In this week’s abbreviated episode, Marc and Lee bring you a report on the Queer Media and Entertainment Conference, updates to the latest episodes of Lost, Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica and details on voting for the Angry Puppy Hot Geek 10.

Oh, and there’s a painting dog.

There are no headlines this week, but watch this space. I’ll post what we would have talked about over the weekend to make it up to you.

In response to our post on theme songs that really shouldn’t have lyrics, reader Rob posted this clip of John Barrowman humming the Doctor Who theme:

My favorite part is when David Tennant starts an impromptu baseline accompaniment. Does anyone know who the third contestant is?

We solicited your nominations for the Angry Puppy Hot Geek 10 in Episode 26, and now it’s time to vote on the winners. Just check 3 nominees and click “Vote”.

Some of these people and characters have multiple geek credentials, but to save space, I just credited each with the first thing that came into my head. If you think I chose the wrong one for your favorite, let us know in the comments.

Voting will continue until May 30. Be sure to tune in to Episode 29 on June 6 to see the results! Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t generally post pictures of gratuitously naked chaps here. Sure, it would probably increase click-throughs, but, do we really need to see a picture of Hugh Jackman shirtless on the beach to talk about the upcoming Wolverine movie?

In this case, though, the picture is the story.

I honestly don’t know if this Austrian ad is NSFW or not, as technically there’s no nudity. If you’re in a liberal sort of place, click through to see why I am glad I prefer Xbox today.

[Via copyranter]

To this day, I can’t hear the Star Wars theme without humming under my breath, “Star Wars! Nothing but Star Wars!”

In honor of that clip, I found some other sci-fi themes that friendly neighborhood geeks have added words to.

If Björk ever does another Medúlla-style album, she should hire this next guy. Check out his a capella Battlestar Galactica theme:

Read the rest of this entry »

Constantine came on FX the other night, and I re-watched it, pretending that it had nothing to do with Hellblazer. Viewed through that lens, it’s not so bad, but it still falls in my dead zone: neither good enough to sit through nor bad enough to laugh through. And in the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I failed to disassociate it from the comic series. I mean, come on! It’s John Constantine, innit!

I’d love to hear from people who think otherwise (it’s so subjective), but I found this Constantine more tiresome than compelling. A suicide-induced Flatliners moment damned him, and now, like some two-bit exorcist, he goes door to door sending errant demons back to Hell to curry God’s favor (yawn) so he can get into heaven. Hey! Isn’t that almost the plot of Reaper? Where’s the nuance from the comics?

Fortunately for you, me and everyone we know, Tilda Swinton has a habit of making otherwise meh movies worth watching. Here she is as the wonderfully androgynous archangel Gabriel:

John Constantine, Tilda Swinton in hooker pants kicking Keanu Reeves’ ass, and, hey, it’s even got boy-of-the-moment Shia LeBeouf as Chas… How could it have gone so wrong?

We’ve made it clear that we think Keanu Reeves as Constantine is some of the worst casting ever. Re-watch the clip above and imagine the same lines acted as if they were based on any version of John Constantine from the comics. Not so bad, right? But that faux-intense effect that Mr. Reeves uses kills any affection and respect I had for the character.

I’m not savvy enough to discern if that’s a fault of the acting or the directing, but here’s director Francis Lawrence’s IMDB entry. It’s impressive in its own right, but there’s not much in the way of turning other successful dark comic series into films.

As we said in the vlog, don’t enter the Hellblazer universe though this movie. As an alternative, I’ve put some of my favorite TPBs in this handy Amazon widget.

I’d love to hear your recommendations. And I especially want to hear from those who liked Constantine the film. John Constantine is too close to my heart for me to be truly objective, and I’m open to hearing what good things I might have missed in the movie.

If you read AfterElton.com (which hosts our vlogs), then you’re already aware of the 2nd Annual AfterElton.com Hot 100. In a nutshell, it’s:

“a list of the world’s hottest men, chosen by the gay and bisexual male readers of this site”

We thought we’d help them out with the geek side of things and solicit votes for the first Angry Puppy Hot Geek 10. AfterEllen.com has an analogous poll, but since we’ve got no AngryPuppette.com, we’re combining all genders and orientations, in both the voters and the nominees. The only requirement for nominations is that the nominee be “geek” (loosely defined, of course).

Tell us in the comments or by e-mail who you think should go on the list, and we’ll put together a poll after our next vlog.

Thanks!

Despite crippling (OK, irritating) sickness, our latest episode is up at AfterElton. If you’re in the New York area, you know that the pollen count is outrageous, but I drugged myself up enough to join Marc in bringing you:

• Headlines: (NewNowNext Awards highlights; X-Men: OC Edition?; Gayest Grand Theft Auto ever?; Matt Damon’s quaint ideas on gaming; Whip-Snap’s comeback; Words you never wanted to hear John Barrowman say)
• John Constantine, Hellblazer: Where to begin?
• Battlestar Galactica: “The Road Less Traveled”
• Lost: “Something Nice Back Home”
• Doctor Who: “The Fires of Pompeii”
• Reaper: “Coming to Grips”
• Blacula: Pioneers in cinematic gay vampirism
• List: The Hot Geek 10
• Shameless plug: Lee’s new LGBT music vlog Homophonic
• And the return of MYSTERY GEEK CHALLENGE

Oh, and here’s a sample of Planet Unicorn which we mention in the headlines:

Have you ever wondered what John Barrowman would be doing if he hadn’t been cast in Doctor Who (and subsequently in Torchwood)? In our next episode, we talk about his role in 2002’s direct-to-dvd Shark Attack 3: Megalodon

From the CGI to the script, this movie is 100% awful, but it’s worth seeing just for this unexpected line from John Barrowman. [NSFW unless you’re wearing headphones.]

Embedding for that video was “disabled by request”, but not from John Barrowman. He proudly displays the movie on his official site:

Filmed in Bulgaria in 2001, Megalodon has become a B-movie cult classic and features an ad-lib from John that has achieved legendary status among the movie’s fans.

The story is that he just made that line up on the spot as a joke on his co-star, but they left it in the movie. My guess is that no one noticed. Watch these clips, and you’ll understand how easily that could have happened: Read the rest of this entry »

Period.

Does anyone know more about Tandi Iman Dupree? I’m not finding nearly enough about her online.