Television: The Return of Toonami

 In what can only be described as an “April Fools’ prank gone right” Cartoon Network’s popular Anime-centric block is scheduled to return after about a 4-year hiatus, on May 26th.

First, here’s a brief history lesson. Toonami began in 1997 and was initially “hosted” by Moltar, a repurposed character from the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon “Space Ghost.” In July of 1999, Toonami switched over to its more commonly known format featuring robotic host “T.O.M.” and his artificial intelligence companion “S.A.R.A.” aboard the spaceship “Absolution.”  In between shows, the block often featured video-game reviews, motivational speeches, and music videos. In addition, the block aired “Total Immersion Events.” These events contained narratives in the world of the Absolution and her crew. They were often promoted on their website in the form of web-games. There were three “TIEs” that pertained to the Absolution while a fourth showcased a five-part “microseries” that ultimately became the Anime series “IGPX.” After various design changes and scheduling adjustments over the years, Toonami was cancelled in the summer of 2008. Continue reading Television: The Return of Toonami

Something to Look Forward to:Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD

There are many games I can recall playing for hours in my youth – Pokémon Red, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario World, to name the big ones. For years I spent my time in worlds that could best be described as imaginary (if not extraordinary), but my first adventure in (somewhat) realistic gaming was not Goldeneye, not Madden, but the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (THPS) series.

THPS featured an exciting and challenging new style of gameplay, which I could even poorly attempt in real life. I learned about the pros – Tony, Bam, and Bucky – the tricks – benihana, airwalk, and indy 900 – and the skater lingo -revert, grind, manual, and goofy foot. I began with the first iteration of the series on my Nintendo 64, but I truly became a fan with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, which I continued to play until the current generation, meaning the last Tony Hawk game I bought was Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, which was released in 2004. Eight years later, I’m finally going to return to the games of my tweenage years with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD. Continue reading Something to Look Forward to:Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD

Losing the Cape: Going Beyond Super Heroes vol. 1

To a casual observer, comic books are all capes and sidekicks, or do-gooders righting wrongs. And while those types of stories are certainly in the mix (and quite popular with many) there are other kinds of stories that don’t always make it to the spotlight. We here at Geeky Gentleman believe that THAT’S a wrong worth righting. So we’ve started “Losing the Cape” a recurring series where we’ll introduce (or reintroduce, as the case may be) you to some stories that you may have missed.

For this first installment we’ve got three quality Fables for you to Chew on that are real Skullkickers.

Continue reading Losing the Cape: Going Beyond Super Heroes vol. 1

Welcome to the home of the Geeky Gentleman

You’ve reached the hub for the geeky and culturally refined gentleman. We here at the Geeky Gentleman have been brought together not only by a love for the geeky things, but also an appreciation of refined, gentlemanly things such as suits and scotch.

Being a geek and a gentleman aren’t mutually exclusive and we’re here to prove that. So stay tuned for coverage of geeky culture with a panache rarely seen on other blogs.

 

Regards

 

Matthew Faustini EIC

Curated Nerdery