Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

TBT: 35 Years Ago

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On March 26, 2015

In TBT

I have no picture for this late Throwback Thursday post. Since my birthday fell on a Thursday I thought I would take the narcissistic route (so much for the high road). Obviously I don’t have a picture from the day I was born because we didn’t have an iPhone back then. I don’t really feel old. I’m pretty content with what I have accomplished thus far. If I could change anything I would have read a little more and studied a little harder.

I appreciate all the wonderful birthday wishes I received from so many folks on Facebook, via text and from the folks at work. It’s a great day because all of you made it a great day!

Before someone else decides to let me know what things were like 35 years ago, I will save you the effort:

35 Years Ago

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back was released (which we all know is the best one)
Ronald Reagan was elected President (could use him again about now)
Pac-Man was released
Post-It Notes were launched into market (in April)
It was the year Lennon was shot and Mount St Helens erupted
Supposedly gas was $1.19 a gallon, but that seems a little high
A VHS Home Movie camera cost about $1600
Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” was their latest hit

Also, Leonard Nimoy was born March 26th, 1931. He would have been 84 today. I am proud to share a birthday with him. #LLAP

TBT is one of those crazy Facebook trends. It stands for “ThrowBack Thursday” and often times people post pictures. I know the old adage “A picture is worth 1,000 words” but most of the time the pictures I want to post have a great story behind them. In my traditional nerdy fashion, instead of just a picture I want to provide a blog post for my TBT moments to share those great stories. I will not share stories in which the context will embarrass or incriminate myself or my friends and family.

Book Review: Cress

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On March 15, 2015

In Book Review, Science Fiction

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3)Cress by Marissa Meyer

My Review [rating=4]

Book 3 and another very interesting rendition of Rapunzel. Marissa Meyer does almost a pretty brilliant job of not only still incorporating the different components of the traditional fairy tale but also merging it quite well with Cinder’s ongoing saga.

There were a couple of edge-of-your-seat moments in this book that made you wonder, while reading, how will our heroes get out of this mess. You cannot help but to keep reading to find out how they pull it off … or do they 😉

The one negative thing I thought after finishing this book … how am I going to make it until winter, for Winter, to find out what happens next! Again, if you want to read an interesting twist on the classic story of Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella I would recommend checking out the Lunar Chronicles!

View all my reviews

Biggs On: SNL 40

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On March 2, 2015

In Biggs On, Reminiscence

snl-40-lorne-michaels-goodnights-585x329February 15, 2015 a three and a half hour comedy special aired to celebrate 40 years of Saturday Night Live! I actually remember watching the episode that celebrated 25 years. It was really great to see so many great actors and comedians return to the studio and reprise some of SNL’s most classic characters. I think the Wayne’s World skit that provided a Top Ten list of what’s great about SNL nailed everything that truly is great about SNL. Here is the YouTube video of that skit, if you didn’t see it:

Oh Kanye, I’m so glad you can laugh at yourself for your ridiculous antics during awards shows. I doubt Beyonce enjoys the negative publicity. I also did not enjoy your bizarre “musical” performance on SNL 40. In fact I didn’t really enjoy Miley Cyrus’ performance either. Actually, I hate to say it but Paul McCartney’s performance was painful to watch. His voice isn’t what it used to be and sounds worse at 72 than Frank Sinatra’s did at 80. The musical performances were probably the biggest downside of the celebration, which is unfortunate because SNL has always had some amazing musical talent.

I realize that this post is a couple weeks behind and I almost deleted it, but SNL has been such a pop culture staple for the past 40 years that I couldn’t bail on the post. I hope by now you have watched the 40th anniversary episode, and if you haven’t then you need to as soon as you can. The show did have its peaks and valleys. It really depended on how talented the cast was. It’s obvious when the show was at its peak because it usually created so many amazing careers. We probably wouldn’t have had the Jimmy Fallons, Tina Feys, David Spades or Chris Farleys without Saturday Night Live.

Speaking of Chris Farley, I really enjoyed the montage dedicated to those SNL icons that have passed away and it really shows how close the cast and crew are when writers, cameramen and other crew members are included in the same montage as John Belushi, Phil Hartman and Gilda Radner. I am a little surprised that Robin Williams wasn’t mentioned but I can’t remember if he had ever been on SNL. I included a link to the SNL 40 In Memoriam Tribute, so check it out when you get a chance.

I know there will never be another show like it so I hope it sticks around for at least another 10 years so we can celebrate 50 years of amazing satirical humor and extraordinary comedic talent.

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Live Long and Prosper

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On February 27, 2015

In Geek Canon

“Of my friend I can only say this. Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human”

nimory_llap

RIP Mr. Spock

The MMO Times: Pumping Up the Girlie Men!

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On February 23, 2015

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

maxresdefaultIssue 114 – Welcome back, you “girlie and weak” gamers! It has been an interesting week for all the talented writers that were kicked to the curb by AOL last week. They quickly learned that while their employers had no support for their livelihoods, the gamer community demonstrated unfathomable support. Nicely done, everyone! It’s pretty extraordinary when you have so many people that have never met each other come together like we saw this past week for Blizzard Watch and Massively OP.

I also just want to point out that there is a new boss fight in WoW that is a play on Hans & Franz and I freaking love the fact that it exists. The Hans & Franz characters bring back some old college memories! The header image is also fitting as SNL celebrates 40 years this year. The next WoW Patch (6.1) is due out on the 24th and Blizzard promises some Overwatch news at PAX East this year (which is in Boston, March 6-8). The interesting news was slow, which is why this post spans about 10+ days. All the big news is probably withheld for PAX East. Hopefully there is still something in here that you hadn’t heard about. KCGO

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Book Review: Scarlet

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On February 10, 2015

In Book Review, Science Fiction

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2)Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

My Rating: [rating=4]
(Click here to read this review on Goodreads)

I really like the modern, dystopian twist to classic fairy tales that Meyer has created in these novels. I’ll admit that when I was just starting Cinder that I didn’t think I would enjoy it despite the fact that I was slightly intrigued by a cyborg Cinderella. I initially thought that each book was an independent retelling/re-imagining of each classic tale, however when I discovered that all the books are connected and continue Cinder’s story, then I became much more interested.

Scarlet is the second book of the series and, as you may be able to ascertain from the cover, is a re-imagined Red Riding Hood. While it was fairly obvious to me which part of the Red Riding Hood story would become entwined with Cinder’s story, there was still sufficient mystery and intrigue to keep me reading.

So far this has been a fun series to read and I’m looking forward to Cress and Winter. I would recommend it to anyone that might enjoy a fun twist on some beloved fairy tales.

View all my reviews

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