the back of 2022 and usher in 2023, so Happy New Year! Because we have a brand new year, filled with fear and disappointment, I thought it might be optimistic of me for a change, to discuss what I’m looking forward to this year.

This is not a New Years Resolutions List, because you know, they don’t work. No, these are special events that are happening in 2023. It could be the release of a new movie, tv show, book, sporting event, of just about anything, as long as it is happening in 2023. They are five notes that go with the list.

1.) Just because an event is on the list, does not mean I will get to experience that event in 2023. A book might be released in May, a movie might come out in December, or a tv show will be released on a streaming platform that I don’t currently subscribe to, so I may not read and watch them until 2024. Also I can’t watch every single World Cup match or sports game either; I wish.

2.) Annual events like birthdays, anniversaries, Free Comic Book Day, or annual sporting competitions are special, but they don’t count, because they happen every year.

3.) Sour Cream and Chives being banned is very hopeful, but severely unlikely, so I can’t really put it on the list.

4.) Some dates could be confusing because of time zones differences, but they are subject to change,

5.) Against popular belief, I don’t know everything. There will be information about an event that hasn’t be released yet, that I could be interested in; but if I don’t know about it, I can’t add it to the list.

Right, I’m not here to shag spiders, so let’s do this.

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Sport

Cricket

  • ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: 11th February-27th February
  • New Zealand Tour of India: 18th January-1st February
  • England Tour of New Zealand: 16th February-28th February
  • Sri Lanka Tour of New Zealand: 9th March-8th April
  • New Zealand Tour of Pakistan: 13th April-7th May
  • New Zealand Tour of England: 25th August-15th September
  • ICC Men’s World Cup: 10th October-26th November

Football

  • FIFA Women’s World Cup: 20th July-20th August
  • CONCACAF Gold Cup: 24th June-16th July

Side note: The 2023 AFC Asian Cup and the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, have been pushed back to late 2023 to early 2024, with no confirmed dates. Thanks COVID-19 and climate change.

Rugby Union

  • 2023 Rugby World Cup: 8th September-28th October
  • I have no idea about international fixtures, other than the Six Nations and the World Cup.

Rugby League

  • I have no idea about international fixtures or tournaments.

I live in New Zealand, so these are my favourite sports. I’m very sorry.

Movies

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (February)
  • Shazam! Fury of the Gods (March)
  • John Wick: Chapter 4 (March)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May)
  • The Flash (June)
  • Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June)
  • Oppenheimer (July)
  • The Marvels (July)
  • Blue Beetle (August)
  • Dune: Part Two (November)
  • The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (November)
  • Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December)

And for various reasons, I’m a little nervous for this one:

  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June)

I’m painfully aware that out of all of these movies I want to see, only one is not a some type of sequel. Damn you Hollywood!

Television

  • The Mandalorian (March)
  • Superman & Lois (March)
  • Loki (Unknown)
  • Secret Invasion (Unknown)
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender (Unknown)
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Unknown)
  • Invincible (Unknown)
  • Doctor Who (Unknown)
  • Star Trek: Discovery (Unknown)
  • House of the Dragon (Unknown)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Unknown)

Wow, what a list of superheroes, fantasy and science fiction shows! I’m embarrassed now.

Music

  • I have no idea, I have to start listening to more music created after 2005.

Literature

Manga

  • Sadly, I read six different titles and they’re published sporadically; so I don’t know when they would be released in 2023.

Comics

  • Saga is back in January with #61.
  • Any Locke & Key or The Umbrella Academy mini-series.

Fiction

  • The Nature of Middle-earth (February-paperback)
  • Star Wars: The High Republic – The Battle of Jedha (February)
  • Star Wars: The High Republic – Quest for Planet X (April))
  • Star Wars: The High Republic – Cataclysm (April)
  • Star Wars: The High Republic – Path of Vengeance (May)
  • The Fall of Númenor (Unknown-paperback)

Non-Fiction

  • Starry Messenger : Cosmic Perspectives on Civilisation (June)
  • A Brief History of Black Holes : And why nearly everything you know about them is wrong (Present)
  • The Men Who Destroyed Africa (Unknown)

Let’s be honest, shall we? One day I will talk about Star Wars: The High Republic; I purchase too many books; but also, my to-read pile is not getting any smaller. It has grown to three piles now. Because of that, I could continue listing books, but you’re probably already bored with my ramblings anyway, so I won’t add any more.

Random

  • New Zealand General Election (Sometime in mid-late 2023)
  • More news of nuclear fusion discoveries.
  • Any new SpaceX , ESA or NASA launches.
  • New images from the James Webb Space Telescope.
  • Any new species discovered.
  • Any new Count Binface election campaigns.
  • New content from my favourite bloggers and YouTube channels.
  • UMC1 and UMC2 could be playing sport this year, so I’m looking forward to that.

The problem is that I’ll publish this blog and then realise I’ve missed something; as usual. Anyway, is there anything that you think that I’ve missed? What are you looking forward to in 2023? Please let me know.

That’s it for me. Read some banned books, walk your dog, and I’ll see you next week. Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas 2022

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Blogs, People

On behalf of UMC1, UMC2, my wife, and all of the staff at Some Geek Told Me1, we hope everybody has a Merry and Safe Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Octagon, Dunedin, New Zealand

Thank you for reading, following and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m on WordPress, Twitter and Mastodon now, so it means a lot to me. I’ll see you on 2nd January 2023! Cheers!

1 The entire staff of Some Geek Told Me, still consists of only one guy, that battles ice cream propaganda from his children and needs to invest in some new socks.

Who loves Christmas Movies?

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Movies

I want to talk about Christmas movies. Why? Over the last few weeks and with Christmas less than a week away, we seem to be drowning in Christmas movies. They’re everywhere, they’re cringey, and they’re terrible, right?

Well, that’s not 100% accurate. Apart from the fact that most Christmas movies are set in the Northern Hemisphere, with winter and snow; which to someone living in the Southern Hemisphere, means it’s not a surprise that I have a problem relating to these movies.

I mean watching an inspiring Christmas movie about people finding love and having a white Christmas, when it’s 28 °C outside my house, is quite surreal. A summer Christmas is where snowmen come to die, after all. Anyway, that topic is for a future blog. Can’t wait for that one!

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay

Now let’s get back to today’s rant. Not all Christmas movies suck, some of them I actually like and in some cases, I actually love them.

I thought about what type of Christmas blog I could write about, and this was the best one; though I have been known to being wrong in the past. From time to time.

Below I have a list of 16 Christmas movies, that I have judged worthy enough to be here, based on three easy criteria.

1.) I needed to have seen the movie, whether on television, DVD or at the cinema.

2.) The movie must be some kind of Christmas story, or at least, the story is happening at Christmas. This is regardless of genre.

3.) I need to actually like or love the movie.

I will give you some warnings though; not all of these movies are typical traditional Christmas movies. Also this list contains two stories that have been adapted into four movies; A Christmas Carol with two movies and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! with two movies. These movies still fit within my criteria.

For the sake of simplicity, I have sorted them by order of chronological release, not by awesomeness. However, the final entry is very special to me.

I have included the title and a trailer with each entry, because…I’m a geek. Please enjoy.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977)

Trading Places (1983)

Die Hard (1988)

Home Alone (1990)

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

(We watch this movie with UMC1 and UMC2, every Christmas Day)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The Preacher’s Wife (1996)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Elf (2003)

Bad Santa (2003)

Love Actually (2003)

Black Nativity (2013)

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (2018)

8-Bit Christmas (2021)

Welcome to the final entry, because in my very humble opinion, this is my favourite Christmas movie. I loved it then and I still love it now. Always.

Scrooged (1988)

So that’s it. What did you think of the list? Do you agree or disagree with any entries? I do realise I haven’t seen every single Christmas movie, so did I omit your favourite Christmas movies? Please let me know.

Since next Sunday is Christmas Day, I’ll be posting a short blog then, and not on the usual Monday. My aim is to spend some extra time with UMC1 and UMC2, so the blog will be smaller. I hope you understand.

Also congratulations to Argentina on winning their third FIFA World Cup. That was a batshit crazy game! Can you imagine the amount of hangovers that country is going to have?!

Anyway, thanks for following, read a banned book, walk your dog and I’ll see you on Christmas Day.

Professor Brian Cox’s HORIZONS – A 21st Century Space Odyssey

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

I want to talk about Brian Cox. Why? Oh this is easy! I attended Professor Brian Cox’s HORIZONS – A 21st Century Space Odyssey, in Dunedin on the 6th December. It was at the Regent Theatre, which if you have never visited ole Dunners, it sits in the heart of the city. No, not U Bar or the Bog, but the Octagon!

I wanted to see the show because living in New Zealand, we don’t get that many famous international scientists coming here and giving presentations that are open to the public. Having just said that, I’ve been very fortunate in the last five years, to see and meet Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku. I do have some photos of me standing next to them, with Tyson and Kaku looking amazing, whereas I’m looking like a stunned deer trapped in headlights.

As I was saying, the Regent Theatre was actually pretty intimate, because I had managed to score a front row seat in the Upper Circle. I secured my precious ticket through pre-sales; I’m so predictable. Anyway, it’s quite funny because after being shown to my seat by an attendant, I felt like a vague minor celebrity, mistaken for someone far more important. To prove this point, I wore my Schrodinger’s cat t-shirt, as well as my Spider-Man socks, the pair with a hole in the heel of the left sock. What’s that you ask?, “How do I know which is the left sock?” My response is, “How would I not know?”

I’m sorry about the photo, I’m a crap photographer.

I promised myself I would purchase something from the presentation; whether it was a sticker, a book, or an old banana skin signed by Cox. And sure enough, there was a small table situated just inside the foyer. After looking at all of the items and comparing how much money I didn’t have because of my minor budget, I decided to buy the Horizons booklet. 

This of course was an entertaining read, while I waited for the whole thing to kick off. I would also like to mention that when I told UMC2 that I was going to a science lecture, he wanted me to ask Brian Cox if he knew anything about fossils, especially marine fossils. I told him that Brian Cox was not a paleontologist, so he probably didn’t study fossils.

UMC2 was not happy with that answer and politely stated in his own way, that Brian Cox couldn’t be a real scientist, if he didn’t know anything about fossils. There’s nothing like getting burnt by a 4 year old.

Anyway let’s talk about the actual show, to which I was quite impressed with. Among the different topics that he covered, Brian Cox talked about the general theory of relativity, black holes, Schwarzschild Equations, stellar evolution, world lines, Roy Kerr (New Zealand mathematician), quantum theory, quantum entanglement, Hawking radiation and virtual particles, and some other things as well. 

Cox was also joined by his Infinite Monkey Cage partner, Robin Ince. He gave the audience some great pearls of wisdom for learning and understanding science. Ince was quite funny, so he’s why I want to revisit some of the Infinite Monkey Cage episodes now.

I believe that it’s the smallest things in life, that can give you the greatest amount of pleasure. Case in point, when Cox was explaining something or when it was leading into something, my Spidey-Sense was saying, “Yeah, I know where are you going with this. I understand it.”

When I say understand, I obviously mean not to the level of anyone with a PhD. I’m talking about grassroots basic science. It did make me think, “Wow, all these books I’ve read and the hours of watching science videos on YouTube, means I have not been wasting my life. Maybe.” It’s always nice to understand at least 10% of what a scientist is explaining to you in a presentation. Awesome.

Once again I’m sorry about the photo, I’m a crap photographer.

Overall the show had great special effects and amazing information, as well as excellent interactions with the audience. I really enjoyed it, because Brian Cox and Robin Ince were fantastic. It’s made me; dare I say it, fall in love with science communication all over again, because it’s something I really want to write more of. Sorry. Which is why I’m going to write more science based content. Though whether my work is good or funny, that’s for someone else to judge. Wow, what a cop out!

Speaking of more content, I’m already on Twitter, but I’ve also joined Mastodon; just so I can do more things, instead of sleeping that will actually help me. I post daily stuff on Twitter at 7 am (NZ Time) and 6 pm-8 pm (NZ Time) on Mastodon, so please visit me if you have the time. Let’s see how stressed I can get with this.

Thanks for reading and following Some Geek Told Me. Please walk your dog, read a banned book, and do yourself a favour; go and watch Croatia vs Argentina in the 1st semi-final this week, then Morocco vs France in the 2nd semi-final. They should be great, unless they’re not. See you next Monday.

A Geek Christmas Tree

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Children

This is a short and special blog post today; well, short for me anyway. We put up our new Christmas Tree late last month, after donating the other one, so I thought I’d share some of the geek related Christmas decorations we have on it.

Because this is the first year with the new tree, UMC1 and UMC2 wanted to change the centre piece decoration. Usually it would have been a Christmas star, sitting on top of the tree. However after a lengthy discussion with the boys, my talented wife, and one paper mache project later, we now have on top of our tree, a Christmas Death Star that is fully armed and operational.

The next two decorations were former Christmas presents and they’re easy to explain. I mean, what’s Christmas without the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel?!

UMC1 and UMC2 wanted to make some special decorations for me this year, because I usually miss out on putting the tree up. They used some modelling clay and their theme was Star Wars, because they know I love it.

Here is Yoda made by UMC1, age 7. Amazing!

This is R2-D2 by UMC2, age 4. UMC2 wanted to be extremely accurate, so he drew on R2-D2 to make him look real. This is what he told me. Fantastic!

So that’s it for today. Like I said, just a short and special one. Next week’s post will be about my trip to see Professor Brian Cox’s HORIZONS – A 21st Century Space Odyssey. I’ve been waiting for this, because I have a reputation of being a geek to uphold. Thanks for following, walk your dog, read a banned book and I’ll see you next Monday.

Happy Two Year Anniversary

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Blogs, Social Media

I know the world is a little crazy at the moment with the World Cup; climate change; interest rates and cost of living rising; Russia forgetting how to read a map; the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has survived past five weeks; and Twitter is doing what Twitter does best; trolling people.

Having said that, I just wanted to point out that this week, I’m celebrating two years of Some Geek Told Me. In the history of humanity, this achievement is not quite ready to be cemented into the history books, but that’s ok with me.

So looking back over another year, what have I learnt?

  • I’m still enjoying this, though my pay rate is still pretty bad. I mean after two years, I still haven’t had a pay rise. I’ll have to continue on with my $0.0 hourly rate.
  • Every time someone leaves a comment, I’m like a kid that has just been told the school has been flooded and I need to stay home.
  • My wife reading one of my posts, just to remind me that I’m not as funny as I think I am.
  • I still get halfway through writing a post, then realise that it’s not humorous at all.
  • I’ve created a list for future blogs, by writing down key words. I just need to remember what the key words mean.
  • Proofreading and editing my work at 11 pm is still a stupid thing to do, but I’m still doing it.
  • Various sports this year featuring World Cups, have greatly aged me, along with help from UMC1 and UMC2.
  • I told my parents about the blog and they wanted to know if I got paid for it. I changed the topic very quickly.
  • I’ve written about various people in pop culture that have died this year, but I failed to write about all of them.
  • I should do more reviews about different projects that I like, while trying to sound funny; emphasising on being funny.
  • I’m not reading enough content of the amazing bloggers out there.
  • I’m still trying to create some more entertaining science communication posts, but still sounding original.
  • It’s the Kiwi in me, but I’m still trying to promote the blog, without promoting the blog.
Image by Philip Wels from Pixabay

That’s it for today. I know this post was small, but I have another blog post coming out on Thursday. Thanks for reading, go watch the World Cup, walk your dog, read a banned book and I’ll see you on Thursday.

U.S. Elections: Exporting ideas to the World

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Geography, Politics2 Comments

I want to talk about the U.S. elections. Why? That’s a very interesting question, considering I’m not a U.S. citizen and not able to vote in their elections. So that being the case, why would I have an opinion or have anything at all to say about another nation’s democratic elections? 

That is another great question. Wow, I’m full of them today, aren’t I? 

The dust is still settling after the U.S. midterm elections, with the Democrats retaining the Senate and the Republicans taking the House, while Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock will be involved in a run off on 6th December, for the Georgia Senate race. Though if Walker does lose, it appears he has a back up job as a vampire-hunting werewolf.

I find the whole American election process quite fascinating, however this blog is looking at how the United States of America and their elections, actually exports ideas.

For context, I live in the South Island of New Zealand. If you don’t know where we are, find a world map and look down in the South Pacific Ocean. Though to be fair, we are getting missed off maps recently, so that doesn’t help. Anyway, with just a hop, skip and a jump to the North East and across the Pacific Ocean, is the United States.

Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay

Living in New Zealand is quite odd, because of how much American culture has been actually being incorporated into our own culture.

We have an abundance of American culture here. Some easy food examples of these would be McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Dominos, Pizza Hut, KFC, Subway, and recently Taco Bell; which I have to be perfectly honest, I really want to try. Not that I’m expecting too much of the food, but it’s just the fact that we have Taco Bell now, so I just want to tick that box off my list.

We also have a steady diet of American literature in the form of magazines, comics, newspapers and of course, books. A whole lot of books.

There’s also television and streaming services, where the majority of content on our limited amount of channels is American, with a dash of British, Australian, and New Zealand shows. It would also be pretty remissive of me, not to also mention the massive impact American cinema and social media has had on this country.

The uncountable information about U.S. movies that are locked in my head, serve absolutely no purpose to humanity other than, “Oh cool, that’s a nice fact. Thanks for sharing, Scott!” is quite astounding.

Another way American culture has influenced us is fashion; which let’s be honest, I’ve only had two blogs about that, so I need to up the ante on social media fashion trends. Though I feel old every time I have to ask my wife about the new trend.

Of course all of this babbling, is steering towards politics. America is a superpower in the world. It’s a global leader, whether you like that or not, it just is. America influences the world with it’s choices and ideas, but also food, literature, cinema, fashion, and the list goes on and on.

America export ideas. Now you can debate about which ideas are positive or negative, but that’s up to the individual or each nation’s government. It doesn’t matter, but what does matter is that America is a trendsetter; the world looks to America.

If America started a campaign to ban Sour Cream and Chives crackers for some good reason, you only have to start looking at other countries to see whether they would follow suit or not. I’m not a big fan of that flavour; as you all know, so if there was a campaign to ban them, I would probably be alright with that.

Even though America is not the world, the choices and policy decisions their local and federal governments make, ripple across the world; they really do. Whether these ripples are social reforms, book banning, tax cuts, abortion, military spending; it doesn’t matter, America is the world’s leader and the world takes notice of what they’re doing.  

Because they export ideas, you would have to talk to every country to determine whether they like those ideas as well or if they will reject them. Some of these ideas are not exclusive to America, just like the fight against climate change.

You’ll probably thinking, “That’s all well and good, Scott, but what’s your point?”

Another amazing question asked, thanks for that. After the U.S. 2020 general election, sometime in late December, I saw something that, I’ll be honest with you, completely stunned me. As I was driving to my local discount supermarket, I looked over and I saw a Trump 2020 flag flying in someone’s front yard. I’d never seen that before. The Trump flag didn’t offend me, it was more the fact that it’s a campaign flag from another country over 10,000 km away. It’s around the same distance from New Zealand to China for comparison.

For me, I’m a little bit nervous. Next year is our general election which we hold every three years. I’m worried because there’s a possibility that next year, whether it’s a political party or an individual candidate that has lost fairly, will now have a back up plan. They just need to start saying that the election was rigged, or it was stolen. I find it hilarious and horrifying that’s a real possibility now, but I think the general public would call them out.

I care about America and their elections, because America is a global leader. Whatever positive or negative policies that are introduced and supported through their law makers, the repercussions of those policies vertebrate through each country in the world. They look at them and decide whether they are going to implement similar policies or if they are going to reject them. This includes us, through discussions at work, home, gyms, parliament, schools, and social media; especially social media.

If I was a better writer, I would have done a far greater job at conveying my point, so I’m sorry about that. I’d love to visit the United States of America one day, because I have a mental list of the things I would love to do. However, I do need to check their policies on Sour Cream and Chives and save a whole lot of money.

This is my 101st blog post, which over two years is quite pathetic; however this ridiculous project does keep me off the streets and away from sports bars, just so my wife can watch me. She’s doing it right now, sitting in the same room as me, pretending to read one of the Outlander books, but I know the truth.

With Christmas less than a month away, take it easy on yourself. Thanks for following, walk your dog, read a banned book, and I’ll see you next Monday.

Kevin O’Neill, Carlos Pacheco and Kevin Conroy: Three more Tōtaras lost

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Comics, People, Television

At the moment 2022 feels less like a year, but rather like a twisted Pokémon trainer that runs around and collecting comic icons, instead of Pokémon. Not only did we lose Neal Adams, George Perez, and Tim Sale this year, but quite recently, Kevin O’Neill, Carlos Pacheco, and Kevin Conroy, also died.

I don’t know what I can say about these three icons, that has not already been said before, by far better writers and journalists over the last few weeks. In saying that, I’d still like to say something.

Image by Emilie Farris from Pixabay

I can’t be sure, and it won’t come as a surprise; but I think the first time I saw Kevin’s art was with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I do realise he had created a lot of art through 2000AD content, Marshal Law, and other material, but the League stands out to me.

I loved his attention to background detail, body proportions and facial expressions; so it meant that Kevin’s art was very recognisable. Have you ever seen a drawing of Daredevil, Green Lantern, Zorro, or any other character, and just by glancing at the art work, you could name the artist? Kevin’s art was like that for me, I could stare at a picture and realise, “Kevin O’Neill drew that, that’s Kevin’s.” I loved his art.

Kevin O’Neill, 2009. © Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons

Speaking of loving art, I loved Carlos’ work for different reasons. His work grew on me, because I’d sometimes see his art ranging from Fantastic Four, Captain America, X-Men, Avengers, Inhumans, Excalibur, Green Lantern, The Flash, Superman, Arrowsmith, and so many more.

After discovering that the art I’m looking at belonged to Carlos, I would often comment about how he could draw anything, because it seemed like he was drawing everything on the shelf. I loved his range, but also his commitment to getting each panel to almost sing with positivity and direction.

Both Kevin and Carlos were masters of their beloved trade, and it showed through in the volumes of their work. They helped me to learn and discover new ways to appreciate stories, as well as being gobsmacked with stellar art work.

Carlos Pacheco, 2013. Abbyarcane/Wikimedia Commons

As for Kevin Conroy, well he was Batman’s voice, wasn’t he? I’m old enough to remember when Batman: The Animated Series was released, but young enough to have watched it. It was amazing and so was Kevin. Over the years, if I was watching an animated version of Batman voiced by Kevin, then I knew it was legit.

Through two decades and countless animated series and movies, coupled with his video game work and his live-action performance, Kevin was the definitive Batman. He brought more depth and range to the character than anyone beforehand, but also shone a spotlight on Bruce Wayne’s pain and compassion. He helped to flesh out Batman’s 2-D existence and dragged him by the cape, into our 3-D world. Damn it was glorious and it still is.

Kevin Conroy, 2021. Super Festivals/Wikimedia Commons

Thank you Kevin; Thank you Carlos; Thank you Kevin. I don’t know what else to say about three people that I never met, other than their work has brought a lot of happiness into millions of people’s lives and including my own; and will continue to do so.

This was another strange post to do, so I’m sorry about that. I’ll return to our regular weekly blog about nonsense next week. Thanks for following, go walk your dog, buy a banned book and I’ll see you next week.