For Love of the Game Episode 5 – The Castlevania Chronicles

It seems everyone is doing a Castlevania bit at the moment. Angry Video Game Nerd did his excellent marathon spanning the first 7 odd games and Egoraptor did his amazing Sequelitis episode on the differences between Castlevania 1 and 2. Irate gamer has done one or two, RPG fanatic did his, basically Youtube is full of people expressing their love for the series but most of them only talk about the old ones and I find that funny because it’s one of the longest running video game franchises and the series has taken so many turns from it’s original formula that there is ample material to rant about for both positives and negatives. So why break tradition?! Here’s my personal history with the Castlevania series.

My first encounter with Castlevania was about 3rd grade. A friend of mine had a NES with about a half dozen games. We’d usually play Mario, Duck Hunt or Excite Bike but every now and then, we’d chuck in Castlevania. It wouldn’t stay in there long since the game was so damn hard that we’d get sick of dying before even seeing the first boss battle. I had another friend I used to swap black and white Gameboy games with for a week and through him I got to try Castlevania Adventure but I didn’t get very far in the first bloody level without running out of lives. Those of you that remember the part near the end of the first level where you have to dodge or kill the flying bats while jumping from brick to brick at that precise moment otherwise you fall down, have to trek back and the bloody bats respawn again will know what I mean. So it stuck with me that Castlevania basically meant FUCKING HARD GAME! Continue reading

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very safe and happy New Year.

With “The Dark Knight Rises”, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Prometheus” & “The Avengers” (just to name a few), 2012 is shaping up to be the year that the geeks inherit the world and I couldn’t be more excited.

Geek Actually will continue to grow and produce quality podcasts throughout 2012 and, assuming the world doesn’t end, beyond. I also want to shout out to The League – Richard (theReelBits.com), Dave (DamnGoodCup.com), Jorge & Sandra (SpotlightReport.net) & Josh (HipHopNetOnline.com) – 2012 is our year, and everyone will know our names by the end of it, I just feel it deep inside.

I also need to give a big thanks to all of the marketing and PR departments of the film studios and distributors who have shown us great support this year. I hope our relationships continue to grow in 2012. And finally, a very happy New Year to Colonel Fury, I mean Anthony (and of course Jayne), over at Way To Blue who have been amazing to us, and the whole League, this past year. I really look forward to seeing what mischief we can get up to together in 2012 :-)

Happy 2012!

Regards,

David McVay
Owner/Editor – GeekActually.com 

Film Actually Ep070 – The Adventures of Tintin

Hosts: David McVay, Josh Philpott & Richard Gray

For the next couple of weeks it is the silly season so Geek Actually is only putting out shorter episodes, consider this the holiday series. This week David , Josh and Richard review the new Steven Spielberg adventure film, “The Adventures of Tintin”. Because of the shorter run time they don’t tackle news this week, instead they roll straight into the famous Lists of Five – The Five Best Movies of the Year. Film Actually is the official movie podcast of geekactually.com.

If you are an iTunes user, please leave a review. Your comments help us improve the show.

This show carries an explicit tag due to infrequent coarse language.

Listen or download it here or subscribe to it on iTunes

Your Show Notes: Continue reading

Behind The Panels (beta) Issue 9 – Batman Noël

Hosted By: David McVay & Richard Gray

This week, David and Richard discuss the latest in news from the world of comics including Stuart Moore’s plans to adapt Civil War into a novel, Marvel ends its line of kid’s comics and the new trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises”. All of this plus our Pick of the Week, this week we discuss Batman Noël.

Have a Merry Christmas and we will be back in two weeks to discuss our next reading assignment: Kingdom Come.

Behind the Panels is still in beta, this issue still carries temporary music and cover art and we continue to work out format issues. We hope you will continue to help us craft this show (via email and feedback) into the finest comic book podcast on the market. This is the last issue of Behind the Panels that will be fed onto the Film Actually podcast feed. If this how you get your episodes, make sure you subscribe to Behind the Panels on the link below.

Have you got something to say? We want to hear from you, send email to comics@geekactually.com or drop us a voicemail at 02 8011 3167 (Skype ID: geek actually) and we’ll play it on the show.

If you are an iTunes user, subscribe for free here and please leave us feedback. The next two or three issues will also come out on the Geek Actually and Film Actually feeds to get things started.

Make sure you check out our other fine podcast Film Actually for the latest in cinema reviews and news.

The Rest…

Join us on our new Facebook Fan Page, follow Geek Actually on Twitter @geekactually and follow David on Twitter @davidmcvay Find more by Richard Gray by visiting theReelBits.com or follow him on Twitter @DVDbits

Make sure you check out our new range of Geek Actually swag at cafepress.com.au/geekactually

The music this week is from Danny Elfman’s score for “Batman Returns”.

TRAILER: Ridley Scott’s Prometheus

2012 is shaping up to be the geek’s year for movies and as much as I want to see “The Dark Knight Rises”, “The Avengers”, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Amazing Spider-Man”, no film is as hotly anticipated as director Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus”. Ridley Scott directed two sci-fi classics with the original “Alien” and “Blade Runner” but hasn’t returned to the genre since 1982. “Prometheus” is a pseudo prequel to “Alien” and the trailer below is just amazing, capturing the essence of what made “Alien” great while being something new and original. I can’t wait to sit in a darkened theatre and let this visual treat unfold before my eyes.

Make sure you check this trailer out in HD at Apple. Continue reading

TRAILER AND POSTER: The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey

All I can say is – joy! Here is the first trailer and poster for the new Peter Jackson directed “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, the first of two films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s prequel to “The Lord of the Rings”. Check out the trailer and the poster below.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths ofguile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

The film stars Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, Luke Evans, Richard Armitage and Andy Serkis. It is coming to us December 2012.