My Fanboy New Year's Resolutions.

I took time off from writing the blog for the holidays. This was needed as it was a crazy time for me and I needed the time.

However I did take time to reflect on where I want to go with this blog in the New Year. Let’s take a moment to look at my Fanboy News Network resolutions for the 2012.

First off my wife and I are rearranging our house. She is dedicated to make her home craft business Twisted Kitten Creations a success and I want to start making video entries. To facilitate this we are rearranging the house to give us more room for our creative activates. This will give her more room for making her products and give me a space to use as a recording studio.

This leads straight to my next resolution. Start making videos for the site. I have a plan now. Once the house is rearranged I will start making them. I may take a couple of tries at it before I release anything, but I will at least start recording. Once I start posting my goal will be a video port every two weeks. I’ve already invested in a more powerful computer to handle the editing.

And now I will make the statement that is sure to come back to haunt me. I vow that there will be a post on the blog every Saturday. This means that every Saturday I miss will bring me the burning shame of missing a deadline. If that doesn’t get me writing more nothing will.

I will do more posts that are reviews of material relevant to geek culture and not just editorials.

I will look at expanding beyond just a blog and work to make this a more legitimate site. I will look for advice from my sister as she is much more successful at this. (Assuming she buys my line about this being what family does for each other.)

I will start promoting the blog more. This is hard because despite doing this I hate going out and promoting myself because I fear that I will come off as an egotistical ass. I need to get over it if I actually plan on ever finding a larger audience. Again I will ask my sister for advice. 

And my wife.

 And Aron from the comic shop.

And my other friends

And those of you reading this.

Help!

Where was I?

I will make an honest effort to make a backlog of articles so that if life gets in my way I will still have something to post every Saturday.

I will create a catch phrase to end blog posts. I feel I just sort of end right now.

There it is, my goals

So with that here are some projects I am working on.

1.       An article on the power held by geek culture and that pros and cons that brings.

2.       A series of reviews cover Universal Horror, both written and eventually in video.

3.       A video series on what makes Seattle the Geek capital of the World.

4.       A new Alternate Interpretations.

5.       Tales from my days working at Wizards of the Coast.

6.       Tales from my days as one of the founding members of the Camarilla.

We will check in in on this list in July and see how well I did.

Have a happy New Year.

The LXD

As I stated in my introductory post for this blog, I am fascinated by new media. Traditional media such as TV, movies, and radio is great and I am clearly a big fan. But with the advent in technology there are new ways of doing things that can open up doors to new experiences.

One example is a web series available on Hulu called the LXD.

The LXD stands for the Legion of Extraordinary Dances. It is written and produced by Jon Chu, who is also responsible for the Step Up movies. But if you did not like those movies, please do not let that turn you off.  LXD is an example of a high concept that would not get a shot in traditional media.

In short LXD is about a select group of people who have the ability to use dance to activate superpowers. Chu described it as a “Justice League of dance”.  It sounds silly but once you get past that it turns out to be a really good show.

When I first started watching I decided to go in assuming it was an art piece. Each episode features a dance sequence and I figured if nothing else I could appreciate that. And if that is the only level you watch it on that is fine. I am not a dance expert by any means, but the dancing earns the title of extraordinary. The show claims to use no wires or special effects of any kind for the dancing or stunts. If this is true then the talent of the dancers is unreal. They use a mix of several types including hip hop styles, tap, ballet, and in a recent episode Flamenco.

As for the story, by the third episode I was starting to buy in and by the 5^th I was sold.

Essentially you have a very classic good vs. evil story. The LXD are our heroes dedicated to protecting the world from those that would use the power (called the RA) for ill. The ones they protect against are Organization X, or the OX. Also in the mix is The Dark Doctor who appears to be against both the LXD and the OX.

The characters are a mix of archetypes having only being misfits in common. They include:

Trevor Drift, a loner high school student who discovers he is a hidden heir of the LXD leadership. When his powers manifest his father is killed and the LXD lead by his previously unknown brother Spex take him in and train him.

Next is Sp3cimen (yes they really spell it that way.) He is a dead soldier brought back to life by the Dark Doctor’s experiments as a human/robot hybrid. He escapes and finds his way to the LXD.

Elliot Hoo is an average man who finds a pair of shoes that grant him the ability to dance and use the RA.

The Fanboyz are a group of nerds (ok Hollywood nerds, but still) from Trevor Drifts high school that learn of the LXD and want to join. They get their RA powers just by trying hard enough to acquire them.

The first 2 seasons of the LXD are 10 episodes long with most episodes being less than 10 minutes long. The current 3^rd season is up to 7 episodes. They have not announced how many this season will have, but I suspect it will be 10 again. No word if there is a 4^th planned, but as it seems doubtful that they are wrapping up the story soon I suspect there will be one.

Seriously check this one out. Give it a few episodes and I think it will surprise you.