Nerdy Blogger

Good evening, Nerdy Bloggers.  I’ve been in and out of town over the past couple of weeks, but I’m hoping now to return to a more normal rate of blogging.  I hope and pray you’ve all been well, too. 

 Over the past month or so I’ve heard the buzz about NBC’s newest series, Merlin.  Being a fan of a good Arthur story (although I’ve not read/watched nearly as many as I should/like), I decided to watch the pilot episode online tonight, and I must say that I’m quite impressed.  The cast is interesting, as well as the storyline.  Although my Arthurian knowledge is at a bit of a deficit, I had no problem hopping into the story and following along with the action.  I love Merlin’s clumsiness, as well as his snarky attitude towards the stuck-up Arthur.  Also, Gwen’s awkward comments towards Merlin do much to make me laugh and enjoy her take on “foot-in-mouth” disease.  I think this is an interesting take on the story of Merlin and Arthur and I am looking forward to watching further episodes.  I’ll post more thoughts on the series as I watch. 

Blessings,

Nerdy Blogger

Hello Nerdy Bloggers!  I got to go a midnight showing of the newest installment of the Harry Potter franchise.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was excellent and these are my initial reactions.  I’ll be posting my full review after I watch the movie again.  But for now, here are the things that stand out most to me.

Blessings,

Nerdy Blogger

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

• One word: EPIC.
• Best Harry Potter movie so far.
• Several funny moments helped balance out the darker themes in the movie..
• A great final performance by Michael Gambon (although Dumbledore will make an appearance or two in the final films).
• The Trio have SUPERB chemistry in this film, showing how they’ve grown up from little kids playing dress up to maturing young men and women.  I loved it.
• Evanna Lynch is Luna Lovegood.  Hands down.
• The makey-outty-ness was downplayed greatly from the book, which was AWESOME!
• Harry flirting w/ the muggle waitress at the beginning was VERY funny, although NOT CANON.
• The only non-canon moment that was kind of out of place was the attack at the Burrow.  Really the whole scene was cool to watch w/ Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback, but overall, mostly unnecessary. 
• One of the funniest moments for me was the Felix Felicis segment.  Daniel Radcliffe was very snarky and strong in this.   Professor Slughorn was well played, and I felt Jim Broadbent really captured his selfish nature. 
• Tom Felton did a great job in this movie, finally having a few more lines and also getting to do a fair bit more acting rather than just taunting Harry.  Good job, Draco. 
• I really loved Rupert Grint in this movie.  He’s really grown up a lot as an actor and provided a lot more than funny faces in this film. 
• The audience I watched the movie with was great fun and very enjoyable, complete with an excellent Draco Malfoy, a girl w/ a very good Hagrid costume, and a Dobby who I hoped was wearing some form of underwear under his sheet.  I wore blue, curled my hair, carried a knitting needle for a wand, and pretended to be Luna Lovegood.  I kept suspecting nargles.  Unfortunately, my flat hair didn’t stayed curled for very long, especially with the high Lincoln, NE humidity. 
• The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of the fight of Hogwarts at the end.  However, if they’d put it in, the movie probably would’ve been at least half an hour to 45 minutes longer.  That would’ve been okay with me, but I’m also someone who thinks it would be fun to watch all the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings in one sitting. 
• Overall, definitely the best movie of the franchise thus far.  I’ll be watching this one probably at least 2 more times in the theater.  I really want to see it in IMAX, but I guess I’ll have to wait a couple more weeks to do so.  I’ll post my full review of the film once I see it again.  Hooray for the best Harry Potter movie since Prisoner of Azkaban! 

Well folks, today is the beginning of the end of the beginning for Derek Webb fans.  At 6 PM, CST tonight, the elaborate scavenger hunt for Derek Webb’s Stockholm Syndrome will come to an end at The Rutledge in Nashville, TN.  There will be a concert, and according the Derek Webb facebook event, all questions will be answered. The stems released yesterday contained the following photo:

I’m hoping after the final stems are released, which, they are being found as I write this according to @ssyndrome, that Stockholm Syndrome will be released for pre-order and full digital download.  I plan on ordering it the first chance I get, so you’ll get a full review here from me within the next few days.  I don’t believe that the trouble with the record company was faked; I don’t believe Derek would lie to his fans.  However, this has got to be one of the cleverest marketing schemes I’ve ever seen.  I’m even more intrigued about this album, and I hope it lives up to all the hype.  Guess we’ll find out very soon. 

Blessings,

Nerdy Blogger

Good evening, Nerdy Bloggers.  I have a confession to make; I am a podcast junkie.  Looking at my iTunes, you would easily find this to be very true.  I just counted and I am subscribed to eleven different podcasts.  Most are on literature, but I also subscribe to some theology course lectures through iTunes U.  Anyway, long story short, I hope to recommend and review several podcasts through this blog.  Today I’d like to introduce to you a new favorite podcast of mine, Harry Potter Prognostications.

Since I have a degree in literature, listening to deep, solid literature-based podcasts is something I find very enjoyable.  Harry Potter Prognostications (or HP Progs for short) is a great podcast for just that.  I found HP Progs through recommendation of Travis Prinzi of The Hog’s Head.  I’m very glad I decided to pick it up. HP Progs is based out of the blog of the same name, and is chock full with news and insightful HP discussion.  HP Progs is hosted by Greg and Penny, a husband and wife duo based out of Maryland.  Their snark and good-natured humor towards each other and the book series makes this podcast fun to listen to, and always good for a laugh.  Greg and Penny do a great job of providing their listeners with important Harry Potter news updates, and also do interesting things with their show, such as interviews with other top Harry Potter literary critics (in their most recent show, they interviewed Steve Vander Ark, creator of the Harry Potter Lexicon), as well as having serious literary discussion on Harry Potter.  Greg and Penny also provide coverage of major Harry Potter events, such as Harry Potter conferences (Azkatraz is their next one coming up in mid-July).  Overall, the show is really enjoyable and very well recorded (no scratchy feedback or background noises to distract the listener). 

I would recommend this podcast to anyone who is looking for some serious Harry Potter literary discussion, with some good-natured humor along the way.  Greg and Penny seem like down-to-earth people, the kind of people you feel like you could sit down with and have a cup of coffee and talk books.  I think this, and their top-notch literary discussions are the main reasons I keep coming back.  Give them a listen; you just might like it.  Harry Potter Prognostications gets two thumbs up from me.  And as Greg and Penny would say, “Keep on prognosticating!”

Blessings,

Nerdy Blogger