Christmas Wish List: Happy Holidays

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I probably won't be posting a lot between now and new years. I have the week off so I'll be at home hanging out with the kids building Lego and playing with DC Superhero girls. I might post one or two things if I have the time and they're easy. We'll see.

Silent Night by Chewbacca

Not sure if anything really needs to be said about this. It's Chewbacca singing Silent Night in his native tongue, Shyriiwook. There's something you should keep mind bottled for the next time you play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Shyriiwook.

Darth Santa Strikes Back!

You know, my son has a really fantastic Kyle Ren costume he got for Halloween. All I need is a Darth Vader costume and a bit of free time. What could possible go wrong?

Christmas Wish List: Raspberry Pi Arcade Cabinet

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

Every few weeks on Reddit I see people post pictures of these amazing custom Raspberry Pi cabinets and I want in on that. Last year I put together my own RetroPi, so I'm confident enough in getting the software to work, it's putting together the cabinet and getting the control stick and buttons all working and programmed that I'm pretty iffy on. If I put one of these things together I want it to WORK not "work". Like if I have to break out a keyboard and open up the cabinet every time I fire it up then what's the point of putting it in a slick cabinet?

I think I'm really going to try this. I'm going to have 5 weeks of vacation next year, it doesn't seem that irresponsible to take a 3 or 4 days off to put one of these together. My dad is pretty much a master woodworker at this point in his retirement. I'll bet if I sent him the specs on the cabinet pieces he could whip them up for me in no time and all I'd have to do is assemble the thing.

Now I just have to decide where the put it and how to keep my son off it all day...

Rogue One: A Review!

Would you believe that I really enjoyed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story? I know, I'm as surprised as you are. No spoilers here, just a few quick words on the movie:

The reviews for Rogue One have been pretty positive and I think they're pretty well deserved. If I try and remove myself from the fandom for a minute I think there's plenty in Rogue One for any non-Star Wars geek to enjoy. Of course removed from that fandom there's not a ton about the movie that would make it incredibly memorable. The best parts of the movie really are in the details.

Sure the actors do a fine job but outside of Alan Tyduk's smart ass robot there's not really a break out character. It's like the San Antonio Spurs of casts. Everyone is really good and they win a ton of games but outside of San Antonio no one is buying a lot of their jerseys. The action is fine and nicely paced, there's a couple really dramatic scenes and there's the expected razzmatazz with the special and practical effects. If this is the kind of overall quality we can expect from all the Star Wars spin-offs Disney has planned I think most fans will be pretty happy.

Where the movie really shines though is how it fits into the main story of the Star Wars universe. It took 15 years but finally we have a prequel that feels at home with the original trilogy. A lot of care and detail went into making sure this movie lined up perfectly with Episode IV. Of course they didn't stop there, there are so called Easter eggs for the two new Cartoons, Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. If you're really into Star Wars cannon there's a lot in this movie for you.

Much like when The Force Awakens came out last year, some fans are probably a little too eager to call Rogue One the best or the second best Star Wars movie ever. It's definitely a good movie, better than any of the prequels maybe not as enjoyable as The Force Awakens though. I don't know, ranking the Star Wars movies basically comes down to how much you can stand Death Stars and Ewoks. Personally I'll take more Ewoks over Death Stars any day of the week.

Welcome To Hell

Christmas Wish List: Toys For Tots

Every day in December (work schedule permitting) I plan on posting one thing from my official DevilDinosaur Christmas Wish List (patent pending). Why? Because I can.

It's become a bit of a tradition that every year my son and I make a special trip to go shopping for a donation to Toys For Tots (or a similar program). I'm not sitting here trying to tell you how fantastic of a parent I am or anything, most of the year I'm incredibly lazy and ineffectual as far as that goes. I just want my son (and probably my daughter next year) to learn a bit about being charitable this time of year. Also there are tons of kids out there that might not get a Christmas present if it wasn't for donations and anytime I think about it too much it breaks my heart.

So, even though we're just 6 days away from Christmas, it's not too late. There's still time to donate a gift or a small amount of cash. Just think of it as an Overwatch Loot Box for your heart.

Also a tax write off!

Megan Fox as Poison Ivy, Sure Why Not?

Everyone and their grandma is reporting that Megan Fox really wants to be Poison Ivy in a recently announced Gotham City Sirens movie. Gotham City Sirens is a comic from a few years ago that featured the unlikely(?) team of Poison Ivy, Catwoman and Harley Quinn. It's DC/WB's answer to the fact that Suicide Squad was kinda terrible but everyone really liked Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. The movie still made like $500 million so you have to have some sort of sequel. Why not highlight what everyone liked and ditch everything else?

The bad news of course is that David Ayer is set to direct the movie because DC/WB only knows of two directors. I mean if there was ever a movie for them to step out of the box and hire someone better known for comedy or straight drama, this is their chance. I guess WB/DC just figures if they keep making the same style of movie over and over eventually we'll like them.

Oh yeah, no chance of Megan Fox being Poison Ivy. When is the last time a well known star lobbied for a role they actually got? Ask Donald Glover how that worked out. Of course I think they could do a lot worse than Ms. fox. She's not unattractive AND she's actually kinda good. I know all the critics panned Jennifer's Body but she was kinda the bomb in that and she was a lot more enjoyable in The New Girl than I think anyone expected. Make it happen DC.