May they live long and prosper together.

Congratulations to Star Trek and Heroes star George Takei! He married his longtime partner Brad Altman this past Sunday in a multi-cultural ceremony in California.

Takei and Altman were one of the first couples to acquire a marriage license when California began granting them on June 17. Before the very public ceremony Takei spoke to the Associated Press: 

We have a relationship that's been stronger and longer-lived than some of our straight friends, and yet we were not equal. What this does is give us that dignity; (it's) being part of the American system and being whole. We're making the American system whole as well, as America is becoming more equal.

Fellow Star Trek alum Walter Koenig served as Best Man while Nichelle Nichols took the title of Best Lady at the Democracy Forum of the Japanese American National Museum, where the event was held. A Buddhist Priest presided over the ceremony and Native American wedding bands were exchanged between the couple who have been together for over 21 years.

While clad in a white tuxedo jacket and black pants Takei vowed, "To care for you as you've cared for me, cherish you with all my heart, and love you as my husband and the only man in my life." Altman, dressed identically, said, "Beginning today, a dream comes true for me. I can add "my husband" to the list of things I call you."

Guests left with favors on which was inscribed: May sweet equality live long and prosper.

Pin-ups, Posters and Comics, Oh My!

A few items of the visual variety for you to enjoy...

Fables cover artist (and one of my personal favorites) James Jean drew this Vargas-style pin-up of Sally Jupiter for use in Watchmen. He posted it on his blog this past weekend with the original sketches and a brief explanation. According to Jean, at 1:32 in the trailer you see his art hanging on a wall and it's supposed to play a role in that particular scene. I'm very much in love with this.

Speaking of upcoming movies I can't wait to see, brand new Star Trek posters have been released. Below are the wallpaper size images from the official site so they don't match up exactly but when they do they form the Starfleet insignia. Rumor is the posters will be given away at the San Diego Comic Con this week. Too bad I won't be there to get one. Not like I need more posters anyway, I just think they came up with a really neat idea. If you're extremely dedicated and want all of them you better bring a few disguises (or friends) with you, it's going to be one section per person only. How fantastic does Zachary Quinto look as Spock?

Lastly, a bit of cuteness from Justice Society of America #17. The whole issue was warm and fuzzy, in a menacing kind of way, but they really got me with this panel. Jakeem made a costume for Cyclone's monkey because she loves The Wizard of Oz. She saw it as a nice gesture but tried to take it off afterwards because she thought it was cruel. Too bad, the monkey loves it and wouldn't let her. She ran down the hall to catch him when she literally ran into Damage who left her almost speechless by his newly rediscovered hotness. I make this face often.

Nerdy News

A few blog-worthy bits of Nerdy News today...

Via AintItCool.com we have this lovely Watchmen cover from this weeks Entertainment Weekly. Likely one of the many that will be appearing between now and when it's released in 2009, this one in particular seems to be filled with nerdy bits. Star Trek, Terminator and more!? I'm sold. Here is the link to the article itself online with some other pictures.

Of course your Watchmen fix could not be complete without seeing the first trailer which Apple posted today. I haven't watched it yet actually, I'm waiting until I see it in theaters before The Dark Knight this weekend.

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Once again, The Sun has solidified it's foothold as one of the most dedicated media outlets in the world. They've discovered our sweet, charming Black Canary has dabbled in S&M. I know, I know, it's tough to hear. Personally, I'm holding back tears. Not our Dinah!

They're actually reporting that the Christian Voice has an issue with this new Black Canary doll. She's part of Mattel's fall line of collector edition Barbie's that also include Batgirl, Supergirl, Wonder Woman and some REALLY creepy baby dolls of Batman and Catwoman. 

"Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far," the Christian Voice said, "A children's doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible - it's filth." 

Sigh. Where are the days of innocent Malibu Barbie? Oh wait, we all know how well THAT turned out.

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And last, but not least, it is my pleasure to inform you that a geek-filled show from Britain is about to be available in the U.S. Oh yeah, I'm talking about Spaced.

I remembered seeing it was going on-sale months ago but completely forgot about it until Freakgirl and Geekboy reminded me today. I was turned on to Spaced this year by my boyfriend and a few other friends who told me I'd love it. I'm usually hesitant when people push something on me like that but I eventually gave in and...I loved it of course. 

It's a fairly simple comedy, starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson (Hynes) about a girl and a guy who pretend do be seeing each other in order to get an apartment. Throw in a few crazy neighbors, two best friends and almost non-stop geek references and you've got yourself a winner. There were two seasons but they are both on this version coming out Tuesday. 

If you've never seen the show, do yourself a favor and just buy it. I can't give you a money-back guarantee but I'm pretty confident in saying you'd be making a fine purchase. But if that's not good enough you can get your look at the series on BBC America starting July 21 at 3 a.m. Ok, you might have to DVR those, you're not all night owls like me.

Nerdy News

Believe it or not, The Greatest American Hero is back. Just not exactly how you'd imagined.

William Katt, star of the 1980's TV show, will be guest-starring on Heroes this coming season. Katt joins the ranks of other cult stars to appear on the hit show; George Takei and Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame and Joanna Cassidy from Bladerunner.

"I just filmed it last week," Katt told Newsarama. "I play a really, really wonderful, seedy, smarmy-mouthed reporter that goes after [blank]." I was spoiled by the name he gave and didn't want to do the same to you. You can click the Newsarama link you really want to know.

Adding to his superhero cred Katt has voiced characters on the animated Batman and Justice League series and is co-owner of a new comic book publisher called Catastrophic Comics.

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In other related news, Heroes own Hiro, Masi Oka will be starring along side Steve Carell in the film version of Get Smart in theaters this Friday. He'll also be continuing his Get Smart role in GS: Get Bruce and Lloyd, a direct-to-dvd spin-off which supposedly runs parallel to the film.

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April 7, 1946 - June 15, 2008

Sadly I must report the passing of a movie legend. The gifted Stan Winston died yesterday in his home surrounded by family after a seven year battle with multiple myeloma.

I don't use the term legend lightly here. His career in the field of special effects, make-up, animatronics and creature effects spans decades. He began his behind-the-scenes career at a make-up apprenticeship program at Walt Disney Studios in 1972 and eventually went on to create his own Stan Winston Studio for effects.

It's hard to decide what Winston was most famous for because he had such a vast array of classic and successful films. He was responsible for all of the Terminator films including the forth-coming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, which were groundbreaking in their time and continue to impress. He won his first of many Oscars for his work on James Cameron's Aliens. With the cult classic Monster Squad he brought us five iconic youth-chasing monsters to fear for life. Edward Scissorhands wouldn't have been the memorable character we love today without Winston. Another cult favorite, Galaxy Quest, made us feel even better about being nerds. Then of course there was his work on the Jurassic Park films which made dinosaurs truly real to us for the first time. 

More recently Winston worked on two comic book films, Constantine and this years Iron Man. Besides the new Terminator film he was linked to several other future releases like Shutter Island, Avatar, G.I. Joe and a possible fourth Jurassic Park film. Stan and his innate talent will be sorely missed but he left us a lifetime of memories.

Nerdy News

In this edition of Nerdy News a grumpy girl will get even grumpier, a group of L.A. kids gets some exposure and we say goodbye to a star composer.

Goth icon and all-around misanthrope Emily the Strange is finally getting her own movie. It was only a matter of time. Originally created for record stores and skate shops by Rob Reger, Emily quickly moved from stickers to her own clothing line and eventually to comic books. Dark Horse began publishing Emily in 2005 and Entertainment President Mike Richardson will be producing the feature film. A director has yet to be chosen and no word on whether it will be animated or live-action.

The Hollywood Reporter says the story, created by Reger, is being kept under wraps but will include Emily's backstory as well as her four cats. Thirteen new characters are also set to be introduced with names like Earwig and Umlaut. The film will provide the basis for a young-adult novel to be published sometime next year by Harper Collins. No word yet on the release date of the film.

I can see the tag-line now: "Emily wants YOU...to see another movie instead!

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Marvel continues on their non-stop train of comic-to-film announcements. Brian K. Vaughan is set to adapt his Runaways for Marvel Studios. This newest film is still in it's earliest stages considering Marvel has a lot on their plate through 2011. Marvel Studios' President Kevin Feige will act as producer.

Honestly, I don't know how Vaughan has the time for it. Besides his regular comic duties, he's a producer and sometimes writer on Lost and is developing Y: The Last Man for New Line Cinema. I have yet to read any Runaways but I've heard a lot of good things about it and the idea behind it sounds like something I'd enjoy. I promise, I'll get around to reading it before the movie comes out.

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Finally, it is with much regret I tell you about the passing of Alexander "Sandy" Courage at the age of 88. Courage was the composer of the theme to the original Star Trek series, which you can hear above. He passed away at an assisted-living facility in Los Angeles on May 15th. He had been in poor health for a few years.

He was born in 1910 in Philadelphia but raised in New Jersey. Courage began as an arranger at MGM Studios and composed and collaborated on some of the most famous musicals of the 50's and 60's. Showboat, Gigi, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, My Fair Lady and Fiddler on the Roof are just a few. In the 80's he composed the score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

Also composing for another space TV show, Lost in Space, Courage had a falling out with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry over the theme. Roddenberry wrote lyrics to the song never intending on them to be sung on TV but simply entitling him to half the royalties. 

Funny enough, Courage wasn't even a sci-fi fan yet he created one of the most memorable themes in the history of televison. 

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I'm off to Wizard World Philly tomorrow. See you there!

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

If you understand that, we are kindred spirits. If you don't, well this post probably won't interest you, but read it anyway! I attended my first ever Star Trek convention...in March...and I'm finally getting around to telling you about it.

The convention was hosted by Creation Entertainment in Secaucus, NJ. I knew the hotel it was held in very well. It's right next door to the My 9 studios where I did my college internship and where the New York portion of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon was held every year. I've been receiving emails from Creation for years now about all kinds of conventions but never attended one until now. They are the company that does the Xena, Stargate, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Farscape and Lord of the Rings conventions among others. Saturday's guests included Rene Auburjonois (Odo from Deep Space Nine), Armin Shimerman (Quark from TNG and Deep Space Nine) and Brent Spiner (Data from TNG).

I had intended for my first Star Trek convention to be last years big celebration in Las Vegas but couldn't find anyone willing to go with me. So, needless to say, I was a little let down by the size of this one. It definitely wasn't as grand as I expected it to be. When I got to the hotel I almost thought I came on the wrong day. There were no signs saying the convention was there and there weren't any crowds of people hanging around outside. The Trek conventions in this area are usually held in Secaucus or Cherry Hill. Why not New York or Philadelphia?

The cheapest way to attend one of these convention is to buy a single ticket at the door. No service fees and no paying around $300 for a Gold Pass that will get you a reserved seat. The room is small enough to give you a fair view with general seating. Food, like at any convention, will cost you an arm and a leg of course. 

Armin Shimerman and Rene Auburjonois

Armin Shimerman was first on stage after I got settled in. I saw him out in the hallway earlier looking cool as a cucumber with his jacket swung over this shoulder. I'm a fan of his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer too of course so that was very exciting. I considered asking a question about that show instead of Star Trek but thought I'd get yelled at by the audience so I didn't. Another girl there was brave enough to do so later on which made me happy. He seemed very happy to be there, most times answering questions with a story instead of a simple response. He was able to joke his way out of those questions you know some fan is inevitably going to ask like, how does certain technology on the show work. Not how did the prop work, how does something like that actually work in real life. I will never get that.

During his time on stage Shimerman was joined by Rene Auburjonois for some shared experiences and more fan questions. They seem to be really good friends and spoke about their roles on Boston Legal as well. After a few questions had gone by a familiar voice appeared on the microphone. Brent Spiner had snuck his way into the room and began acting like a fan. He even asked one of those technology questions they all love to get. Check out this YouTube clip another fan posted of the hilarity that ensued.

Auburjonois took the stage next and didn't really need anyone to ask him any questions, he was quite capable of entertaining us with his stories about his past, like his role on Benson and about how his family is doing. Though he got one of my favorite questions of the day. A fan asked if he thought his character Odo could get "Borged." Auburjonois went on for about five minutes about how he was sure Odo got "bored" occasionally until the fan corrected him. He then turned to the audience and said, "Did you know that's what he meant?" To which we all replied, "yes." He at least got a chuckle out of that.

During an intermission I took a stroll to the vendor room which was about the size of a large classroom. Chase Masterson (Leeta from DS9), Max Grodenchik (Rom from DS9) and if I remember correctly, Elizabeth Dennehy (Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Shelby from TNG) were signing there. I think I actually remember a table that was selling everything else but Star Trek merchandise. Also, before he went on stage, Brent Spiner was there signing copies of his new CD, "Dreamland."

Brent Spiner

Brent Spiner on stage is something that must be seen if you have the chance. Like, I said, they were all very entertaining, but he is a true showman. Not only did we get a FANTASTIC Patrick Stewart impression but he was also willing to give us just the slightest bit of Data. Just a quick non-emotional face and a twitch of the head to the right. It lasted about a second but it was awesome. He also spent his time plugging his CD which he consistently reminded us we could order on his website TheRealBrentSpiner.com. 

The rest of the day consisted of trivia contests, auctions and door prizes. The trivia contest involved fans posing the questions to other fans. Some questions were simple, some were extremely hard and some made me giggle. Like this one.

The highlight of the convention for me had to be the door prize giveaway. No, I didn't win anything, someone else got something very special. Here is her own video explanation.

All in all I'd say I was a little disappointed by my first Star Trek convention experience but it was fun anyway and the people there were very nice. One thing I expected were a lot of costumes but there actually weren't that many. A few girls in pretty dresses here and a few officers there but no Klingons or Cardassians or anything cool like that. Strangely enough there was a guy dressed as a Jedi. I was thoroughly confused until he got up to ask a question and announced that he was a Jedi Starfleet officer, then I was a little more confused. There was also a girl wearing one of those Chewbacca backpacks. I would have thought that kind of thing wouldn't be allowed by either fandoms. It's like the Montagues and the Capulets! Though, how the guy in the Care Bear suit got in, I'll never know.

Skynet, Judgment Day, the history of things to come.

All I ever wanted from a Terminator movie was the chance to see more than 30 seconds of the war between the humans and the machines. Now, thanks to Warner Bros. it looks like I finally get my wish. Not only are we getting a fourth Terminator film, we're getting a new trilogy.

Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Halcyon Company began principle photography on Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, May 5th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film is scheduled for release on this exact date next year. McG will direct and Christian Bale will star as a grown up John Connor. Newly announced casting includes Australian born Sam Worthington, musician Common (rumored to be playing John Stewart in Justice League: Mortal) as Barnes and Moon Bloodgood (rumored to be playing Maya in the new Street Fighter movie) as Blaire Williams. Anton Yelchin who plays Chekov in Star Trek will be playing the role of John's father, Kyle Reese.

According to the press release:

In the highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocolyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and it's army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares it's final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

I've known Christian Bale was going to be playing John for a while now but I'm surprised to hear that he has actually signed on for three films considering his current involvement with the Batman franchise. With that said, I'm shivering with anticipation of this one. It seems they are distancing themselves in a way from the previous three films, notice there's no talk of Arnold Schwarzenegger making an appearance. All I want to see is all out war with the machines and Terminator skeletons walking around blowing things up.

There is one possible downside. According to Variety, they are looking to make it PG-13. The Terminator trilogy is one of the highest-grossing R rated franchises ever but Halcyon producers want to widen the fan base and don't think the lowered rating with compromise the film. "The ratings have changed," said Halcyon co-founder and co-CEO Victor Kubicek, "The PG-13 has increased in intensity." I don't know if they are exactly aiming at family-friendly but if there's one thing the Terminator movies are not, it's family-friendly. Unless you count the warm and fuzzy moments between John and the T-800. Those were pretty cute.

Of course no movie franchise is complete without a video game. A new Terminator game is set to be released along with the movie next year. With the technology we've got now I'm thinking it's going to be pretty bad-ass.

Now that he's played Jack Kelly, Laurie, Batman, Alfred Borden and John Connor if we could just get Christian Bale in The Hobbit somehow, my fantasies will be complete.

NY COMIC CON Day 3 - Wrap up!

Catwoman, Oracle, Zatanna, Black Canary, Power Girl, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batwoman, Vixen, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn

Art by Adam Hughes

Honestly, I didn't think I'd be able to move by the time Sunday rolled around so I wasn't planning on attending the third and final day of the NY Comic Con. One day in plain clothes, one in costume and a night of drinking really does take it's toll. But I figured, I'm here, why the hell not take another look around? Maybe it will be less crowded. Which it was, to a degree but still not easy for someone in a scooter to get around.

I had no intention of getting up early though and I didn't bother going to any panels. I think my brain had actually stopped functioning by Sunday afternoon so it would have been rude of me to do so anyway. I took a few more turns around the show floor. My friend was working one of the booths that day and I caught up with her finally. She told me she sold an amazing amount of Chewbacca back-packs. (Scary looking if you ask me) Which, oddly enough, I saw a girl wearing to the Star Trek convention I went to last month. 

My friend asked me to do some shopping for her since she couldn't really leave her booth. I found something she'd like right away, that I had apparently missed every other time I'd been on the floor. I got a Voo Doo Baby for her. They gave out nifty sheets with all the different characters on it so I brought it back for her to pick one out. By the way, if anyone would like me to be their buyer next year at the comic con I'm totally in. Buying stuff with other peoples money is fun. She got the Ninja and I got myself the Hell Kitty because, well, it's a kitty. Though if I were them I'd think about changing my url.

The last thing I wanted to do was check out Artist's Alley. I was so glad it was on the same floor as the show this time around. I can imagine the artist's felt very isolated last year. There's not too many artists I would actually seek out. I feel like just telling them you love their work is lame. I'd rather have something interesting to talk about. Adam Hughes, who drew the amazingly beautiful promotional poster art you see above wasn't in attendance. The posters they gave out said above the drawing, "The Real Power of the DC Universe." I only wished it wasn't folded because I want it framed and up on my wall now. I've settled using it as my computer background. By the way, on the actual poster Poison Ivy's skin is green.

I decided to go see if Cliff Chiang was at his table. He was! Hooray! I really wanted to ask him to sketch me something but I was withering by the second and I don't think I could have lasted that long. However he did have lithographs of his Doctor 13 work so I bought one and he signed it and we chatted a bit. Apparently there may be something in the works for those characters again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I gave him a card with my blog information on it and he got a kick out of the "Has Boobs, Reads Comics" bit. Overall, real nice guy.

Infectious Lass, Anthro, Captain Fear (Fero), Dr Thirteen, Traci Thirteen, I...Vampire, Haunted Tank, Genius Jones, Count Julius

Art by Cliff Chiang

Somehow on Saturday I missed the fact that there were costume contests. I didn't see any advertisement for them in any of the program guides I had. I heard the area for it was tucked away in the back somewhere. Oh and apparently I missed a screening of the new Dark Knight trailer too. I'm sure it will be online soon, if it isn't already, but it would have been nice to have seen it there. I always miss out on the fun. 

So that was in for the 3rd annual NY Comic Con. It keeps on improving with each year. Something like 64,000 people went the entire weekend. That's just insane. Though I am bummed to hear that the con is back to being in February next year. I don't know if that's the only date that was open or what? For one, I think they need to standardize the date so people associate a certain time of year with the NYCC. But please, let's not make it February forever. New York is FREEZING in February! Not so nice for the costumed folk.

Just a few Thank You's:

- Ron Hogan at Galleycat.com did a short interview and was nice enough to put my picture up on his site too.

- Andy Khouri from Comic Book Resources took a picture of me for his girlfriend who loves Zatanna. Hope she liked it! Now, you guys wanna give me a job? :)

- To all the panelists who entertained me, you know who you are.

- Everyone at DC Comics for being so down-to-earth.

- Anyone who stopped and chatted with me and took pictures. If you've got one, send it along.

- Of course everyone who works for the NYCC and Reed Exhibitions.

See you next year! In pants.

Catching up before the NY Comic Con

I put the finishing touches on my costume for the NY Comic Con tonight. Last year I went as Poison Ivy. I dyed my hair black recently, that should give you a hint as to who I'm going as this year. Ok, one more hint. I had to buy a bowtie.

Anyway, I apologize for the break in blogging. I've been busy getting ready for the Con plus I was on vacation last week. You'll have to wait until after the Con to hear about the experience I had at my FIRST EVER Star Trek convention last month, but it's worth it. Come say hello if you see me scootering around. I'll be in costume Saturday and then regular Nerdy Bird Jill on either Friday or Sunday.

Which did I like more, the Star Trek teaser or Cloverfield?

What's a geek girl to do? I've got to choose between a movie I've been anticipating for months and a one-minute fifteen-second teaser trailer. On one hand you've got a mysterious monster movie produced by one of my favorite people, J.J. Abrams, on the other you've got a glimpse at a new movie from a series I've loved since I was a little girl...also produced by J.J. Abrams. Hmm. Let's break it down shall we?

Before the teaser trailer for the new Star Trek movie was released, a friend told me it would probably be some lame shot of the Enterprise going into warp. I had to tell him, probably with a little more geek force than I should have, that the Enterprise wasn't even built yet considering this movie is taking place with the original cast in Starfleet Academy. So it was really awesome to see that that was exactly what the teaser trailer was, the Enterprise being built.

I gotta admit, I hate teaser trailers for the most part. I'm probably already super-excited for your movie, teasing is just mean. You have more footage, we know you do, just use it! That being said, I got goose bumps hearing Leonard Nimoy's voice say, "Space, the final frontier."

Honestly, I look forward to any new Star Trek movie, but this most recent effort in particular seems like an interesting premise. I just hope that no sequels are made from it. I know that sounds weird. I'm sure they have the material they could use for one, I just think it's a bad idea. Tell this story and let it be. In my way of thinking it's more interesting to see new technology and advances as opposed to looking back.

Since Leonard Nimoy has a part in this film I'm assuming it's all going to be told from his point of view. Since William Shatner has not been offered a role I'm also assuming Nimoy's part takes place sometime after the Star Trek Generations timeline where Captain Kirk died on Veridian III. If that's the case, I feel bad for the guy, the could have easily set this before that incident. It's not going to make or break the movie for me though.

Then there's Cloverfield, which seems to have become a love it or hate it movie from what I've been hearing. Personally, I loved it. I also learned everything I possibly could about it before it came out. Not spoilers really, I'm not usually a fan of spoilers, just the general idea. Monster movie, NY, no big stars, shot with a hand-held camera. I think the biggest problem for the people who didn't like it was that they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. I can understand someone who didn't know going in that it was shot that way being annoyed by it.

The other critique I've heard a lot has been people saying this was meant as an allegory to September 11th. I'm not getting into that debate. What I will say is, if you have a monster movie based in the United States it's going to be in New York, just like a monster movie based in England would be set in London. It's the city with the most recognizable landmarks that no one could mistake for being anywhere else. The other simple fact is; you can't get trapped in Chicago or Miami. New York is an island! Take out a couple bridge and tunnels and you've got yourself the perfect setting for a really intense monster movie.

Casting relative unknowns in Cloverfield was a good move. It created more believable backstory for the characters than would have been possible with a star in the same role. Though making the main characters rich yuppies who you'd kill for their apartments or trust funds did make it a little hard to like them at first. But once they were on the streets fighting for their lives like everyone else you forget that. Well, at least until they went back to Beth's dad's apartment. I'd still live in it post-monster. Don't lie, you know you would too.

My favorite part of Cloverfield was Lizzy Caplan as Marlena. Specifically the awesome Superman dialogue between her and Hud down in the subway tunnels. I didn't know this until I looked her up afterward but she had a small roll in Smallville a few years ago apparently, which makes for a nice coincidence.

Hud: Ocean is big, dude. All I'm saying is, a couple of years ago they found a fish in Madagascar that they thought had been extinct for centuries.

Rob: So, what? It's been down there this whole time and nobody noticed?

Hud: Sure. Maybe it erupted from an ocean trench, ya know? Or a crevace...crevice! It's just a theory. I mean, for all we know it's from another planet and it flew here.

Marlena: Like Superman?

Hud: Yeah! Exactly like Su...wait. You know who Superman is?

Marlena: Oh my god. Whoa...You know who Superman is?

Hud: Okay...

Marlena: Whoooaaa...I'm like feeling som...are you aware of Garfield?

You can't really get much better than that. Plus it gave us all a nice chuckle in between fearing for their safety. Speaking of safety, I've seen enough movies in my life to know that when rats run in one particular direction, you should join them. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade anyone? They were a little slow on the uptake there. They were more concerned with it being gross than the fact that the rats were running away from something.

The monster itself was scary in my opinion. With all the speculation that went on I'm sure people over-hyped it too much and were disappointed. The thing is, what the monster looked like didn't matter nearly as much to me as what was going to happen to the characters.

But of course everyone is still speculating. Is the monster from the sea? Space? The government? If you want to check out a bunch of the theories check out this article from the Geeks of Doom. Now forget all that. I've got your real answer. None of the above. The monster is actually from New Jersey. That's right. NEW JERSEY! We got sick and tired of all you New Yorkers using our malls, talking down to us all the time, making everyone think we say it "New Joisey" and trying to claim the Statue of Liberty as your own. We didn't have the monster throw her head at you for no reason. And here you thought all those factories and swamps were just for recycling and dumping bodies. That'll teach ya.

Ok I'm done. :-) The win goes to Cloverfield for being and actual full satisfying movie rather than a teaser trailer that made me scream how December 25th wasn't nearly close enough. Though I couldn't ask for a better Christmas present.