The other day I got the chance to watch Zombieland on TV and this got me thinking; what have I learned from all these Zombie movies/shows? Growing up, I wasn't huge into Zombie culture. Frankly, they terrified me. While they still scare me today, I feel I'm more aptly prepared to face down a horde of hungry Zombies now that I've had plenty of media exposure.

First and foremost, Zombie Media has taught me that there are many types of Zombies that may exist. Some are fast, some are slow, but either way, they're blood thirsty for human flesh. If you're a human, you should run. Which is the first rule in Zombieland anyway. Cardio is key to surviving in a world over run by these monsters. (As soon as I can, I am hitting the gym and getting back on that treadmill!). 

Next, ammunition is not unlimited, and you should always shoot for the head! (I guess this counts as two things.) Aim is key to also surviving a zombie apocalypse, so make your shots counts. Thankfully, I have a military dad. Hoard and conserve all the ammunition you can, because the more you have, the more you have to shoot with. Then again, guns may not always be ideal. They are pretty loud and if The Walking Dead has taught me anything it's that Zombies are attracted by noise. Oddly, this is also okay because I do own a bow with some arrows and know how to shoot that too! 

Make friends with the redneck/tough guy. Chances are he's got a heart of gold and might not slit your throat while you're sleeping. This also has prompted me to want to watch shows like Survivor Man. Knowing how to survive in a world without air conditioning and heat…and internet, sounds terrible. But hey, it may come in handy when you know which plants to eat and which to not touch. Also. bugs are gross, and no amount of hunger will ever make me consider eating them.

And, lastly, Zombie media has taught me that making fun of those who have been preparing for these types of world ending things, is not cool. Given all the brain viruses out there already, a Zombie invasion may not be too far-fetched of an actual end to humanity. Okay, that part I'm pretty sure I just made up. You never know though! Zombies could happen, and preparedness is nothing to laugh at! 

Hey, it’s me. Yeah, I haven’t been on the website in a while. Fortunately, John Betancourt, the editor of this website, if no one else, knows that I often take these long hiatuses until I feel I have something substantial to write about. But in the meantime, the majority of a summer movie season has gone by, and I feel like I’ve left in the dust the opportunity to talk about a few significant films, particularly Solo: A Star Wars Story, Disney’s first attempt to release a feature film in the Star Wars franchise that, well, tends to treat Star Wars as a franchise, and not a fabled continuity that reaches across several numbered episodes that promises to continue every November.
​
But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The main reason I’m writing this article is because I was out playing tabletop with my especially geeky friends last night, and, as usual, the topic turned to Star Wars. My acquaintance, let’s call him (oh, what’s an especially generic name...?) Bob, was off on a pretty standard peel discussing how the most recent Star Wars films have been letting him down. If you have a friend like Bob, you know how this conversation goes: The Force Awakens was good. It met expectations, and then he expresses his supernatural admiration for Rogue One, the first movie to carry the subtitle ‘A Star Wars Story,’ but then went on berate The Last Jedi and Solo.

I didn’t take the time to understand Bob’s dislike for The Last Jedi. I had the sneaking suspicion I already knew what he had to say on the subject. But his sneering dislike for Solo obviously wasn’t going to go unstated: he felt it was as unnecessary as the previous prequels, it was two hours of nothing going nowhere, and while at this point I had the opportunity to mention that I felt the same way, I also had to mention that, silly little man that I am, I have a certain admiration for the ‘prequels,’ specifically Star Wars Episodes I through III. That immediately prompted Bob to say, ‘Mike, I’m losing respect for you as a Geek,’ an eye-rolling retort, especially as I was at that moment tidying up my box of several X-Wing miniatures and folding up my desert colony themed playmat.

If you haven’t picked up my thesis from my tone so far, it’s that there seems to be this prevailing aura of groupthink among Star Wars fans as of late. Of the four films released by Disney so far, it is common for your average keyed-in Star Wars enthusiast to say, ‘I like VII and Rogue One, but dislike VI and Solo,’ and it may be apparent that this marks a new slide in quality for the series at large. As an objective critic, I have to take that statement and say on its surface it is valid: those first two movies are stronger and the second two are weaker. But I can’t use just these four films to pass judgment on the new era as a whole. At the moment, they seem like two sides of the same coin: representations of an in-episode continuation and a spinoff and the potential for them to be either good or bad. And as a film critic, on this site or otherwise, it’s my responsibility to take a very careful look at every nuance each of these films and see what they specifically did to determine where they succeeded or failed. 

But let me take a moment and do something, personally, out of character, and step off this lofty ‘film critic’ perch. I would like to, instead, address you as a long time Star Wars fan. I believe I am, despite the fact that my interest in Star Wars actually BEGAN with Episodes I through III, and I didn’t end up watching A New Hope until way past the Special Edition remastering, at roughly around age 16. My overall experience with Star Wars is different from many others, but that is fundamentally my first argument:  everyone has become a fan of Star Wars at a different time in their lives and likes the series for different reasons. While Episode I is invariably an easy target for a lot of fan ire, think of how, without that movie, we wouldn’t have a Darth Maul, and then think about how much, or how little, that would affect you personally as a fan. It may indeed affect you very little, but the one thing you have to admit, is that you have an opinion of that particular character, likely as a result of watching that particular film.

Here’s another thought exercise, and a valuable one, because it addresses the more stinging issue of whether or not Star Wars is attempting to purposefully be more representational. Look at The Last Jedi again and pay particular attention to Rose Tico’s role in the film. It is oft criticized that her insertion into the film as a tacked-on survivor of one of the film’s lone major conflicts is a downside to the film. I, however, see her as an ideal contrast and companion to Finn, introduced in the previous episode as a former Stormtrooper simultaneously running to and from the conflict. Her most notable actions Rose has in the film involve her tying Finn up in attempt to arrest him for deserting the Resistance, and later putting herself in harm’s way, specifically to prevent Finn from wastefully sacrificing himself in the face of yet another impassible obstacle put in front of them by the army of the First Order. It is her loyalty to the cause of the Resistance that makes her do these seemingly diametrically opposed things, and it is the level that she understands the intent of her actions in both situations that distinguishes her as a character.

Now, at this point you may be saying to yourself, well obviously I was going to use that example, as Rose Tico is played by Kelly Marie Tran, who recently was the subject of a lot of internet-based harassment that led her to abandon social media. But once again, let’s look at the fundamentals behind that. A lot of the people who created the ire in that particular situation blamed that character of Rose for creating a previously unseen conflict within the films, and as a result, her reason for being in the conflict became something of a ‘deus ex machina,’ a reason within itself for that particular character to be there in that moment. Does it diminish from the saga at large? Not really. It’s not a stretch to say the long-time sith-associated villains of Star Wars are responsible for millions of tragedies of war, and everyone who is currently in the resistance is there for their own reason. But let’s overlook that argument for a moment, and discuss what may truly be the root of all this dismissal.

Going back to that conversation I had with Bob, at one point during his lengthy tirade on Solo he rather haphazardly let it slip that Adrian Ehenreich didn’t do a good job playing Han Solo, and how much he wished it could have still been Harrison Ford. This is a reality we inevitably have to face when it comes to looking at Star Wars going now and into the future. Han Solo was not played by Harrison Ford, and in the future, he likely WON’T be played by Harrison Ford again. It’s a cliché to say that at this point in the franchise’s infinite longevity, it’s impossible to re-make the old films, but in many cases, the old films are what the fans most want.

Up until this point, I’ve attempted to use a certain subtlety to make my numerous points, but in the wake of incidents which have sidelined the public view of actresses like Kelly Marie Tran, and in the name of actually having a serviceable argument with Bob, or any of my friends who consider themselves Star Wars fans, I am now going to be crystal clear: I respect your opinion about the current films. I don’t have anything to argue when it comes to your feelings when it comes to those films, but the one thing I want to hear when we’re discussing YOUR opinion then it comes to those films is….YOUR OPINION. How you genuinely felt when you sat in that chair and watched that movie. You’re not a Stormtrooper. You don’t need an electronic means, online forum or otherwise, to copy and paste the generic viewpoint of the forthcoming Star Wars sequels to my face whenever I’m noshing pancakes and noxiously gluing X-Wings together. YOU are a Star Wars fan for entirely different reasons than I am. You come from a different place in the universe, and one of the prevailing themes in Star Wars is truly that it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a Wookie or an Ewok or a random alien in the Cantina, you’re here and you are innately something entirely unique and exotic added to the scene to make it interesting.

So please, the next time you see me, tell me why you really love Star Wars….. 

​After watching this movie several times, I've often wondered who our true protagonist is. Sure, we start with Joy, she has the most dialogue, so we assume it's her. But, as much as I love Joy, she seems to be very Antagonistic towards Sadness. We see their relationship from the start, and I have to be completely honest, Joy really is kind of mean to Sadness. For instance, she makes Sadness stand away from the others, won't let Sadness touch the panel, and when Sadness accidentally touched a core memory Joy yells at her. In fact, Joy goes out of her way to inhibit Sadness from doing her job.

In writing the protagonist feels a call to action, refuses it, experiences a hardship, accepts their duty, and finishes the thing. To sum that up shortly, lemme tell you just how many writing professors I made cry with that; all of them. Joy does go through this, but so does Sadness. She feels a call to do her duty, which is be an influential emotion within Riley's head. She refuses her duty once Joy scolds her. Sadness is the one to knock over the core memories, but she's the first to try and grab them. Shortly after everything happens, Sadness gives up. I can't really say that I blame her, with how Joy treats her.

Even after giving up, she helps. Sadness is the only one who read the mind manuals, which means she's the only one who knows how to get home. Despite knowing the right ways to go, and where not to, Joy shuts her down at every turn, listens to Bing Bong, over her, and forces Sadness to follow along. Joy even makes the ultimate betrayal and leaves in a mind tube, leaving Sadness in order to fulfill her own goals. Finally beaten down, Sadness leaves and refuses to come back. Even then Joy forces her to. It wasn't Joy who was able to fix things, in the end it was Sadness.

So, is Sadness the real protagonist of the film? Joy seems to be very Antagonistic, especially when it comes to everything else. Joy tries to be not just the leading emotion, but the majority of Riley's memories are joy, with bits of the others occasionally thrown in there. Yes, Joy does learn there needs to be a balance and that they all need each other. But Sadness is the one who learned it was okay to be herself. Which in my mind, makes Sadness the real protagonist of the film. 

One of the beautiful aspects about writing for Nerds That Geek is the freedom to write about the things we enjoy. As nerds, geeks, or fans, we all have stuff we’re passionate about. Books, movies, sports, shows, whatever. Some of those things we stumbled upon ourselves, but many of them were ‘gifted’ to us, and that makes them even more important. The bonds and stories that go with them give us shared experiences that make them even more meaningful, all thanks to the people we share them with.
 
I wanted to do something special to commemorate the holidays that celebrate those people in our lives by writing pieces about them on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparent’s Day. To keep things rolling in honor of my dad Zeke Sr., here is the second of those articles!
 
One of the biggest pieces of my identity, if you ask just about anyone, is that I’m a die-hard Denver sports fan. And that’s one thing that I most love sharing with my dad. Some of my earliest memories are games with him; sitting at a Rockies game on a bright, blue-skied spring day or getting the stands rocking during a cold winter’s Broncos game at the old Mile High Stadium. We’ve gone to countless games for a variety of sports over the years. From basketball all the way to arena football and including every sport in between. He taught me everything I know about baseball and football, and I’ve gotten to introduce him to hockey and lacrosse. No matter what sport it is, we have a good time together.

​He taught me that you stick with your team and back them 100 percent, no matter what. Even when they suck. (We’ve spent a lot of time talking about our teams doing poorly, unfortunately.)
We always look forward to ringing in the new football year with an annual trip to the Broncos season opener and we support them through thick and thin.
 
I’ve always been extremely proud of my dad’s successes as a boxer. He’s a Colorado Golden Gloves champion and he did a number of amazing things in the ring in his day. I’ve cherished getting together with family to watch pay-per-view bouts, listening to my dad passionately calling the fights as he saw them. I developed an appreciation for the finer points of boxing through him.
 
Speaking of boxing, that sets up an easy transition into my next point: movies. Specifically, the Rocky movies. If there’s someone who has seen Rocky well over 100 times, it’s my dad. That’s his go-to movie, one that he never gets tired of (to the point where I’m sure my mom wants to hide the DVDs). He got me into Rocky, all the sequels, and thus the Creed spinoff. I’ll watch any of them whenever they’re on, almost as rabidly as he will.
 
My dad also handed down his ability to cry at movies. There have been several times at the theater where my mom’s been seated between us, passing us tissues as we bawl at the end of a movie. That trait has stuck with me and I’ve cried at my fair share of movies.
 
A very important thing my dad showed me early on, but took a lot longer for me to understand, was a sense of identity. He’s a big fan of Selena, La Bamba, and Blood In, Blood Out, just to name a few Chicano movies we frequently watched. When we’d see a Latino athlete or actress, my dad would cheer a little harder for them. I never understood why he gave them that preference. But as I got older, I realized there’s a big lack of Latino representation in the media, and it’s important to cherish it when we do get it. My dad has shown me how to appreciate and understand both sides of my Mexican-American heritage. Just as Selena’s dad taught her in the movie, ‘we have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time! It's exhausting!’
 
Something that I really hope I got from my dad is his work ethic. He’s always been the hardest working person I have ever known. No matter what job he’s taken on, he always rises up the ranks and becomes known for giving it everything he’s got. All of his peers and supervisors respect him. He taught me to take pride in my work, whether I was doing chores around the house or working my first job. If I ever manage to have even a tenth of my dad’s hustle, I’ll be just fine. Thanks for teaching me to work hard and be tough, thanks for supporting me and coaching me, and thanks for being my sports buddy. I love you, dad! Happy Father’s Day. 

There is always a lot of buzz around Disney Princesses, but how often do we sit and talk about the Princes? Ideally, a prince is tall, handsome, and saves our darling princess from peril. We see this in so many Disney movies, so really, he's the ideal hero, right? Or is he? Is the Disney Prince dead? There are four Royal Princes in the Disney line up that serve as the classic ideal of a dreamy prince. The Prince from Snow White who doesn't even get a name, Prince Charming from Cinderella, Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty, and Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. These guys are Royal by birth and save their heroines, but technically only two of the damsels in distress are princesses by birth, Snow White and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). Does that really matter? Not really, we are talking about the Princes. These guys are noble and rich which makes them very coveted by a lot of other ladies, right? So why does it seem like the Disney Prince has disappeared from all of their movies?
 
After these movies we have several others where the Prince ends up being...not what we thought. Aladdin is a thief who lies to get the girl, John Smith straight up leads a team that tried to kill Pocahontas' people, Mulan was more of a man than Shang was, Prince Naveen was trying to find a lady who was rich, Flynn was also a lying thief just after Rapunzel's crown, and Kristof....that one doesn't need an explanation. Now I didn't mention Belle and her man, yet. Every movie after Beauty and the Beast portrays the Prince role so different, I'm not sure they really count as Princes. Technically, Anna and Kristof aren't married yet, so that doesn't really make him a Prince. The ideal still counts though, as he's supposed to swoop in and save her. No, Frozen isn't the only movie that has sister power and love, but it is the only Disney movie to show True Love as more than romantic love. Thus, contributing to the Death of the Disney Prince.
 
What changed? Beauty and the Beast, that's what. After generations of little girls grew up with the classic princess being saved by handsome prince, Beauty and the Beast changed that up. Belle is the one to make the sacrifice to save her father. Which, does make her a strong character to say the least, but what else does it all mean? It means that while the Beast is meant to be our Prince, and while he technically is one, he's not the ideal Prince we grew up with. He's not kind, or handsome, or even rich really, and he doesn't save the day so much as Belle breaks his curse and he becomes human. Gaston on the other hand is supposedly handsome, well off, even well built. He's a total jerk, but he is the ideal Prince figure searching out his ideal princess, Belle. At the end of the movie Gaston literally dies, and well, so does the idea of the Disney Prince. Every movie after Beauty and the Beast has gone on to feature their characters differently. There is no Prince to rescue the princess, not in the traditional sense anymore. Instead, the girls have become the stronger characters.

Case and point Brave doesn't even have a protagonist male character to go along with our sassy princess. The movie is more about mother/daughter communication than it is needing a man. Frozen's leading lady Elsa doesn't need a Prince, and Anna chooses to save her sister over a kiss from the guy she likes. Mulan does hook up with General Li at the end of the film, but she saved all of China, and for her Father no less, not for romance. And Rapunzel? She saved Flynn's life. So, did Disney kill the Prince in its modern era? Or has the Prince evolved with the times?