History

The Shrieker Podcast 011: Scott Rhymer

Scott Rhymer, owner of Black Cambell Entertainment  joins us to talk about starting a small publishing company. He has has been writing novels for 16 years and has written for Victoriana (which you can try at one of our Thursday games) and other games. Many of his games and writing are fueled by his interest in history and research. He plans to start by releasing modules for Fate, Ubiquity, and Savage Worlds. The first should be White Apes of the Congo, due out in October. If those are successful, he hopes to eventually follow that up with his own system.

For your downloading pleasure, Scott has written a couple interesting characters for Hollow Earth Expedition. I threw in some quick character sketches and now they’re here for you to enjoy.

The Free RPG Society: The Deep Forest, a hack of The Quiet Year where you play as a community of D&D monsters reclaiming your land after a human occupation. That theme, the pacing, set by a deck of cards, the artifact of the map the players create all make this a wonderfully thoughtful and different game than your typical RPG. Look for a full a review on the Geeks Rising blog.


Rate and Review our show on itunes, join our Facebook  and G+ communities, comment on our website, or email me. We’d love to hear from you.

BSP-014: How I Got Into Music & Recording

On episode 14 of The Bandrew Says Podcast, we take a little bit of a detour from the regularly scheduled topics. Due to popular request, Bandrew is sharing a little bit more about himself with you guys, telling you how he got into music/recording.

Before that, there is a discussion about the SpaceX Falcon 9 landing, and what that means and why Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not as bad as you remember. Bandrew also talks about his first impressions of the Nexus 5x as well as Android & why podcasting is not big on Android.

Make sure you like The Bandrew Says Podcast on Facebook to hear actual examples of the bands that Bandrew discusses in this episode.

Superhero Sunday: Green Arrow!

Grab your bow and quiver for this month's Superhero Sunday: Green Arrow! Lets flash back to 1941 when Morton Weisinger and George Papp created/designed Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow.

The History

Oliver would appear in "More Fun Comics #73" and would spend the next 25 years gaining notice but wouldn't reach real popularity until writer Denny O'neil started working on him in the 60's. From there the popularity has only grown with the character getting a solo TV series.

The Character

This origin is the most current and collected version, there have been many retools and reboots of this character (like many hero's who are decades old). This origin is a hybrid (including TV elements)

Oliver Queen is a rich, arrogant, ego driven workaholic until everything is taken from him. He is young and has the his fathers company, Queen Consolidated, bother his parents have past under mysterious circumstances. But his life changes when he goes out on to travel on a ship and the boat wrecked onto an island.

Oliver Queen must survive the island and become something stronger than he was, but even after his time on the island when he returns and the world thought him to be dead he loses his fathers company and is left with nothing. The arrogant Oliver must be better and must mature. Oliver learns his bow skills on the island but always had a love for robin hood as a child. The mythos of the island only grow in Jeff Lemire's story (New 52). That is the origin. (if this all sounds familiar thats because the original creators saw Green Arrow as the Batman with a bow for Star City).

But with all the iterations of Green Arrow comes his character and who Oliver Queen is. That hero is a man who had to build up after losing his family his company and survive on an island, Oliver Queen protects a city from corruption and is progressive for the liberal rights of all humans. He is known for being friends with Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and fighting on the Justice League but mostly his own solo work.

Why this hero?

 Honestly, I didn't like Green Arrow at first. I thought he was like Hawkeye with a Van Dyke and didn't seem very interesting. As a kid he was the grumpy one on Justice League cartoon. But I was watching a PBS documentary or some other doc and it went of the history of heroes, Green Arrow teaming up to work for equality for all people was amazing. He became more interesting and I wanted to know more. 

The Green Arrow is DC's Robin Hood and green solutions and civil rights, he was later revamped to be more a vigilante in the more common sense but was given a deeper mythos including guilds and magic. He is truly an interesting character that has carved out a path in the DC universe. The TV show and new books only add to his depth and keep him interesting.

Recommended Reading

Superhero Sunday: The Rocketeer

Strap on your jetpacks, dawn your helmets and lets take to the skies in this month's Superhero Sunday with The Rocketeer.

The History

Created in 1982 by writer-illustrator Dave Stevens, who first got work penciling for Tarzan (newspaper comic 1975) then getting recognized for is pin up work and later went on to storyboard for Hanna-Barera.

The Rocketeer is a fun adventure book that was birthed out of paying homageage to the old serials from the 1930s through 50s.  The story first appeared as a backup issue in Starslayer for Pacific Comics. The four issue was released by Eclipse comics under the title Rocketeer.

The Character

The story takes place in a fiction 1938 Los Angeles, but who is this helmeted hero? Cliff Secord a racing stunt pilot (barnstormer) discovers a mysterious package hidden in his hanger. Gangsters fleeing the scene leave left a prototype jetpack that kickstarts Cliff's adventures and lead him on a jet fueled dream.

The 1980's comic contnued its fun for years as Cliff went on one-shot journeys and adventures as The Rocketeer. He would fight crime and rescue his main squeeze Betty (Dave Stevens modeled off of Bettie Page the Queen of Pin-Up). Cliff the lunkhead with the heart iof gold went on to fight Nazi's and the mobsters but every comic was great fun.

Rocketeer 1.jpg

Why this hero?

As always I did not read the comic until well after its creation. I probably like most didnt dicsover The Rocketeer as a comic at all but instead as the 1991 Disney film. Yes, in the 90s Stevens approved Disney to adapt the comic into film. This movie is where I found the Rocketeer and was instantly in love with the character. The costume is this amazing suit that lets you fly around with an awesome helmet and you become this hero who saves the day, it was everything I wanted to be as a kid (maybe now too). After the movie I wanted to be The Rockteer and I was inspired to find those 80s comics.

The Rocketeer comic rights changed hands and went from Dark Horse to IDW. Dave Stevens passed in 2008 but the comic series was revived in 2011 by IDW with the talented writer Mark Waid, the book would recieve trades of collected new adventures. The Rocketeer is not the dense heavy work of Alan Moore nor is it Garfield. No, The Rocketeer is high flying fun and a real treat for anyone who wasn't wax nostalgic about 1930s-50s.

Recommended Reading:

A Brief History of Nerdist

If you have been online in the last few years, you have heard of Chris Hardwick, and Nerdist Industries. That's why I decided to tackle this behemoth in todays Vlog. What I share is stuff I have known from listening to the nerdist podcast, but it was pretty cool digging through old archived versions of the site, and seeing that this website started out as a personal blog about starting a new job, and making some music with some friends. It's really inspiring. Well, I hope you enjoy the video!

A Brief History of Taco Bell

It is rare that you get to take the fact that you ate 3 meals at Taco Bell in a 2 day period and turn that into a creative project. Well, now is one of those moments. I did a bit of research and teach you about the history of Taco Bell. The founder. The Baja Blast. The Space Station Target. As much as I can cram into just over four minutes. Let me know what your favorite taco bell item is in the comments down below. See y'all on Thursday and don't forget to Think Outside the Bun!

A Brief History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an important time of year for a lot of people. Mainly because it's a time to give thanks and hang out with family. I personally don't think thanksgiving is that worth celebrating. 1st, I don't think that we should need a day designated to remind us to be thankful. I think that the majority of us are pretty damn fortunate and should be thankful every single day. 2nd, there's a lot of really crappy events associated with thanksgiving that I think suck and I don't want to celebrate. My 3rd reason is a personal reason, this was my grandmother's holiday. She loved cooking and having 20 people over. Without seeing the joy it brought to her face, I don't care for the holiday because of those previous 2 reasons. 

Well, I hope you enjoy the video and the history I provide, and I hope you learned something you didn't know. Thanks for watching, happy thanksgiving (if you celebrate it), I'm thankful for you folks watching and reading this (you're awesome) and High Five MORE PEOPLE!

A Brief History of SyFy

In the late 80's and early 90's a couple of awesome people decided to found a television network based solely on science fiction! It took a few years to get the channel launched, but I think we can all say thank you to them now. Sure there have been quite a few stinkers of shows/movies, but they have also provided some of the most interesting shows, i.e. Battlestar Galactica! That's really the only example I need to provide to justify the creation of this network. 

I hope you enjoy the brief history of this tv station and the song I wrote about it! 

Superhero Sunday: Venom

Dress in black and let's get weird its Superhero Sunday Venom edition.

The History

Venom has only been around since 1984 but has a very dense/clunky history. I want start from the beginning but then focus on the main points and provide some reading material for you all. The idea of a new Spiderman costume was what inspired venom and the idea was bought for $220.00 by Marvel. Mike Zeck and David Michilinie created the alien host with Spiderman and it was Todd McFarlane that drew first appearance of Venom.

The Character

First what we refer to as venom is actually an alien symbiote that combines with a human host. The alien race of parasites would travel to planets and attach to host, they would provide the host with enhance abilities while draining there life. Venom was different and wanted to commit to its host rather than killing it. The alien race decided that the venom symbiote was insane and was imprisoned on Battleworld.

Battleworld is a planet that the Marvel heroes and villains fought on during secret wars and where Spiderman would become attached to the symbiote becoming the first host of Venom. Once off Battleworld Spiderman could feel the enhanced alien suit corrupting him.  To rid himself of the suit Spiderman crashed himself into a bell tower creating sound waves that disrupt and damage the symbiote. Spiderman thought the venom alien to be dead.

Flash forward to Eddie Brock heading home on the subway after being fired from the Daily Planet. He blamed Spiderman for getting him fired and hates him. During this time it only gets worse for Eddie as he learns he has cancer. Eddie becomes desperate and goes to a church to pray. It is the same church with the bell that the symbiote was destroyed with. The symbiote being a banded and left for dead hates Spiderman. It can sense Eddie’s hatred as well and attaches to him. This fuels both of them and makes Venom proper. Eddie Brock as Venom wants to destroy Spiderman and they do many battles over the years. Venom uses the same abilities of Spiderman because that was the first host and it imprinted the web slinging/ wall crawling abilities into the alien.  Eddie Brock is the most popular Venom and villain for Spiderman but there have been several other hosts so let’s find out where Venom goes.

The next main player to dawn the mantle of Venom was Mac Gargan aka Scorpion. This happens during the Sinister 12 story line where the Venom approaches Mac offering additional strength in hopes to taking down Spiderman. Mac wears the suit for a few years through the Dark Reign until ultimately being defeated by Spiderman and the Avengers.

Alas my favorite Venom, Flash Thompson. Once the Dark Avengers are defeated the military captures the symbiote in order to study it. They want to start a new super solider project where the suit would be worn by a host and sedated/controlled by the government. Flash Thompson is a war vet and lost his legs in the war. He went to fight because he looked up to Spiderman and wanted to be a hero too. Flash now back home has an alcohol abuse problem and PTSD. He becomes a prime candidate the suit would restore his legs and provide purpose. But the struggle of becoming corrupted and evil from the suit is a hard battle. Ultimately Flash runs away with the suit and in 2015 is Venom Space Knight.

Why this hero (villian)?

I love this history of Venom from starting as a villain to Spiderman to become a rich story filled hero. The symbiotes have far for history and there is an excellent site you should all check out. TheVenomSite.com

 

Recommended Reading:

I also  did a little flow chart to follow Venom enjoy:




A Brief History of Youtube

If you are anything like me, you rely heavily, and I mean heavily, on YouTube. This is the site you go to for your entertainment and enjoyment. It's has successfully replaced the need for cable because not only is there more content, but it's exactly what you want!

The thing I love about youtube most is the fact that you can find whatever it is you want on there. Whether it be a Let's Play video or a Mic Review or a Critical Analysis of Moby Dick! It's all there, and it's all pretty dang cool. Thought I would pay homage to the site by compiling a brief history of their site and sharing it with everyone. 

PS: I missed my 10 year YouTube anniversary, and I'm bummed about it!

A Brief History of Root Beer

On this episode of I Am Vlog, I very shortly go over the history of Root Beer.

If I am being honest, I didn't know what to cover and I needed something to talk about so I went with what I was currently drinking. One of the few things that I find joy out of. Delicious. Ice Cold. Root Beer. I didn't realize that it was an elixir to start off, or that there is alcoholic root beers. 

Well I hope you enjoy this edition of I Am Vlog. I need to make a trip somewhere for Monday's Vlog! See ya then!

A Brief History of Battlestar Galactica

If you are anything like me, Battlestar Galactica was an important and integral part of your life. The 2003 reimagining is to this day one of my favorite pieces of television to ever be created. 

This series is one of those rare occurrences where every single person involved is firing on all cylinders. Writers, great. Directors, great. Actors, great. Crew, Great. Music, PERFECT! Everything was just so great. I figured that I may as well do some research into the history of BSG and share it with all of you.

Yes I know that BSG is based in Mormon mythology, as Glen A. Larson, was a mormon. I mean...12 colonies of Kobol..There's something in the mormon mythology known as Kolob. I know that much. But I don't care about any of that. All that can be said is that BSG is a great story and I loved almost every second of it with a few exceptions of subpar episodes. I hope you enjoy the Vlog. SO SAY WE ALL!

A Planet of Robots: A Brief History of Mars Exploration

Greetings Martians! On this edition of I Am Vlog, I briefly tell you about mars and then tell you a bit about the history of mars exploration. I mainly focus on the Phoenix Mission because I was at the landing party for that because I went to University of Arizona, and the University of Arizona is awesome like that! Go Wildcats! Anyways. I hope you learn something, or I pique your interest and push you to do a little bit of reading/research on mars yourself! Cheers folks. See ya on Mars!

The History of Happy Birthday

Welcome and hello. It's time for Vlog Time, or I Am Vlog, or whatever this endeavor is called. I think it's called "I Am Vlog". Anyways. If you haven't heard, the copyright for the happy birthday song is no longer binding! That means that you can sing it in movies and films for free without paying Warner Chappel music another dime. The painful thing about this ruling. You never should have paid them. Hope you're not one of those suckers who thought "i really need to sing this song in my film" while writing a check for thousands of dollars. I guess one thing we do have this copyright to thank for is all the awesome new happy birthday songs like this or like this.

A Brief History of Esperanto (A Universal Language)

Greetings Earthlings. On this episode, I talk about Esperanto. A language that was developed in the 1800's by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof to hopefully become a universal language. The story is incredibly interesting and at certain points a bummer. Hope you enjoy it, and I hope you learn something. Go check out some Esperanto, and check out the 1965 film Incubus staring William Shatner. A film in Esperanto.

Superhero Sunday: Iron Fist

Hello it's time for another Superhero Sunday with Logan. This month's superhero is Danny Rand a.k.a. Iron Fist (not the RZA movie and not Iron Man). No, no I am talking about the caucasian practitioner of martial arts and wielder of the mystical a force, that's the Iron Fist we are here for.

The History

Iron Fist was created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in 1974 and first appeared in Marvel Premiere #15-25. In the late 70's he got his own title and shared a book with Luke Cage called "Power Man and Iron Fist" they would later form another team "Heroes for Hire." The formation of Iron Fist comes from Roy in the 1970s. At this time there was a boom in martial arts in pop culture. The character made a big impression with Luke Cage and has outlasted the trend making him one of the more popular b-list superheroes of Marvel.

The Character

How does a white guy become a master of martial arts and receive Chi powers? It happens when your father (Wendell Rand) discovers the mystical city of K'un L'un and later saves the Yu-Ti (leader). Wendell dies and leaves Danny in K'un L'un. Danny proceeds to be raised and trained by the Yu-ti and go through the trials of becoming the Iron Fist; one of the universes immortal weapons. For a person to become an Iron First they must defeat a dragon (it is awesome). Once he becomes the Iron Fist, Danny makes the decision to leave the mystic city and return to New York to get his revenge. This leaves him human and not fully trained, thus is the origin of the Iron Fist.

It is only after his return that he joins the likes of Luke Cage and starts Heroes for Hire. From there, both Luke and Iron Fist join the Defenders. Danny also becomes more involved in the Marvel Universe post Civil War, becoming a member of the New Avengers. At one point even taking the mantle of Daredevil. He later plays a large role in the event Avengers vs. X-Men. Needless to say, Iron Fist pops up all over Marvel and each story is worth the read.

Why this hero?

So many amazing writers and artists have tackled Iron Fist but I have to mention my favorite and it is a writer I have spoke about before, Ed Brubaker, his 3 year run with artist David Aja is amazing. It was only after having read Brubaker's Iron Fist that I went back for more. During the "Immortal Iron Fist" we dive deeper into the history of the character and into the history of K'un L'un and the "immortal weapons." Brubaker fills Iron Fist with a rich history and amazing martial arts mythos.

Iron Fist spawned from the craze of Kung Fu/martial arts in the 70s and has lasted through the decades at Marvel by having a unique character that is both fun to see fight and interesting to learn about. He will show up on his own Netflix series in the coming years and I cannot what to see what they do with him (also appear in Jessica Jones).

Recommended Reading:

* You can check out a fancast I did on the Culture Popped Podcast here.

Podcastage Ep. 74: Kanye for President of Wyoming

Watch this video after listening to the Podcast.

Greetings earthlings and welcome back. It's Wednesday and that means it's another podcast day. This episode is the longest solo podcast I have done yet, clocking in at about 33 minutes. But it covers a lot of areas. After all, it's titled Kanye for President of Wyoming!

So I start out with the typical Let's Learn Our Country segment where I discuss a brief history of the state of Wyoming. I then discuss the Kanye West presidential campaign, and then I go into an extended diatribe covering the absurdity of someone saying "I could do that" when experiencing a piece of art. There is quite a long discussion of the history of 12-tone compositional technique in there, because that stuff is SO TIGHT! I also have included a video of the Rites of Spring which I discuss briefly in the podcast. Hope you enjoy it.

Don't forget to rate, review, & subscribe on iTunes, and follow podcastage and geeks rising on facebook and twitter.