Three more Tōtaras have fallen: Tūheitia, James and John

On September 16, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Comics, Movies, People

I realise that the world is not a perfect place. Wherever you look, there seems to be injustice, war, corruption, and lies. Yet, hope remains in the form of people going about their daily lives and doing the things that they love.

This can take many different forms, as people can help strangers in unexpected and wonderful ways. I respect numerous jobs and careers, as well as particular individuals around my town, country, and the world.

But life can deliver you a googly, and you’re left standing in shock and confusion on the cricket pitch, trying to understand how you missed the ball because it’s taken the middle stump.

Today is one of those days. Depending on the circles you travel in, you may have heard the sad news that Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, James Earl Jones, and John Cassaday died within days of each other. I’m not a professional writer, which is painfully obvious, but I would still like to acknowledge these three icons because they have helped me.

For those of you who didn’t recognise his name, Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII was known as Kīngi Tūheitia, the seventh Māori monarch. He was coronated on 21st August 2006, on the last day of the tangi (funeral) of his mother, the Māori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

He reigned until his death on 30th August 2024, aged 69. His successor is his daughter, the eighth monarch and second-only Māori queen, Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VIII.

Tūheitia’s mother was the monarch when I was born, so she was the only Māori monarch I had known. When she died, it was a major event in the country’s history. I remember watching the tangi and Tūheitia’s coronation, and I found it quite profound.

I respected and liked Tūheitia for many different reasons, which included and were not limited to reintroducing the need and concept of the Māori King movement to a new generation; promoting Māori culture around Aotearoa and the world; advocating for justice and prison reform for all people; representing Māori when meeting heads of state; trying to reduce the number of Māori incarcerated; desiring to unite all Māori; helping to lead the protests at national huis (meetings) against the current government’s recent policies towards Māori; and for being a passionate, positive and kind leader.

He will be missed.

*Kīngi Tūheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII. Photo supplied by New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General*

The great American actor, James Earl Jones died at his home in New York, on 9th September 2024, aged 93. James leaves behind a gargantuan body of work in theatre, television and film. He started acting in 1953 and only retired in 2021. James also belongs to the small group of performers who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award. He was an excellent actor and performer.

He overcame a shutter as a child and went on to have one of the world’s most recognised voices. I suppose it depends on the generation that you’re from, where you would identify his most famous roles, which include, but not all of them, Lt. Lothar Zogg (Dr. Strangelove), Jack Jefferson (The Great White Hope), Douglass Dilman (The Man), Thulsa Doom (Conan the Barbarian), King Jaffe Joffer (Coming to America), Terence Mann (Field of Dreams), Admiral James Greer (The Hunt for Red October), Mufasa (The Lion King), Raymond Murdock (A Family Thing), Junius Johnson (Heat Wave), Gabriel Bird (Gabriel’s Fire), many Shakespeare productions, and quite arguably, his most famous role, being the voice of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.

He will be missed.

James Earl Jones in NYC talking about his movie “Field of Dreams.” Credit: Robert Deutsch/USA Today

And finally, we need to discuss John Cassady. John died on 9th September 2024, in New York City; he was only 52 years old. John was one of these comic book artists, that you only needed 1-2 seconds to identify his work because it was very recognisable and gorgeous; whether he was the interior or cover artist. Damn, he was good.

This is a strange way to describe his art style, but I always thought his art was very “straight or linear.” At least to me, it seemed very different and unique, so I think that’s why I liked his work. Whether it was Astonishing X-Men, Planetary, Captain America, Star Wars, The Lone Ranger, Uncanny Avengers, or so many others, I feel lucky that I managed to witness his amazing work.

The number of awards that John received, reinforces that he was a very creative and talented man.

He will be missed.

Comics artist John Cassaday at a January 16, 2015 signing for *Star Wars* #1 at Midtown Comics Downtown in Manhattan. Credit: Luigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons

I never had the opportunity to meet these three men, but all of them, in their own way, have brought hope and joy to my life.

Thank you, Tūheitia. Thank you, James. Thank you, John.

The list of people I always thought I would get to meet one day, is slowly becoming smaller and shorter.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll repeat it.

In New Zealand, we have some mighty trees called tōtaras. They are symbolically important because they are massive, straight, light, and resistant to rot. Basically, they’re forest giants. Māori would use them to make large wakas (canoes), but also carve the tōtara to decorate maraes.

These are not my words, but they convey my thoughts and feelings:

KUA HINGA TE TOTARA I TE WAO NUI A TANE

THE TOTARA HAS FALLEN IN THE FOREST OF TANE

THE TOTARA IS A HUGE TREE THAT GROWS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. THE GREATNESS OF THE TOTARA IS A METAPHOR FOR WHEN SOMEONE OF IMPORTANCE PASSES AWAY.

To me, Tūheitia, James and John were tōtaras.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, be kind to yourself and I’ll see you next week for my 200th blog post!!

The Final Experiment: Will Flat Earthers cry or care?

On September 9, 2024January 26, 2025 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

And you’re back in the room. No, not that room, the other room. You know, the cool room, yes, that one. I haven’t talked about the Flat Earth conspiracy batshit crazy theory in a while, though I think the last time was with My questions about the Flat Earth.

In saying that, an event is fast approaching us, and for someone like me, I find it truly fascinating. If you’ve heard of the Midnight Sun, then you know it’s not a new STI or a vampire book…oh. Forget about the last one.

During the summer months in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, a phenomenon known as the Midnight Sun occurs, also known as a Polar Day or the 24-hour Sun. Located in places north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle, our local star will stay visible in the sky, even at midnight.

The Arctic Circle, roughly 67° north of the Equator, defines the boundary of the Arctic waters and lands. Credit: CIA World Fact Book

In the Arctic Circle, the Sun will appear to travel from left to right, so in the Antarctic Circle, the opposite is true. If you’ve ever seen Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia, you will get the concept of perpetual daylight. I’ve never experienced it, but I want to.

The Midnight Sun phenomenon exists, so it follows that the opposite might exist as well. This is known as the Polar Night, during which the Sun remains below the horizon throughout the day. For reference, think of 30 Days of Night, either the comics or movie, but mainly the comics.

Map of the Antarctica with the Antarctic Circle in blue. Credit: Thesevenseas.

Ok, thanks Scott, for another useless lecture. So what’s this got do to with the price of milk?

Damn, you ask some great questions! The point is this:

A Midnight Sun in the Southern Hemisphere could only exist on a globe, a Flat Earth model does not allow it. Flat Earthers can’t fully explain how the Sun could remain visible in the sky for 24 hours, so they do the only thing they can do; they deny it exists.

If there is a photo of the Midnight Sun, well, it has to be fake, right? If there is footage of it, well, that’s CGI, isn’t it? Many different proofs destroy the Flat Earth Model, but the Midnight Sun is one of the most difficult to deny.

This brings us to the Final Experiment. It sounds more sinister than it is, though to some Flat Earthers, it’s beyond a nightmare for them. To accurately explain what it is, I’ve sourced the information from the website: https://www.the-final-experiment.com

The Final Experiment is an observational showdown/trip between Team Globe (people who accept and understand we live on a globe) and Team Flat Earth (people who believe that the Earth is flat and deny reality).

It was created by Will Duffy, a pastor in Denver, Colorado, USA. It involves the concept of settling the argument about the shape of our planet, by inviting people to travel to Antarctica, this December, to confirm whether the 24-hour Sun exists or not.

I live in the Southern Hemisphere, and December is the first month of Summer for us. And if you follow that logic, yes, it means our Christmases are hot and never, ever cold. I keep promising to write about that, so I’m going to do this year. Hopefully.

As I mentioned before, the Flat Earth Model does not allow the Midnight Sun to exist in the Southern Hemisphere, because the popular version of the Flat Earth map, turns Antarctica from a continent to an ice wall, that runs around the perimeter of the Flat Earth.

A Midnight Sun in the Northern Hemisphere works on a Flat Earth map but in the Southern Hemisphere? Hell no, because a 24-hour Sun in Antarctica would utterly decimate the Flat Earth Model.

Added to the fact, Flat Earthers have been saying for years that nobody is allowed to go to Antarctica because it’s controlled by the military. Which military I hear you ask? All of them! Portions of the world’s armies are there, protecting the secret of the Flat Earth. Apparently.

The next question is who gets to witness the Midnight Sun in the Final Experiment?

If I understand it correctly, 24 Flat Earthers and 24 Globe Earthers were invited to participate in The Final Experiment. These people are mainly YouTubers, or at least, social influencers, whether they are Team Flat Earth or Team Globe.

Out of these 48 participants, one Flat Earther and one Globe Earther will have their entire trip paid for; so it’s basically winning a free trip to Antarctica to confirm first-hand, the existence of the Southern Midnight Sun.

The other participants will be allowed to go as well, provided they accept the invitation to go and if they pay their own way. Some participants are crowdfunding their trip, which is a smart way to do it, if you ask me.

To the best of my understanding, three Flat Earthers and eight Globe Earthers are going this December to witness the 24-hour Sun.

Please remember, the idea of this event is to settle the argument whether our planet is Flat or a Globe. However, that argument was settled thousands of years ago, yet some people are living in their own versions of reality.

So here’s another question. What happens after the participants from Team Flat Earth and Team Globe witness the Midnight Sun? Because that’s what they’re going to see.

From the Team Globe perspective, I can only imagine the participants will upload the footage and images of the 24-hour Sun, create podcasts and videos about it, and say, “We don’t want to say we told you so, but we told you so. The Earth is a globe and not flat.”

The responses from the Flat Earthers will be different. Make no mistake about this, all of the participants will witness a Midnight Sun in the Antarctic Circle, that’s exactly what is going to happen. But what happens to them after that can be broken down into three different responses.

1.) Some Flat Earther participants will accept what they saw was a Midnight Sun and confirm they witnessed a 24-hour Sun in the Antarctic Circle, which proves the world is a globe and not flat; proving they are wrong. They will either drop out of social media and disappear, or they will transition into Team Globe and start promoting the globe, or at the least, start attacking the Flat Earth Model.

2.) Some Flat Earthers participants will accept what they saw was the Midnight Sun, but they will reject that it proves the world is a globe. It will just prove there was a Midnight Sun and nothing else.

3.) Some Flat Earthers participants will deny they saw a Midnight Sun, thus proving the world is Flat. What they saw was CGI, a hoax, a massive prank to convince them it was a 24-hour Sun. To them, the event was fake, so if it was fake, it must mean people are hiding the truth of a Flat Earth.

The responses from the wider Flat Earth community will be the same:

1.) Some people will believe and accept the images and footage presented to them by fellow Flat Earthers of a Midnight Sun to be real, and accept the truth that the world is a globe and not flat.

2.) Some people will believe and accept the images and footage, presented to them by fellow Flat Earthers of a Midnight Sun to be real, but deny that it proves the shape of the planet, one way or another.

3.) Some people will deny the evidence of the Midnight Sun, and of the Globe. This will be because they weren’t there to confirm the validity of the claims, but images and footage can be changed, so why would they believe anything? The photos are fake, the footage is CGI, and the Flat Earther participants are lying and can’t be trusted.

To this third group, they will believe that the lack of “real” evidence, is actually evidence that the Globe Earthers are lying, so that means the Earth is Flat, and it’s a cover-up.

It’s interesting to note that some of the Flat Earthers who were invited to participate in the Final Experiment and declined to go, are already explaining the results of the Final Experiment will mean nothing and change nothing, and/or explain how NASA and Globe Earthers will fake the entire operation.

I wish the participants in the Final Experiment all the luck in the world. I wish I was going, but I ultimately feel the majority of the Flat Earth community will still deny and reject the results.

Is it because they will not be able to accept reality at all costs?
Is it because they believe they are still correct, and also smarter than all of the world’s scientists combined? Is it because they have spent over 1,000 hours researching Flat Earth on YouTube, so they know the ultimate truth? Is it because they have spent thousands of dollars on Flat Earth, and the idea that they have wasted that money, is too great to accept? Or is it because spreading disinformation about Flat Earth, is how some people earn their living on social media?

Maybe it is one of them, all of them or none of them, but don’t be surprised that after the Final Experiment is finished, hundreds of Flat Earthers will double down on their ideas and philosophy.

However, my admiration and congratulations go to Will Duffy for this enterprise. To quote Vanilla Ice, “Conducted and formed, this is a hell of a concept.”

And that’s another rant for another week. Thanks for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, eat your greens and I’ll see you next week.

The Coalition of Chaos: Episode I: The Cabinet Menace

On September 2, 2024October 28, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Politics

Today’s blog is not about the usual things I discuss, like pop culture, children, science or history. Oh no, today we are covering two other passions of mine: my country and politics. Yes, yes, I can hear the collective groan, but wait, you’ll like it.

Spring is in the air; well for us it is, Autumn for our Northern Hemisphere friends. The birds are chirping, lambs are being born, houses are being cleaned, seeds are being planted, and the conservative coalition government of Aotearoa New Zealand are doing what they do best: incompetency.

When we last shone a microscope on those duly elected smooth-brained politicians, they had hit the milestone of 100 days in power on 8th March. So what have they been up to since then? That is an outstanding question along with, “Would Jedi be good at poker?”

So, I’m not going to be covering everything The Three-Headed Taniwha have done since March, just the crappy things. Granted, they have done some good, but when balanced on the scales of morality, kindness, and decency, their shitty shenanigans outweigh them. Sweet as, let’s do it!

Act leader David Seymour (left), National leader Christopher Luxon and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, looking dapper as professional catwalk fashion models. Photo / Mark Mitchell

19/3/24: Disabilities Minister Penny Simmonds explained that the Government would be terminating respite care funding for families with disabled children, because of budgeting concerns. After Simmonds had added some extra controversial statements, the disabled community of Aotearoa amassed 10,000 signatures in 24 hours as a protest against the statements and new policy. Simmonds was later stripped of her Disability Issues portfolio position.
27/3/24: This was a busy day for the conservatives. They passed legislation restoring interest deductibility for residential investment property; reducing the bright-line test for residential property to two years; eliminating depreciation deductions for commercial and industrial buildings; requiring electric cars and plug-in hybrids to pay road user charges; and halting work on creating a 620,000sqkm ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands.
2/4/24: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon proclaimed new policies concerning reducing wasteful spending, keeping agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme, reversing the ban on offshore gas and oil exploration, restoring three strikes legislation, reviewing the firearms registry, establishing a Youth Serious Offender Category, and taking steps to replace mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga. You know, normal helpful things.
4/4/24: Local Government Minister Simeon Brown explained that local and regional councils that introduced Māori wards and constituencies without polling residents would have to hold referendums to hold or eliminate the wards they had just established.
14/4/24: Landlord-friendly policies were going to be introduced. These included re-introducing 90-day “no-cause” terminations for periodic tenancies. This means landlords can terminate a periodic tenancy without giving any reason. The tenant will only need to be given 42 days’ notice to end a tenancy. Landlords will also be able to terminate fixed-term tenancies, without giving a specific reason.
16/4/24: The Ministry of Education is going to ease the entry qualification requirements for ECE teachers, as well as the government will get to choose the locations for new ECE centres.
23/4/24: The Government revealed it would scrap or amend farming, mining and other industrial regulations as part of its planned overhaul of the Resource Management Act 1991.
2/5/24: Education Minister Erica Stanford announced the Government would install a structured literacy reading approach in all state-run schools, from Term 1 of next year. This means the Reading Recovery programme, which is an early literacy intervention system, will be terminated across public schools because the programme uses a whole language approach, instead of structured literacy.
21/5/24: The Government would be scrapping Kāinga Ora’s NZ$60 million first-home grant programme and redirecting the money towards social housing as part of the 2024 Budget.
7/6/24: The Government discontinued funding for the controversial drug rehabilitation Mongrel Mob programme, Kahukura.
9/6/24: Minister for Resources Shane Jones confirmed that the Government would introduce legislation to reverse the previous Government’s ban on oil and gas exploration in the second half of 2024.
11/6/24: Agricultural Minister Todd McClay explained that the NZ emissions trading scheme (ETS) would exclude agriculture.
14/6/24: Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee confirmed that the Government would introduce new firearms legislation to replace the Arms Act 1983, by 2026.
17/6/24: The Government proclaimed it would begin policy changes to ensure certain housing buildings could be built without resource consent.
23/6/24: The 2024 Government of New Zealand explained they would introduce boot camps for youth offenders aged 14–17.
3/7/24: The Government announced it would introduce standardised testing for primary school students from 2026.
12/7/24: The Government extended the NZ Defence Force’s deployment to US-led efforts to combat Houthi forces in the Red Sea from 31st July 2024 to 31st January 2025.
18/7/24: Associate Health Minister Casey Costello cut the excise rate on Heated tobacco products (HTPs) by 50%, to make them a more attractive option to smoking. The Ministry of Health has disagreed with her assessment. She has been fighting accusations of having ties to the tobacco industry, like claiming, “Nicotine is as harmful as caffeine.”
26/7/24: The Ministry of Education revealed they have stopped 100 school building projects to save NZ$2 billion, as a cost-cutting scheme.
30/7/24: The Government has earmarked NZ$216 million to pay for tax cuts it needs to fund tax cuts for heated tobacco products.
2/8/24: The Attorney-General Judith Collins explained that the Government would not progress eight of the 44 recommendations of the “Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attack on Christchurch Mosques”, including creating a new national intelligence and security agency, establishing an advisory group on counter-terrorism, instituting mandatory reporting of firearms injuries and amending the Crimes Act 1961 to criminalise inciting religious or racial disharmony.
4/8/24: The Ministry of Education revealed the Maths Action Plan, which includes a new mathematics curriculum from 2025, twice-annual maths assessments, funding for teaching professional development, and raising maths entry requirements for new teachers.
8/8/24: The Ministry of Social Development announced that emergency housing eligibility criteria would be tightened.
15/8/24: The Ministry of Social Development also announced that Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People would be restructured as a policy and advisory department and that its support service delivery functions would be assumed by the Ministry of Social Development.

This list is not a Project 2025 initiative, an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, or a chapter of 1984. I would be laughing at the insanity of it all if it wasn’t so painfully tragic and real.

After reading this list, I have a question for the 52.8% of the population that voted for the Coalition of Chaos: Do you have buyer’s remorse yet?

The Coalition of Chaos has upset this geek for several reasons:

52.8% of voters elected a Government that doesn’t care about all New Zealanders, only the ones that fit the bill and criteria.
52.8% of voters thought they wanted a change after six years with Labour, so they believed a National-led coalition would be the opposite of a Labour-led coalition; but all of them were deceived.
The people making these cruel policies against New Zealanders are not foreigners living in faraway lands. They’re us. New Zealanders hurting New Zealanders. New Zealanders prosecuting New Zealand’s most poor and vulnerable. New Zealand’s most powerful and wealthy politician-landlords are telling the rest of the country, that we are overpaid and must cut back. New Zealanders spreading disorder with racism, conspiracy theories, culture wars, and division against other New Zealanders.

I love my quirky little country, I really do. But this elite club of village idiots couldn’t roll a tyre down a hill, let alone run this country. They’re dragging us back to the 1950s, smashing the progress we have made, and the bastards don’t care or don’t realise. I’m not sure which is worse.

The silver lining in this dumpster fire is that the Coalition of Chaos will be a one-term government because they have to be.

And with that, I’m done. We will check in with the Coalition of Chaos near the end of the year, to see if they have pulled their socks up, or just pulled their pants down to moon us.

Thanks for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, keep watching the Paralympics Games and I’ll see you next week when we talk about The Final Experiment.

3 weeks to go until we hit 200 posts!!!

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1953

On August 26, 2024September 1, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, Music, People, Politics

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, one of the world’s worst ideas is back for another month. No, it’s not Some Geek Told Me’s The Tour of the Solar System. That hurt by the way. It’s Some Geek Told Me‘s We Didn’t Start the Fire’s historical references.

If you missed the previous entries of this colossal mistake, they include:

I’ve been behind with writing the 1953 references to Billy Joel’s song, because the weather here has been terrible, and I’ve been trying to stay dry and warm in winter, so I’m fighting a losing battle.

Anyway, without any more time wasting; because that’s a striker’s or centre forward’s job, let’s dissect the We Didn’t Start the Fire’s historical references for 1953.

Can’t wait.

Credit: Tavern Trove/Jacob Ruppert, Inc.

1953

Joseph Stalin:

This entry on the list is not one of the most well-liked people who have ever lived. Born Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, though known to the world as Stalin, was the brutal ruler of the Soviet Union from 1924-1953.

Stalin is a contentious figure in world history. He helped bring about the end of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, with the Soviet Union accounting for between 20-27 million people killed during the Second World War, the greatest death toll from any country. The bulk of these deaths came from fighting Nazi Germany.

However, before the war started, Stalin signed a non-aggression pact known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Hitler. The pact was a plan for Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to carve up Europe for themselves. And just like every villain team-up ever, there was betrayal when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, breaking the pact.

Viewed and regarded in the same shitty category as Hitler, Stalin seemed to look at Hitler’s crimes against humanity and said, “Hold my vodka.”

Through his leadership and regime known as Stalinism, some of Stalin’s crimes include, but not all: creating the Gulag system; the Great Famine; Collectivization, Dekulakization and Special Settlements; the Great Purge; Order No. 227; punishing Soviet prisoners of war; and refusing to punish Soviet soldiers’ war crimes.

Stalin’s direct actions like imprisonment and executions, but also his negligence, paranoia, and incompetency, caused the deaths of between 7-20 million Soviet citizens. When he died on 5th March 1953, people worldwide celebrated, after he was in power for 29 years.

Malenkov:

After Stalin died, there was a power vacuum that many people were trying to fill. The (un)lucky winner of that contest was Georgy Malenkov. Things did not go easily for Malenkov, because only after one week as leader, he was forced to give up control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

After some time, Malenkov and Nikita Khrushchev, the party’s First Secretary, entered a power struggle over the leadership of the Soviet Union. History tells us that Malenkov lost and was removed from power, with Khrushchev becoming the new leader. Malenkov lasted only 186 days in power.

A modern equivalent would be Ex-British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, who only lasted 50 days as leader and failed to outlast a lettuce.

Official portrait of Georgy Malenkov, 1953. Credit: Dutch National Archives.

Nasser:

Nasser refers to Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, otherwise known as Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser was an Egyptian army officer, who along with Mohamed Naguib, led the 1952 Egyptian revolution, against the United Kingdom, and deposed the monarch, King Farouk I.

In 1953, Egypt was declared a republic, with Naguib becoming Egypt’s first president. Eventually, Nasser placed Naguib under house arrest and became the de facto leader of Egypt, until his election in 1956. He served as Egypt’s second president until he died in 1970.

In contemporary times, we only need to look at Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Cuba’s Raúl Castro, or Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki.

President Gamal Abdul Nasser in Cairo. (Keystone / Getty Images)

Prokofiev:

On 5th March 1953, (the same day Stalin died) Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev died at the age of 61. He had composed seven operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas.

Some of his most beloved works were The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, and the eternal favourite, Peter and the Wolf.

For a modern composer, well, I don’t want to start a fight with anybody. If you want to choose someone for yourself, be my guest because we are blessed to live in a world full of amazing composers, and to choose one over another seems criminal, at least to me.

However, my wife added that John Williams is the cat’s pyjamas.

Sergei Prokofiev. Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Rockefeller:

Winthrop and Barbara Rockefeller were married on 14th February 1948. Winthrop was part of the wealthy and famous Rockefeller dynasty, being John D. Rockefeller’s grandson, and John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s son. Not to be outdone, Barbara was also a successful Hollywood actress. Barbara gave birth to their son, Winthrop Paul “Win” Rockefeller, on 17th September 1948.

Fast forward to two years later, the happy couple were estranged. By 1953, divorce proceedings had started, with both parties haggling over a settlement. This was a very publicised celebrity divorce and was a constant story in the news cycle. By 1954, they had finally divorced, with Barbara receiving a $5.5 million settlement, which was a record for the time.

Three of the biggest publicised celebrity divorces in recent times would be Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie; Ye (Kanye West) and Kim Kardashian; and Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. There are others, but come on, I need to sleep.

Winthrop Rockefeller and Barbara Sears Rockefeller walk together at the wedding, 1948. Credit: University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture

Campanella:

Making the 1953 list is our first and only sportsperson, Roy Campanella. Campanella was a baseball player, who mainly played as a catcher. He started his Major League Baseball career in 1948, when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, until his early retirement in 1957 from a car accident.

In 1953, Campanella won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award for the second time, after winning it in 1951, and for a third time in 1955. Campanella won the World Series in 1955 and was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.

Selecting a contemporary equivalent is difficult for me because even though I follow baseball to a certain extent, I don’t know it well enough to choose a player. I’m a rugby, cricket, football, and rugby league supporter, so baseball is not really in my wheelhouse. However, any followers and subscribers of New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website, who are also baseball fans, please let me know your opinions on the matter.

Communist Bloc:

You may recall that during the 1950s, the Cold War had started, and 1953 was a flashpoint for Europe. “The Communist Bloc” refers to the Eastern Bloc, or the Soviet Bloc; which was a term given to the countries that were Communist states.

In the case of the song, we are looking at the 1953 East German uprising. This happened when construction workers rose in protest against government demands to increase productivity. The protests soon spread across East Germany, with people starting to demand better living standards and resisting the Sovietization way of life in East Germany.

At the height of the protests, one million people were on the streets, demanding more from the ruling government and the Socialist Unity Party. The main protest lasted only about two days before The Kasernierte Volkspolizei (a militarised police force) and Soviet forces rolled in and violently crushed the protests with tank support.

This was only three months after Stalin’s death, so the government wanted to stop the protests as quickly as possible. At least 125 people were killed during the crackdown.

A modern example of the 1953 East German Uprising; even though it’s not that modern, would be the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

Soviet tanks in East Berlin broke up the crowds, and mass arrests followed in their wake. Credit: Pinterest

So for 1953, we covered a dictator’s death and his successor’s removal, an Egyptian political icon, a composer’s death, a celebrity divorce, a baseball player, and a failed uprising. 1953 was busy, but wait until we discuss 1954! Wow!

So, that’s it for another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch the Paralympics Games¹ and I’ll see you next week, when we check in on the Coalition of Chaos.

¹Seriously, go and watch the Paralympics Games. They deserve all the attention and support.

To follow the news or not to follow the news? That is the question.

On August 19, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Social Media

Over three years, I’ve amassed a delightful collection of topics on New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website. I’ve ranted about science, comics, books, movies, and Christmas. I’ve even discussed particle accelerators and my socks.

I sometimes use levity, or at least I try to when I’m discussing topics. But today’s topic is quite different because I have a question. As usual, some much-needed context is required for me to translate what I’m trying to discuss.

A few days ago, my wife read an article about a horror story in Palestine. When I saw her after work, she asked if I had heard of the story, to which I hadn’t. She then explained the story but also mentioned that she read about it in the morning, and for the entire day, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.

She also explained how reading the article made her feel awful and that it had affected her deeply. When she finished talking about the article, she said she was torn about whether she was better off learning about the story or not.

This led me to the question, how does someone watch or read the news and not feel overwhelmed and negative about the world?

I’m not an expert on this, but it seems a rather important question.

Hundreds of years ago, and depending on where you lived, when an event occurred in your country, you may have heard about it after a few days, through the newspaper, or weeks or months later if there were none. For international news, it could have taken longer to learn about it.

It’s a little different nowadays. You can watch the live results of your general election while eating dinner at the table; you can watch the verdict of a high-profile trial while riding public transport; or even watch villages and cities get attacked in real-time, during your lunch break.

Through the internet, this connection to the world is in the palm of our hands. This connectivity is a double-edged sword, as both information and misinformation can spread rapidly.

The news can be inspiring and positive while instilling different amounts of hope in us. But what about the opposite? What if all the news you read and watch is negative? Inflation, rape, genocide, government corruption, drug scandals, climate change, cancer, wars, house prices, riots, racism, prejudice, gaslighting, well, the list could go on and on.

When is it time to stop watching the news? People complain that the world is going to shit, and it’s obvious through news coverage. Right? But in my humble opinion, I think it isn’t.

The world has always been a mixture of good, bad, and everything in between. There’s always been strife, wars, and chaos throughout history.

When the Black Death was ravaging Western Europe, people would have thought the world was going to shit.

When the conquistadors plundered and murdered their way through the New World, people would have thought the world was going to shit.

When Imperial Japan invaded China, people would have thought the world was going to shit.

Injustice, cruelty, and evil have always been with us. The difference is our access to these events in real-time. So are we better off not knowing about racism in New Zealand, a new school shooting in the United States, or gang rapes in India? Are we better off not knowing about the increasing dangers of climate change? Are we better off not knowing about the daily death counts in Palestine, Yemen, Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

I can’t answer those questions for you, but I know and understand the desire not to follow the news. Some of it is awful, whether it’s local, national, or international. It’s enough to make you crawl up into a ball and stay in bed. Who wants to be thinking about children starving, hospitals being bombed, and billionaires running in elections, when you can’t pay rent or the mortgage?

Sometimes reading, listening and watching the news is truly horrific and terrifying. However, from my perspective, there’s something worse than following the news; and it’s not following it.

Listening and following the news means a substantial amount to me. It means that I’m not living in ignorance about events, even if they are halfway around the planet, and I can’t do anything other than educate people about them.

You may feel helpless and overwhelmed when you learn about truly horrible news, but you’re not alone. It may seem that you are, but you’re not. Because you have these negative feelings, it proves two things; one is that it shows you have compassion and empathy; it shows your humanity, even if it doesn’t look like it.

The second point is that if you feel upset or outraged by a particular news story, chances are that people around the world, or even someone you know may feel the same way. It’s okay to allow yourself to feel angry because your anger is a gift. It really is.

Anger can bring about social reforms and real changes in your community, country, and the world. It really can.

If your council was screwing over veterans in your region, would you want to know?

If your local politician was targeting minorities and blaming them for your country’s problems, would you want to know?

If your government was cutting funding to the disabled people of your country, and giving that money to landlords as tax breaks, would you want to know?

There’s a phrase that I’ve always liked:

An entire ocean can only sink a ship if the ocean gets inside it. And just like the ship, you can only sink into despair, if you let the negativity of the world inside you. Don’t let it.

I feel it’s important to follow the news, regardless of how it makes you feel. If it makes you happy, then smile. If it makes you sad, then cry. If it makes you angry, then rage. Accept the feelings and experience them, because, strangely, it confirms that you’re still alive and that you matter.

Sorry, but I’ve ranted on far too long. I hope this helps someone like it helped me to talk about it.

Anyway, it’s time for me to go. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch an Asterix movie, and I’ll see you next week because we’re visiting 1953.

Tour of the Solar System: Uranus

On August 12, 2024October 23, 2025 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

It’s been awhile between innings, but it’s back! The worst tour in the Solar System, about the Solar System has returned, with another well-intended love letter towards the topic. The tension is almost unbearable, but you must wait a little longer before the magic begins anew.

For those silly sausages that have missed the previous entries, fear not, for I have a list:

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

9.) The Asteroid Belt

10.) Ceres

11.) Jupiter

12.) The Galilean moons

13.) Saturn

14.) Titan

15.) The Moons of Saturn

Believe it or not, not everybody appreciates the amount of effort and time it takes to create a masterpiece of scientific communication.

Take The New Zealand Sour Cream and Chives Preservation Society for an example; no please, take them. In commenting on my blog about The Moons of Saturn in a media statement, The New Zealand Sour Cream and Chives Preservation Society said:

“Six moons. This terrible excuse of a New Zealander forced us to read and learn about six different moons of Saturn. Hey moron, news flash, people don’t care about stuff like this. We already have a moon! When is this human skidmark going to get a hint and stop with this crap?! The hardworking and honest people of New Zealand are getting tired of this vacuous human hedgehog telling us things, we don’t want to know. Someone call a taxi for him and take him home.”

I think I’m beginning to get under their skin. Good times.

After visiting the Moons of Saturn, the next stop on the tour is every 10-year-old’s favourite joke and planet: Uranus! Ladies and gentlemen, please make sure your seat is forward and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or the overhead bins, because we’re going to Uranus!

Uranus sports a faint ring system. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXO/University College London/W. Dunn et al; Optical: W.M. Keck Observatory)

Let’s start the lecture with Uranus’ name. The most common way to pronounce it is:

Yuor-ray-nuhs or U-ran-us

It’s been the butt¹ of jokes for years, in every school around the world. However, if you want to sound like a true geek or nerd, then have to pronounce it as:

Yoor-e-nes or Ur-an-us

Trust me, it’s for the best.

Uranus is a planet that’s overshadowed by Jupiter’s size and Saturn’s rings, like two overachieving older siblings. It’s an odd world, but that just makes it even better.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest planet in the Solar System. It’s also the third Gas Giant or Outer Planet, as well as being about 4.5 billion years old, which puts it slightly older than some of my running t-shirts.

The name Uranus does come not from some graffiti on a public toilet wall, but from somewhere else. Usually, the answer to this question would be Roman mythology. I mean, as the tour has progressed, we’ve met Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; all named from Roman mythology.

But Uranus is different because its name comes from Greek mythology. Uranus or Caelus in Roman mythology, was the father of Cronus (Saturn), and grandfather to Zeus (Jupiter), as well as being the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars).

Unlike the other planets we have met on the tour, Uranus was the first planet to be discovered by mathematical prediction and telescope. I told you Uranus was odd, but it’s still cool. Throughout history, people have been able to see Uranus with the naked eye, but assumed it was a star.

To my understanding, the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, predicted Uranus’ existence after making some observations but also made the mistake of thinking it was a star. However, that changed on 13th March 1781, when William Herschel (Frederick William Herschel) discovered it with his homemade reflecting telescope.

Herschel initially thought it could have been a comet, but more astronomers started to observe it. Upon greater reflection, this wandering light was deemed to be a planet in 1783. Because Herschel discovered it, he claimed dibs on the name and suggested Georgium Sidus or George’s Star, after his patron, King George III. This did not prove to be successful.

It was Bode, who in 1782, floated the name, Uranus, taken from the pages of Greek mythology. It was a hard sell, but eventually, Uranus was decided a better name than Georgium Sidus. It wasn’t until 1850, when the last supporters of Georgium Sidus, the HM Nautical Almanac Office, finally caved, and started referring to it as Uranus.

Since it’s a gas giant and the third largest planet in the Solar System, Uranus is larger than Earth. Uranus has a diameter of 51,118 km, which means Uranus could fit about 63 Earths inside it.

Can you imagine your doctor explaining the reason you feel crap, is because you have 63 Earth-sized planets inside you? I’d rather not imagine the condition of the toilet.

Uranus and its happy siblings all orbit the Sun. And just like the others, Uranus has an elliptical orbit, so at its perihelion, the distance from Uranus from the Sun is about 2.5 billion km; and at its aphelion is 3 billion km, with 6.80 km/s being the average orbital speed. It takes sunlight roughly, 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to Uranus, which is the length of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

With its rotation and axial tilt…well, remember that I said Uranus is odd? I wasn’t lying. One day on Uranus takes about 17 hours, which is the length it takes for Uranus to complete one rotation on its axis. If you thought one Uranian day was short, its year is next level.

It takes Uranus 84 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun. 84 years! Let that sink in. The last time Uranus was roughly in its present location in time and space – at the time of this blog being published – the Second World War was raging across the world. The Battle of Britain was being fought, the Hundred Regiments Offensive was starting, The Blitz was just around the corner, and Bugs Bunny had just made his official debut.

Most of the planets in the Solar System rotate East to West, with Venus having a retrograde orbit, so it spins West to East. Uranus is watching this and says, “Hold my beer.” Uranus doesn’t rotate East to West, but even though technically, Uranus has a retrograde orbit, it’s not the same as Venus.

Uranus’ equator is almost at a right angle, relative to its orbit, with a tilt of 97.77 degrees. Imagine Saturn with its beautiful rings, rotating parallel to the Solar System’s plane, like it does now. Now imagine that someone pushes the planet over, so its rings are not horizontal, but vertical. That’s Uranus!

Scientists believe that deep into Uranus’ past, another object must have collided with it, with enough force and energy, to knock the planet over, and start spinning it in the most asinine way possible. Because of this outrageous tilt, Uranus has the most extreme seasons in our family of planets. Each of Uranus’ poles gets about 42 years of darkness, then 42 years of sunlight, and back again.

Can you imagine 42 years of winter? Not even House Stark or the North could imagine that horror. For comparison, Earth’s tilt is only 23.5 degrees.

This brings us to Uranus’ temperatures, because this charming little oddball, is the coldest planet in our family. Yes, even though Uranus is over 2 billion km away from the Sun, it’s the crazy arse tilt that allows it to take the crown. Temperatures on Uranus have been recorded at -224℃, which is colder than my bathroom in winter.

Added to the fact that Uranus’ atmosphere has a mixture of hydrogen, helium, methane, hydrogen deuteride, hydrogen sulfide, methane hydrate, ammonia, water ice, and ammonium hydrosulfide, reinforces the concept that because Uranus is a gas giant, it is also an ice planet. Compared to Uranus, Hoth is a tropical destination.

I’m running out of time, but there’s so much more to discuss about Uranus, but the two most important things left are its rings and moons. There are only four ringed planets in the Solar System; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Like Saturn, Uranus’ rings can be divided into groups. It has 13 rings, with the first nine being narrow inner rings, then two dusty-like rings, and then two outer rings. Because scientists are amazing at naming cosmic objects, the rings moving away from Uranus are: Zeta, 6, 5, 4, Alpha, Beta, Eta, Gamma, Delta, Lambda, Epsilon, Nu, and Mu. This awards Uranus the honour of having the second most complex ring system in the Solar System.

As for its moons, Uranus has 28 confirmed moons. And to continue the notion of Uranus being odd, the names of its moons are not derived from Roman or Greek mythology like other moons, but rather characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

I’ll talk more about Uranus’ moons next time on the tour, because they deserve their own blog post. I wanted to write more about our strange older sibling, but I’ve been watching too much of the Olympics, sorry.

And with that, this week’s lecture is over. What is your favourite fact about Uranus? As always, please let me know. I still hope you’re enjoying the Tour. I know the view is terrible, but at least the ticket is free!

Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m still on Twitter and Mastodon, trying to sound less of a geek, but utterly failing. Drop in and say hello, if you feel like it.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, keep pressuring your politicians for a ceasefire in Palestine, and I’ll see you next week.

Slava Ukraini!

¹Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

San Diego Comic-Con 2024: What projects are coming to a screen or store near you?

On August 5, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Books, Comics, Movies, Television

This is the third year I’ve done this, but I like making fun mistakes. It’s that time of the year to discuss one of the biggest geek events on the planet: no, it’s not me wearing my Batman socks and my Iron Man t-shirt, at the same time. However cool and brave that event is, it pales compared to San Diego Comic-Con.

I’ve never been to it, mainly because it’s over 10,000 km away and I can’t afford to go; like ever. But that doesn’t mean I still can’t enjoy it, right? Right?!

San Diego Comic-Con is the opportunity for some of the world’s leading entertainment companies to showcase their upcoming products, whether toys, anime, computer games, manga, books, comics, movies, or TV shows, to the ticket-paying fans, and the rest of the world.

Standing in line for hours to meet an idol, overpriced food, cool tote bags, and cosplaying, what’s more to love?! Information, that’s what; specifically trailers, panels, and media statements.

After going through the list of upcoming projects, like a dog bin-diving, who is searching for a disgusting tissue, I have found some things that interest me. I have said this before about San Diego Comic-Con, but I haven’t read or watched every single scrap of information that was released. Tragic, but true.

So, what projects are coming to a cinema or store near you? Well, it’s a concoction, stranger than Dr Jekyll’s elixir. As always, with nearly every one of my posts, there are some rules. Of course, there are.

1.) I have not read or seen, every article or trailer released from San Diego Comic-Con. I can only discuss the things I know of, but also things I’m interested in. However, I will not be picking up a copy of The Bloody Beetroot #1, thank you very much.

2.) Just because a product is on my list, doesn’t mean I’ll get to see, or purchase it. Quite simply, if something has landed on this list, it has my attention; regardless if I watch or purchase it.

3.) I have included some information and trailers that were released, just before San Diego Comic-Con. This is because I’m the chief shareholder in the company. That sounds very fair.

Before I go on, I realise the world is a crazy place, and not everything that happens is positive. I’m aware of this, which is why this nonsense blog exists. Cool bananas?

Ok, I’m not here to shag spiders, so let’s do this!

Image: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images

Literature: (Books and Comics)

With the comics selection, the biggest projects that sparked my interest were from DC and Marvel. I’m not saying other companies have nothing of interest to me, but as I have said before, I can only talk about projects that I know of.

Absolute Universe

Yes, Marvel already did this with the Ultimate Universe, so over 20 years later, it’s DC’s turn. I don’t know all the details, but it seems they have reimagined key heroes like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in a new universe.

Bruce has no money or Batcave, Clark has no family, and Diana is the last of the Amazons. The concept is simple, but the designs for the characters are impressive. There are more Absolute titles coming, like The Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter.

I don’t know if I’ll buy any of these titles, but they look interesting, and sometimes that’s half the battle.

Star Wars

I need to remember to write about Star Wars: The High Republic. It’s been another year, and I still haven’t done it, so I’m sorry about that. We’re approaching the halfway point of the third and final phase of the project, but my love for Star Wars remains strong.

Information concerning Star Wars literature include:

Star Wars: The Acolyte: Wayseeker (novel)

Star Wars: The High Republic: Fear of the Jedi (limited series-Marvel)

Star Wars: Battle of Jakku: Insurgency Rising (limited series-Marvel)

Star Wars: The High Republic: Edge of Balance: Premonition (manga-Viz Media)

Here’s a quick update about the project that I discussed about last year’s Comic-Con. Knights Vs Samurai, is finally getting released in September, and I’m looking forward to it.

Movies:

Star Trek: Section 31

Technically, this is a television movie, but let’s not split hairs too much.¹Like any geek, I love Star Trek, and this spin-off from Star Trek: Discovery seems intriguing. Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou was a stand-out character in the series, who eventually went on her own growth and development arc. Granted, I’m not entirely sure when the film is set in the timeline, but it’s enough to grab my attention.

It’s going to be on a streaming service, like nearly everything else, so I just hope I’ll be able to see it. Maybe finding a magic lamp will help.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man

Any long-time followers of this vanity project will know my love for Anung un Rama, aka Hellboy. I’ve been slowly going bankrupt for years, reading and collecting Hellboy comics; which led me to read the classic Hellboy: The Crooked Man mini-series, when it came out in 2008.

I knew a fourth Hellboy movie was being produced, but when I understood it was going to be about The Crooked Man, well, I did my infamous Daddy-Dance in front of my wife; and she just rolled her eyes.

After watching the trailer, I danced again, because the film looks immaculate. Leaning into the horror aspect of Hellboy’s world, goes in step with the ghouls and demons that live there. This is a film I am 100% going to see.

Captain America: Brave New World

Captain America: Brace New World is the MCU’s first film for 2025, wait..2025? Really? I remember going to see Iron Man only a few years ago…oh. Damn.

Anyway, I want to see this film, but just like Loki and the TVA in Deadpool & Wolverine, I haven’t seen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, surprise, surprise. So basically, will people understand the progression of events in the movie, if they haven’t seen the mini-series?

I have no idea, but I’m keen as a bean to see whether Red Hulk will be intelligent or not. I’ll have to visit The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s Wikipedia page before visiting my local cinema, to get myself up to speed. Will this be enough? Again, I have no idea, but I still would like to see it.

Alien: Romulus

I want to see Alien: Romulus because I’m a fan of the Alien movies. The trailer makes it look dark, claustrophobic, and intense, just like any Alien movie should be.

However, after watching an army of face huggers running around a space station in the trailer, I’ve decided I’m going to watch the movie at home. I don’t want to be scared in public, so I’ll save the pants-peeing and pants-shitting for my living room. I still haven’t had the courage to watch Alien: Covenant yet!

Television shows:

The Penguin

Colin Farrell was unrecognisable as Oswald Cobblepot, aka Penguin in 2022’s The Batman; which was an amazing film. He was fantastic as Cobblepot, and if I understand the plot correctly, the show is set after the first film, but before the second, which is in preproduction.

After Carmine Falcone died in The Batman, Cobblepot is attempting to take over Gotham’s underworld and install himself as the new crime lord. That being the case, I think Batman will only be used in conversations, and not actually appear.

Maybe more of Batman’s Rogue’s gallery will turn up in the mini-series, because Sofia and Alberto Falcone are involved, so they could be setting up a live-action version of The Long Halloween. Who knows? Whatever the case, Farrell looks like he’s bringing the heat and it’s a show that my wife and I will watch together. And who said romance is dead?!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season 3

Like I said about Star Trek: Section 31, I’ve been enjoying Star Trek: Discovery, but my admiration of the saga, also includes Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I have to be honest, this show keeps surprising me, and that’s a good thing.

Witnessing these familiar, but also unfamiliar characters has been great, and the cliffhanger for Season 2 was unexpected. Strange New Worlds has helped me to fall in love with Star Trek, all over again. Isn’t that cute and nice?

Superman & Lois: Season 4

Superman & Lois has been a TV show that destroyed my expectations of it. Seriously. These versions of Clark and Lois are wonderful, and I fully believe that Clark and Lois are better together on screen. This show brings out their strengths and highlights that Clark can’t be Superman, without the support of his family; which to me, makes him only stronger.

Add in Season 3’s cliffhanger fight with Doomsday, and I’ve reserved my ticket for the final season. I’m going to miss this show.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was quite divisive among fans for several reasons. I did watch the first season, so I can understand some of the criticisms, which I’ve discussed before on this magnificent blog.

However, unlike the hundreds, if not thousands of fans that have distanced themselves from the project, I am more than willing to give this show another shot at greatness. Have things improved on the show? I don’t know, but I promise I’m going to watch it. I see that Tom Bombadil is in the show, but I still want Melkor to have a cameo!

Also, this is a special mention about Batman: Caped Crusader. I’m going to write my first preview/review about a television show, and Batman: Caped Crusader gets to be the lucky winner. I’ll talk more about this closer to the time, but I’m optimistic about the show.

Anyway, that’s it for another week. What announcements from San Diego Comic-Con were you interested in? As always, please let me know. Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, keep watching the Olympics, and I’ll see you next week for the return of the Solar System’s worst tour!

¹Like Vulcans, I embrace technicalities; but not for this section. The double pun is very much intended.

Deadpool & Wolverine: Movie Review

On July 29, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Movies

Following last week’s fantastic preview of Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s time to discuss the movie review. I know, I know, my movie previews and reviews are amazing…at being terrible, but feeding UMC1 and UMC2, keeping my dog warm and happy, along with running New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website, means sleep is precious to me. Very preciousssss.

Like Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, I purchased the ticket at the cinema, days before the screening. Because you know, a geek’s got to do, what a geek’s got to do. At the cinema on Wednesday night, I jumped into line for food and drink, and the cinema liberated a small fortune from my bank account for said items.

And just like every other time at our cinema, I walked straight into the theatre and sat down, without anybody checking my ticket. This is the quintessential example of New Zealand culture: Trusting that the people sitting in a theatre have paid, so there’s no need to check their tickets.

Before I continue, they played the trailer for Captain America: Brave New World, which featured an image of the Red Hulk. I heard one person say, “I thought Hulk was green. Why’d they change his colour?!” Sitting in the back row, allowed me to have a wry smile without being seen. And yes, I am ashamed of myself.

Anyway, on with the review!

Let’s go over the rules of the review.

1.) Please be aware there will be spoilers concerning the movie, so proceed with extreme anxiety and caution.

2.) The aim of my reviews are not to rip apart the subject or trash it. If I liked the subject enough to watch or read it, then I’ll give my honest (possibly biased) opinion.

3.) I’m not a professional critic, so I’m not going to dive into deeper concepts and themes, or the art of filmmaking. I’m just a geek; always have been, and always will be.

And away we go!

So, did I like the movie? Yes, yes I did. I enjoyed it for different reasons, though I’ll try to cover them all. Firstly, the dialogue was sharp and more brutal than some fight scenes. The constant 4th wall insults, like the divorce reference and the Canada joke, had me laughing so hard that the woman sitting next to me kept glaring at me. Also, even though Gambit’s accent was comic-accurate, it was still funny to hear.

The movie was hilarious, showing even more than the previous two movies, that Wade Wilson is a lunatic who likes to stab and shoot, with or without the mask, but he’s a lunatic on the side of the angels.

The fight scenes were extremely graphic and violent, but you knew that was coming; it was expected. Still, using Wolverine’s skeleton as a weapon, strangely made a lot of sense in a twisted way. The scene where Deadpool had stabbed a TVA agent in the arse with Wolverine’s claws, is something I can’t unsee, no matter how hard I try.

The first fight between Deadpool and Wolverine in the Void was amazing, but it paled in comparison with the war they fought over in the Honda Odyssey, which was something I never knew I wanted to see. The entire sequence was phenomenal, simple, and entertaining, but horrific all at the same time.

The soundtrack was a surprise, with songs from *NSYNC and AC/DC, being somewhat appropriate choices for Deadpool’s dance routine against the TVA agents, along with the first fight between Deadpool and Wolverine.

Since we’re not talking about cameos, let’s discuss them. Some of the cameos included Deadpool variants, as well as Wolverine variants such as Patch, Age of Apocalypse Wolverine, Old Man Logan, the cover of Uncanny X-Men #251 Wolverine, comic-accurate height Wolverine, and the “Cavillrine,” were all extremely well done. When I saw the Uncanny X-Men cover with Wolverine being crucified on a giant X, I couldn’t help but quietly clap because it was obvious that they had done their homework.

With the other cameos, I suppose this movie was the official final chapter in the 20th Century Fox superheroes franchises, because it felt like it was becoming a tribute movie. I mentioned a few of the cameos last week, but I didn’t see Johnny Storm, Blade, or the appearance of Gambit coming.

Here’s a shout-out to the production crew including the Red Skull’s car and the Fantasticar. I appreciated seeing them again.

So, what about my preview questions?

I don’t have Disney+, so I haven’t seen Loki, only some videos from YouTube. This means my experience with the TVA is limited. Will the TVA be accessible to non-Disney+ viewers? Yes, they were accessible to a non-Disney+ viewer, but I still have a lot of questions about them, mainly who decides what goes in the Sacred Timeline? I’m sure when I get to watch Loki, many questions will be answered. Maybe.
I know Wolverine is alive in the film because it’s set before he died in Logan. But does this mean Logan is a fixed point in continuity? That was a sneaky one because Marvel Studios had explained that the film would be set before James died in Logan. They lied, because the whole point of the movie, was that Earth-10005’s version of Wolverine was dead. So yes, Logan was a fixed point in continuity.
Is Cassandra Nova’s Charles Xavier twin sister in the movie? Yes, she was, and Emma Corrin did a great job playing Cassandra Nova. My only question was why they cast a young actor for the role of Cassandra, when being Xavier’s twin, she would have to be decades older. She would be the same age as Xavier so she would be at least 60 years old; unless time works differently in the Void. I don’t know.
Will this movie somehow activate the X-gene in people in the MCU? If it did, I must have missed it, because I would have said no.
Will Liev Schreiber return? To the best of my knowledge, he didn’t.
Will 21st Century Fox’s X-Men’s continuity merge with Disney’s MCU, creating one continuity, or will it be something else? The ending of the movie surprised me, because I thought there would be some sort of timeline merging, but surprise, surprise, I was wrong. Deadpool remained in his Fox-era universe, and not in the MCU.
Will Wolverine lose his memories of the movie’s events by the end credits? I would say that’s a no, because he was at Wade’s party and holding Dogpool, by the end of the movie.
However the movie ends, will the X-Men be standing in the MCU? I’m going out on a limb and say, “Hell, no!”
How different will the MCU look after Deadpool & Wolverine? As far as I can see and understand, not a lot, if anything has changed in the MCU, because of the movie. Maybe if I understood the TVA better, I could give a better answer.
Will any Avengers turn up? The Hulk was fighting, I think a Wolverine variant wearing the classic 80’s brown and tan costume. There was also footage of Thor leaning over a dying Deadpool in the future.
Will Wolverine break the 4th wall? I believe Hugh Jackman broke the 4th wall in marketing adverts, but not in the movie. I hope I’m right about that!
Will the plot make sense with multiple timelines/worlds being involved? Remembering that Deadpool still had Cable’s time-travelling device from the previous film, and also armed with a TemPad, he could travel to other universes. Throw in the leftovers found in the Void, there were a lot of timelines involved. The plot wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t have to be, since Deadpool was involved.

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman were devastatingly good, but it does raise the question of what happens next, since Deadpool is living on Earth-10005, and not in the MCU; especially with a new Wolverine walking around. For the MCU, I think the next film will be Captain America: Brave New World in February 2025, which I promise to watch.

If you want 2 hours of entertainment, with a superhero movie that embraces the sheer ridiculousness of the genre, then you will love Deadpool & Wolverine. Adding in some graphic violence, insults, middle management villains, and one of the coolest dogs in cinema, this movie won’t win any Academy Awards, but it will win fans over. Maximum effort.

That’s it for another week and another terrible post. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. My 200th blog post is coming up soon, so that’s exciting, at least to me. I mean, I thought I would have quit by now.

Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch some of the Olympics, and I’ll see you next week for my annual recap of San Diego Comic-Con. Hell, yeah!

Deadpool & Wolverine: Movie Preview

On July 22, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Movies

Some of my amazing dedicated followers may remember, that I had previously promised to watch more superhero movies at the cinema. I could bleat on about the reasons, but it’s a genre I love, and I’ve been lazy about going, so I need to do better!

The last superhero movie I saw at the cinema was Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which I previously previewed and reviewed. Since then, I’ve watched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on DVD. Blue Beetle is saved on my watchlist, but I still haven’t seen Thor: Love and Thunder or The Marvels. I’m not sure where to watch them, as I don’t have Disney+.¹

This long-winded introduction finally brings us to Deadpool & Wolverine. In New Zealand, the film opens on Thursday 25th July. I sold some extra comics, so I purchased a ticket for an advanced screening on Wednesday 24th July. Go me!

Deadpool is a great character, and Ryan Reynolds has done an extraordinary job at portraying the Merc with the Mouth. Seriously, amongst the graphic violence of Deadpool and Deadpool 2, Wade Wilson was spitting out burns left, right and centre.

Now combine one violence-loving mutant with an accelerated healing factor, with another in the form of Hugh Jackson’s Wolverine, and I believe there will be a lot of carnage.²

I mean, James has his claws, while Wade has a pair of katana blades, so their healing factors will be put into overdrive.

The marketing for the film, at least to me, has been taken to another level. Reynolds and Jackman have been priceless.

Even though Deadpool was an R-rated film, it brought in $782.8 million, along with Deadpool 2 earning $785.8 million. So how much money will Deadpool & Wolverine earn at the box office, and will the movie be any good? I’ve seen the trailers, so let’s discuss the preview!

Am I looking forward to watching Deadpool & Wolverine?

Yes, yes I am. We haven’t seen Wolverine in a live-action movie since 2017’s Logan, and this will be Deadpool’s first adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is because Disney purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71 billion, a number that still boggles my mind.

Also, this is me following through on my promise to watch and support more superhero movies at the cinema. However, there is one tiny issue. My local cinema has increased their prices again. In January 2024, when I saw Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, an adult ticket was $17.00. It’s now gone up to $18.00.³

What is the movie about?

According to Wikipedia, the premise is this:

Six years after the events of Deadpool 2, Wade Wilson lives a quiet life, having left his time as the mercenary Deadpool behind him, until the Time Variance Authority (TVA)—a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline—pulls him into a new mission. With his home universe facing an existential threat, Wilson reluctantly joins an even more reluctant Wolverine on a mission that will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

What can we expect?

The movie’s running time is 127 minutes, so just over two hours, which is the average standard now. Not too short, and not too long; it’s smack in the middle.

As for other expectations, there’s going to be blood, death, stabbing, dismemberment, swearing, guns, claws, knives, swords, timelines, portals, and things I haven’t even thought of.

I know Matthew Macfadyen is playing a TVA agent, along with Emma Corrin, portraying the main antagonist, Cassandra Nova. Whether Nova will be revealed to be Charles Xavier’s twin is anybody’s guess, though it may be.

I know that some actors will be reprising their roles from the previous films, like Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio), Stefan Kapičić (Colossus), and Morena Baccarin (Vanessa).

And just like any MCU film, there are going to be cameos. From my understanding, Jennifer Garner (Elektra Natchios), Aaron Stanford (Pyro), Tyler Mane (Sabretooth), and Dafne Keen (Laura / X-23), will be coming back; along with Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan.

The Deadpool Corps will also be appearing, which will only be chaotic and murderous.

Do I have concerns?

I always have concerns when comic book characters are adapted into television shows or films. As for this one, I do have a few questions.

I don’t have Disney+, so I haven’t seen Loki, only some videos from YouTube. This means my experience with the TVA is limited. Will the TVA be accessible to non-Disney+ viewers?
I know Wolverine is alive in the film because it’s set before he died in Logan. But does this mean Logan is a fixed point in continuity?
Is Cassandra Nova’s Charles Xavier twin sister in the movie?
Will this movie somehow activate the X-gene in people in the MCU?
Will Liev Schreiber return?
Will 21st Century Fox’s X-Men’s continuity merge with Disney’s MCU, creating one continuity, or will it be something else?
Will Wolverine lose his memories of the movie’s events by the end credits?
However the movie ends, will the X-Men be standing in the MCU?
How different will the MCU look after Deadpool & Wolverine?
Will any Avengers turn up?
Will Wolverine break the 4th wall?
Will the plot make sense with multiple timelines/worlds being involved?

I’ve probably got more questions, but I’ll stop there.

I hope the film is successful with the critics, fans and at the box office because the genre could do with a heavyweight win. I’m feeling optimistic about the film, but let’s keep both feet on the ground, shall we? I’m watching it on Wednesday night, so next Monday’s post will be the review.

And that’s it for another week. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, remember that Palestine and Ukraine still exist, and I’ll see you next week for the Deadpool & Wolverine review. Take care of yourselves.

¹My wife said when she gets a part-time or full-time job, she’ll get Disney+ for us. I’m going to hold her to that.

²Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the Spider-Man villain.

³New Zealand’s currency is basically Monopoly money.

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1952

On July 15, 2024 By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, Music, People, Politics

We are deep into winter at the moment, so what better way to bring some light into the world than to revisit events from 72 years ago, inspired by a 35-year-old song? Yes, it’s that time again for Some Geek Told Me to take a look at We Didn’t Start the Fire.

Previous entries on this terrible series have been:

Surprisingly, Beetroot Awareness Aotearoa issued no statement about last month’s post, concerning 1951. Maybe they were too busy being knee-deep in beetroot to notice; though honestly, that sounds like a nightmare to me.

Before we start, 1952 is another special year for me, because that’s when my mother was born. So, without further fanfare, let’s give the non-ticket-paying audience what they want, and dive into We Didn’t Start the Fire’s historic references for 1952.

1952

Eisenhower:

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, during the Second World War, but that’s not why he’s on the list. In 1952, Eisenhower ran as the Republican nominee in the US Presidential election, against Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II.

In a landslide victory, Eisenhower won the presidency with 442 electoral votes to 89, becoming the 34th President of the United States of America. Some other recent landslide victories include Ronald Reagan, who won in 1980 with 489 electoral votes, and in 1984 with 525 electoral votes, as well as George H. W. Bush in 1988 with 426 electoral votes.

An official portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Credit: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Vaccine:

This particular case highlights the incredible potential of humanity. Polio is a highly contagious infectious disease that can cause paralysis and even death, especially in children worldwide. In the 20th century, polio killed millions of people each year and became one of the most feared diseases.

A polio vaccine had been in development for several years, but it wasn’t until virologist and biomedical scientist, Jonas Salk and a team of researchers, developed the first effective one in 1952. By the end of the decade, the Salk vaccine had reached about 90 countries.

The legacy of Salk’s vaccine is that it has helped to eliminate polio from the majority of the world, saving millions of lives each year. Unlike smallpox, polio is not eradicated yet, but both IPV and OPV vaccines are helping to achieve that goal.

England’s got a new Queen:

Some of the references in We Didn’t Start the Fire need some explanation and context. Others, like our next one, don’t.

England’s got a new Queen, is exactly what you think it’s about. On 6th February 1952, 56-year-old King George VI of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth died, leaving his 25-year-old daughter, Elizabeth as the monarch. Although Elizabeth was coronated in 1953, she became Queen Elizabeth II when her father died.

The obvious equivalent for this was when on 8th September 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died at 96 years old, having reigned for 70 years. Her son, Charles, Prince of Wales, became King Charles III, with his coronation in 2023.

Marciano:

Rocco Francis Marchegiano, otherwise known as Rocky Marciano, was a professional boxer in the heavyweight division. On 23rd September 1952, Marciano fought a title match against World Heavyweight Champion, Jersey Joe Walcott. Marciano knocked Walcott out, to become the new heavyweight champion of the world.

Marciano went on to hold the title from 1952 until 1956 when he retired from boxing at 32 years old. Marciano had 49 fights, with 49 wins, and 43 by knockouts; which included six title defence fights. He remains the only heavyweight champion to finish his career undefeated. Marciano died in a plane crash in 1969.

For modern times, there is a collection of boxers that we could compare to Marciano, but ultimately I won’t. I mean, why would you?

Liberace:

One of the great American TV entertainers was born Władziu Valentino Liberace, though he became known as just Liberace. He was a pianist, singer, actor and showman. In 1952, he was given a 15-minute network television programme, called The Liberace Show. The show displayed his many different abilities, and it quickly grew in popularity, along with Liberace.

The show ran from 1952-1969 and was made famous for the costumes, productions, performances, and Liberace’s flamboyance. The legacy of The Liberace Show was the promotion of musical variety shows, but also the creation an international cultural icon.

Santayana goodbye:

On 26th September 1952, Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, died aged 88. George Santayana, as he became known in English, was a famous essayist, novelist, philosopher, and poet. In academic circles, Santayana was a pillar of 20th-century thinking and coined the immortal phrase:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Santayana was beloved around the world for his work and helped usher in a new understanding of the human condition. For a modern equivalent, I’m going out on a limb, but I would name Carl Sagan, but to each their own.

So for 1952, we covered a US President, the polio vaccine, a British queen, a boxer, a music variety show, and a philosopher. That’s not bad at all, so I’ll be covering 1953 next time if you didn’t guess.

So, that’s it for another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, pat a goose, and I’ll see you next week. Look after yourself until I return.

SOME GEEK TOLD ME

Author: somegeektoldme@gmail.com

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The Final Experiment: Will Flat Earthers cry or care?

The Coalition of Chaos: Episode I: The Cabinet Menace

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1953

Tour of the Solar System: Uranus

San Diego Comic-Con 2024: What projects are coming to a screen or store near you?

Deadpool & Wolverine: Movie Review

Deadpool & Wolverine: Movie Preview

We Didn’t Start the Fire: 1952