GISHWHES 2014

August 18, 2014 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Two weeks ago I (as well as Nerd-Base member Chris) participated in the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, also known as GISHWHES. Although I’ve been a fan of Misha Collins for some time now, this was my first year participating in this worldwide record breaking scavenger hunt.

I was actually put in a group without my knowledge. Not to say I didn’t want to participate, but every year I seemed to have made up excuses to get out of joining in the fun. Perhaps I was a bit nervous about breaking out of my shell and doing weird things in public? Last year I was on a road trip with Chris. We probably could have participated but it would likely be a lot harder to tackle most of the items. This year I’m unemployed and broke, but I’m glad I was pushed into doing it.

A couple of our friends that live in North Carolina started the group and invited us to join their team, Mischief Mismanaged. We were short four people, so the folks who help run GISHWHES placed another small team with our group – some lovely young ladies from Canada. Any time teams are combined, the team names are combined with the word ‘loves’. So, our official team name ended up being Mischief-MismanagedlovesWinging-it.

The list went up on Saturday, August 2nd. Which also happened to be the last day I was Continue reading →

Doctor Who World Tour

August 15, 2014August 15, 2014 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Last night was one of the best nights of my life. Getting tickets to the Doctor Who World Tour was like trying to get tickets to see The Beatles in their prime. Of course, the venue is a lot smaller (being that it is a theater and not a concert hall), so there wasn’t an overabundance of tickets. However, Doctor Who has grown in fandom size significantly over the past few years.

Doctor Who screening with my friend Erin back in April 2011.

I remember before they sold tickets to fan screenings in NYC, you had to wait all day on the sidewalk hoping you were able to get into the screening. The first one that I went to was in April 2011 (with Matt Smith, Alex Kingston, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, and Steven Moffat). I arrived around 9am with a few friends, and the screening didn’t start until 7pm. Well, when we arrived at 9am, the line was already wrapped around the block and my friends & I had just made it into the 3rd theater. Not the theater with the cast & writer. It was a simultaneous broadcast in the theater I was in, and they did show the Q&A, but of course we weren’t in the same room. I would say, “we may as well have been watching them online or on TV”, but the experience was fun, and sharing a theater with die hard fans made it all worth it. I would have done it again in a heart beat (although, maybe arrived a few hours earlier).

Several hours into waiting in line for the Doctor Who screening in April 2011.

Three years later, the fandom has grown probably three times the size, if not more. I remember not even two years ago, you had to buy Doctor Who memorabilia online through BBC websites over in the UK, or perhaps at a comic book shop. It wasn’t easy getting your hands on figurines, sonic screwdrivers, a miniature Tardis or Dalek replicas. I made many friends through my love of Doctor Who. I even turned many on to the show, as I was turned onto it by friends of mine. It wasn’t easy coming across a fan randomly, but when you did it was generally an instant friendship. Now, you can’t walk into Hot Topic, Barnes & Noble, or any other nerdy store without seeing a plethora of Doctor Who merchandise. It’s both amazing and annoying. It’s very much a catch 22 for me because Continue reading →

Batman: Assault on Arkham

July 31, 2014 / Rishard Chapoteau / 1 Comment

Batman: Assault on Arkham, is DC’s latest entry in their animated film series. Even though the name of the movie starts with Batman, this is really a Suicide Squad movie that just happens to have Batman in it. The idea of a Suicide Squad movie is actually a good thing, because the idea behind the Suicide Squad is pretty cool. When the government wants a task done, and they don’t care if the operatives live or die, they take captured criminals, put a bomb in their neck and force them to do the job. If they get caught, the bomb goes off. If they refuse to help, the bomb goes off. If they piss off Amanda Waller, the agent in charge of the operation, the bomb goes off. So the Suicide Squad is very motivated to accomplish whatever task they need to regardless of the cost. For the most part this film turned out pretty good.

Continue reading →

Colton Haynes Reveals His Arrow Season 3 ARSENAL Costume!!

July 23, 2014July 23, 2014 / Christopher Lee / Leave a comment

Just a quick shot here since today has been full of excitement for the new season of Arrow as it is, Colton Haynes, only a few minutes ago posted a picture of himself in his full Arsenal costume to his facebook page, and we think it looks amazing!

From Colton:

So stoked to finally show y’all! #Arsenal #ArrowSeason3 #SeeIAmActuallyCool@entertainmentweekly @arrowwriters

Arrow Season 3 premieres Wednesday, October 8th on CW, and that just seems WAY too far away right now…

Guardians of the Galaxy tumblr Q&A

July 23, 2014July 23, 2014 / Amanda / Leave a comment

I’ve said this for the past couple of months, ever since Guardians of the Galaxy started making its presence known with the media, this has been some of the best promotions and marketing I’ve seen with a movie for a very long time. When I attended Philly Comic Con (Wizard World) in June, Marvel had a large green screen and table set up by the entrance. Fans would stand in front of the green screen, have their picture taken, and when they got their print, they would be added in the famous Guardians line-up along with the other characters. Anyone who did this would receive a large, double-sided (light box) Guardians of the Galaxy poster (like the ones that you see in movie theaters). This was all free. Then again a few weeks ago, Marvel released a 17 minute preview of Guardians in many theaters across the nation, giving fans a taste of what’s to come (aside from just showing a few movie trailers on TV). Fans that attended that would also receive a (smaller) poster, but it was an exclusive, something that you couldn’t just buy online. I’ve worked in promotions for several years and whenever I see great marketing, I appreciate what they’re promoting even more. I was already very excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy to begin with and this just whet my appetite for more.

Last night was another great promotion for Guardians. Marvel teamed up with Yahoo!Live to give fans, both in the audience and online, a chance to do a Q&A with the cast, director James Gunn, and even President of Marvel. What made me appreciate this even more was that they did this all through Continue reading →