Episode 47 - We Play Music With Pop!!!

The cast of Beaucoup Pop is back, bringing you everything you need to know about whats going on in the pop culture world...and maybe some things that you didn't need to know, BUT WE GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY!!!

It's our 500th blog post, ya'll!!

New Releases for 02/28/12

SECKMANS SELECTIONS

Post Oscars, I guess it's a good thing Hugo didn't win best picture or best director, otherwise they would have a lot of stickers to put on the cases for this movie. Admittedly I was not a huge fan of this film, but it is this week's biggest release. Visually, if was quite stimulating, but the story just never quite amounted to much, IMO. Also coming out, we have the newest DC animated film, Justice League: Doom, so be sure to check that out. In Video Games, we have the highly anticipated SSX for the next-gen systems. Helicoptor dives, avalanches, pitch black caves...SSX never looked so good! And...AND....THE CRANBERRIES have a new album out!! Best...Week...Ever! So, here you have it, a look at some of the things coming out the week of February 28, 2012.

MOVIES

Hugo (Two-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

[available on Blu-ray, 3D Blu-Ray and DVD]

This is a movie about movies...and the resourceful orphan Hugo Cabret. After his clockmaker father perishes in a museum fire, Hugo goes to live with his Uncle Claude, a drunkard who maintains the clocks at a Paris train station. When Claude disappears, Hugo carries on his work and fends for himself by stealing food from area merchants. In his free time, he attempts to repair an automaton his father rescued from the museum, while trying to evade the station inspector, a World War I veteran with no sympathy for lawbreakers. When Georges, a toymaker, catches Hugo stealing parts for his mechanical man, he recruits him as an assistant to repay his debt. If Georges is guarded, his open-hearted ward, Isabelle, introduces Hugo to a kindly bookseller, who directs them to a motion-picture museum, where they meet film scholar René. In helping unlock the secret of the automaton, they learn about the roots of cinema, starting with the Lumière brothers, and give a forgotten movie pioneer his due, thus illustrating the importance of film preservation, a cause to which the director has dedicated his life.

Episode 46 - Vengeance of the Geeks

The cast of Beaucoup Pop is back, bringing you everything you need to know about whats going on in the pop culture world...and maybe some things that you didn't need to know, BUT WE GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY!!!

Get ready Poppers, because this week's episode is jammed packed with pure geekieness.  Our artist of the month, John Tyler Christopher, graces us via Skype for an interview that goes from the expected to the unexpected.

These Vampires Don't Suck: DC's I, Vampire

The article DC's New 52 - A Father's Take on a Missed Opportunity, from Beuacoup Pop's newest contributor, Patrick, got me thinking about DC's relaunch. We're six months in, and that means most books have wrapped up the first story arc. Although I wasn't able to buy, nor was I interested in, every book DC released, I did pick up quite a few that first month. Some books, like Batman, I knew I'd stick with. Others I picked up on a whim and I was uncertain as to whether or not I'd be there for the long haul.

New Releases for 02/21/12

SECKMANS SELECTIONS

Here's a look at some of the things coming out the week of February 21, 2012!

MOVIES

J. Edgar (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy) (DVD)

Board Game Spotlight: Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game

We are 14 weeks away from the FORGE con here in Lexington. As a huge fan of (hobby) board games, I'm going to do a feature of a few new and notable game and reviews of some of my personal favorites.

This first installment, we'll be looking at the new Flying Frog game, Fortune and Glory: Cliffhanger Game (or FANG!). Now, I have not had the pleasure of playing this game, as I just recently found out it came out. But, I have no doubts that this game will be tons of fun, because I'm a huge fan of the company, Flying Frog, who produced this game. Flying Frog is best know for the games Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game (a modular survival horror game), A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Game (a 19th century supernatural adventure board game) and Invasion from Outer Space: The Martain Game (a modular game with fiendish Martians, Big Top Heroes, and SciFi Movie Action), to name a few.

Is Jar Jar Better In 3D?

George Lucas is many things to many people.  Visionary, innovator, nut-job, fanatical perfectionist...  Depending on the conversation, he has either molded or destroyed your childhood. What no one can deny that he has helped mold modern science fiction movies and helped to elevate a genre from b-movies to blockbusters.  He has always been ahead of the curve when it came to using, and in some cases inventing, new technologies to push the limits of what can be shown on the motion picture screen.  Given that, it was only a matter of time before Lucas used modern 3D techniques to change (yet again) both his classic and modern Star Wars trilogies and have an excuse to release them in theatres yet again.  This weekend the cycle of releasing the movies began anew with the re-release in stunning 3D of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  Was it worth it?  Has a little time made this low point in the Star Wars movies more bearable?  Did the movie hold my kids' attention?  Is Jar Jar better in 3D?  Let's just see...

54th Grammy Awards: Highs and Lows

I'm sure by now you've heard various opinions about Sunday night's Grammy awards, or formed your own by watching the show. Here's some of my personal music fan-girl opinions about this year's "awards." I say that in quotations because the first thing I noticed is there are hardly any awards actually given during the show anymore. I feel like I saw perhaps 4 acceptance speeches. I warn you now if you are waiting to catch it on the DVR later....*SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!*

Episode 45 - Convention Season!

The cast of Beaucoup Pop is back, bringing you everything you need to know about whats going on in the pop culture world...and maybe some things that you didn't need to know, BUT WE GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY!!!

Convention season is upon us and the Beaucoup Pop crew is getting their battle gear on. This week we welcome the man behind Lexington Comic and Toy Convention, Jarrod Greer. Jarrod gives us the low down on what to expect from the convention that’s bringing geeky back to Lexington and provides insight to how he’s pulled the con together.

New Releases for 02/14/12

SECKMANS SELECTIONS

Goodness, I've been working on this post for DAYS! This week's releases are massive in quantity, so I hope you've been saving up. We see not only the release of the PSVita (one week early!), but a slew of games to go with it, including UNCHARTED: GOLDEN ABYSS! There's also a good number of movies coming out...including the "I can't believe the Green Lit a sequel" Human Centipede II. Hope you don't have a week stomach. If you do...then watch a couple of Murder She Wrote movies, cause a 4 movie collection has been released! Anyway, here's a look at some of the things coming out the week of February 14, 2012!

VIDEO GAMES

PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle

Claim your PS Vita week before the official release date with the PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle. For a limited time, get the PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi system plus a 4GB memory card, a limited edition case, Little Deviants, and pick up your system one week early.

Design features touchpads at the front and rear.

PlayStation Vita is designed to blur the lines between interactive entertainment and reality in a variety of ways. Reaching beyond the capabilities of every handheld gaming console that has come before it, in this model of Vita players have access to a vast amount of content via improved Wi-Fi, allowing for maximum connectivity wherever you go. Its 5-inch OLED front multi-touch display brings brilliant images to life and allows for a new touch driven navigational system, while the additional multi-touch pad on its back surface will allow users to interact with games and characters that they encounter within them with a simple movement of their fingertips. The real world and the game world are seamlessly merged with front and rear camera enabled augmented reality. Additionally, services created specifically for Vita will be available on PlayStation Network. These services are designed help users take their gameplay, as well as interaction with other gamers, to new levels.

Additional features include: dual analog stick controls, a 4 core CPU, system-specific flash card media support for game and media saves, mobile PlayStation trophy support, built-in three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer and GPs functionality.

DVD Review: Priest

Let me start with an observation. If modern days priests were comprised of an elite group of knife-wielding, ass-kicking warriors trained in the art of killing vampires I think a lot more people would go to church. I know I would. But alas, that is not the case. Yet I'm not the only one who seems to think that would be an amazing thing given that it formed the basis of a successful Korean comic series that was later adapted in to this feature film.

Who the Frack is Patrick?

Beaucoup Pop welcome's our latest blog contributor, Patrick Ballard!

Patrick is a classic example of nature vs. nurture when his comes to whether or not someone will become a true nerd based on the nerd DNA that they are born with or the nerdy environment that they are raised in.  Growing up in rural Kentucky really doesn't afford a lot of kids the opportunity to really explore may things that are outside of the five television channels that his family could get on their television's rabbit ears.  So, like many other children of 80's, television cartoons shaped many of his young fantasies and he would save every last penny he had to get his mom to let him go to the Ben Franklin department store next to her job so that he could pick up any new Transformer or G.I. Joe he could find.  Oh, there were Star Wars figures too, but if he had to admit it, he played with Darth Vader as a hero for a good two years before he ever saw the actual movie and realized his folly. 

DC's New 52 - A Father's Take on a Missed Opportunity

Hi Gang!  Just the new kid on the block, Patrick here with my first post as a Beaucoup Pop contributor. Since Matt, Tressa, Kerry, Justin and now Christopher and Becky seem to have lot of areas of geekery covered, I wanted to add something a little bit different to the mix.  I am a dad and thought that some of my contributions may a bit of a parental slant to them when it comes to pop media.  Before you get too worried, I am not going to go into all the reasons that Steve is FAR superior to Joe on Blue's Clues - thank God my kids are past that age and you all already know this anyway - but my kids are six years old and are on the cusp of discovering a lot of cool new worlds through television, movies, games, books, comics, and music and I thought it might be fun to look at some aspects of the current culture that is going to be shaping what my kids experience and try to make it interesting for all of us.  If I succeed, then all the better and if I fail, well...then I can produce sonnets about how dreamy Fassbender is...cause you know...he really is.  Let's get to it!

Episode 44 - What Makes You Happy

The cast of Beaucoup Pop is back, bringing you everything you need to know about whats going on in the pop culture world...and maybe some things that you didn't need to know, BUT WE GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY!!!

The man behind the heroes.

We're shaking up the format this week Poppers...mainly because one of the bigger news topics, the new Watchmen comics, leads us straight into our weekly discussion about Jack Kirby! We also do a little ranting about creator rights and we make a plea to our listeners to not fall into the "hater hole".  But we balance it out with some love...or at least a lot of laughter!

New Releases for 02/07/12

SECKMANS SELECTIONS

Here's a look at some of the things coming out the week of February 07, 2012!

MOVIES

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I [DVD/Blu-ray]

The fourth installment of The Twilight Saga: a marriage, a honeymoon and the birth of a child.

Go Team Charlie, the only likable character in these movies!!

About Us Page!

Hey Poppers, the "About Us/Events" page has been updated to include info on our lovely blog contributors (more on the way) and also displays our event calendar! Check it out!

Lana Del Rey: Friend or Foe?

Unless you don't surf the interwebs very much, you've probably heard mention in some form or fashion of Lana Del Rey by now. You may have experienced her (in my opinion, because my ears work) horrendous "performance" on Saturday Night Live last month. The fact that she was booked for a stage as huge as SNL off the youtubing of 2 subpar songs is beyond me, but anyway...watch here if you dare:

Who the Frack is Becky?

Beaucoup Pop is pleased to welcome their newest blogger, Becky Cole!

Becky Cole is a Lexington, KY native with her hand in all types of geeky cookie jars. Mainly she's a music and movie nerd, but she also digs several comic/graphic novel series, her favorite of all time being Transmetropolitan. She's found renewed faith in TV, falling hopelessly in love with BSG, Downton Abbey, Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who, Sons of Anarchy, etc. She doesn't read as much as she used to, but is mad for the Harry Potter series and loves to sport her bad ass Slytherin hoodie! She also has a sever coffee addiction, an enduring weakness for all things Hello Kitty, and could eat Chinese food every day of her life.

Her earliest musical memories include sitting with her brother watching the beginning days of MTV whilst trying to figure out Michael Jackson's dance moves, and through this exposure to early MTV she developed quite the enduring taste for New Wave/Synthpop music. Somewhere between that first love of English 80s music and exposure to her dad's Queen, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath records in the basement at age 8, she gravitated right towards Nine Inch Nails by 6th grade, and has remained a life-long fan. One of the best days of her life was when one of her mom's co-workers said she was upgrading her record collection from vinyl and tapes to all CDs and gave all her tapes to me. They included David Bowie, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, Shriekback, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Love & Rockets, Jane's Addiction, XTC and The Pixies. She was 12 at the time, and it warped her fragile little mind. They are all still favorites.

Why Do Remakes Make us so Angry?

If you are a fan of anything pop culture related I'm willing to bet that at one time something you love has been remade. Now if you are anything like me, I'm going to assume that when you first heard the news about it you were overcome with the uncontrollable desire to choke a bitch. And let's be honest, more often than not there isn't a judge on earth who would have convicted you. Most remakes are maddening. They are unnecessary, dumbed down, and almost always a poor representation of the original work. The whole notion of a remake wreaks of laziness. When creators lack original ideas they stand on the shoulders of giants and "re-imagine" superior works. As upsetting as remakes are, I feel that, for my own health and other people's safety, I have to lighten up a bit. But it's not easy.

Episode 43 - Top 5 TV Shows

The cast of Beaucoup Pop is back, bringing you everything you need to know about whats going on in the pop culture world...and maybe some things that you didn't need to know, BUT WE GIVE IT TO YOU ANYWAY!!!

The Beaucoup Pop crew has combined their love of television to present their top 5 favorite (completed) live action TV shows!!! Are any of your favorite small screen productions on the list?

And prepare yourself for the first installment to BCP Masterpiece Theater...actually nothing will prepare you for it.

Beaucoup Pop Masterpiece Theater...yep!