All posts by Matthew Faustini

Roundtable: Revisiting Game Night

February 14, 2013 Matthew Faustini Leave a comment

Roundtable is Geeky Gentleman’s column on tabletop gaming. Here we’ll be sharing our thoughts, criticisms and praise for all things on board games, card games, and their ilk.

The dawn of our digital age has a marked influence on the twilight of “family game night”. The installation of broadband internet has brought with it a greater persistance of web-based social interaction and networking that it makes traditional get-togethers rather boring by comparison. We’ve got Steam, Xbox Live, the Playstation Network. This places hundreds of games, thousands of matches and millions of people at your keyboard. Meanwhile, managing to convene with 6 or so of your friends and family to sit down, apart from all those Ethernet shenanigans is becoming trickier to accomplish. But the board game is not dead. This I can assure you. I’ve played them and I have seen the light. Continue reading Roundtable: Revisiting Game Night →

Cinema, Entertainment

J.J. Abrams to Direct Forthcoming Star Wars Sequels

January 24, 2013 Matthew Faustini Leave a comment

It was announced today that famed director and sci-fi buff J.J. Abrams will be the helmsman of the upcoming installments in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. This news holds greater significance for science fiction fans as Mr. Abrams has been the primary impetus behind the reboot of the ‘Star Trek’ film franchise. In one swoop, J.J. Abrams has claimed the monopoly on blockbuster interstellar film franchises.

Disney has set the 7th installment in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise for a 2015 release. This film is set to launch a new trilogy in the landmark franchise however it is too soon to determine if Mr. Abrams will be around for more than one episode.

What do you think? Does this put ‘Star Trek’ fans and ‘Star Wars’ fans at odds or does it work to further unite the two?

Source: L.A. Times

Culture, Games

Games as Art and Design: MoMA to add 14 Video Games to their collection

November 30, 2012 Matthew Faustini Leave a comment

I can remember a time, not so long ago, when the debate over whether games “counted” as art would drum up a lot of hubbub. Some would discount games as they were “consumer products”. Others would say that games had just as much, if not MORE credit than popular cinema. Thankfully, we’ve since moved past this squabbling and are now on the dawn of seeing video games collected and annexed into modern art history.

Continue reading Games as Art and Design: MoMA to add 14 Video Games to their collection →

Entertainment, Music

Dance Your Cares Away to Ben Folds Five’s New Video

September 17, 2012 Matthew Faustini Leave a comment

It’s difficult to discuss music geekery without mentioning the name “Ben Folds”. With a near 20 year music career, Ben has earned repute as a self-taught piano rocker and namesake of the trio “Ben Folds Five” (Yes, they’re a trio). Parting ways circa 1999, Ben has led a strong solo career. He’s also been seen lately on prime-time television as a judge on the a cappella competition “The Sing-Off”.

This year, however, Folds announced that he was reuniting with his bandmates Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee to release a new album as Ben Folds Five once again after a 13 year hiatus. The album, “The Sound of the Life of the Mind” is released tomorrow, September 18. To celebrate the release of this reunion album, Ben Folds Five teamed up with Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist channel to have another kind of reunion for the video to “Do It Anyway”, a single off the new album. Collaborating with the Jim Henson Company, Nerdist and Ben Folds Five brought in, as you may have surmised from the title, Jim Henson’s Fraggles of “Fraggle Rock”, characters not seen since the early nineties.

Continue reading Dance Your Cares Away to Ben Folds Five’s New Video →

Cinema, Comics

First Impressions: Comic-Con’s “Man of Steel” Poster

July 19, 2012 Matthew Faustini Leave a comment

San Diego Comic Con has come and gone and in it’s wake we’ve been left with loads news. Marvel is working on their “second phase” of their ever expanding film universe. And we’ve also been given some peeks into DC’s offerings with their upcoming Superman film, “Man of Steel”. Take a look at this teaser poster they revealed in San Diego.

What do you all think? Personally, I’m not sure what to make of it yet. I’m not the biggest fan of this new trend of adding ornate textures to super-suits. Most recently in Sony’s “Amazing Spider-Man”, many though Peter Parker’s costume had the texture of a basketball (myself included). Regardless, it’s not really what they’re wearing that matters, is it?

Let us know what you think!

Curated Nerdery