Geek Sheets - "Beginning of Fall" Edition

by Steve “I think I’m gonna carve a pumpkin!” Monnich, co-founder and Pumpkin King of the Great Geek Refuge

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the Geek Sheets! Happy Fall! We are so pleased you are here reading our tidbits on the pop culture news of the season, probably while you are enjoying a pumpkin spice latte, eating a pumpkin treat, inhaling pumpkin essence from a pumpkin candle while your significant other makes plans for you to go out to pick a pumpkin! IT’S FALL! So to break up the IT’S FALL SO PUMPKINS mentality, here is an article completely jam-packed with content devoid of pumpkins or pumpkin related goods (thank God there were no news stories about the Green Goblin huh!?). So sit back, relax and dive into some pop culture goodness. But if audio versions of nerdery is more your speed, check out the companion podcast to this article wherever you get your people talking, non-audio book things on your phone.  (HAHAHA In your face Mike “I’m meh on Fall” Lunsford, you can say “pumpkin” 10 times in an intro!  Wait…that’s only 9 times…ummm…MEOW…I mean pumpkin!)

There is a Breaking Bad movie El Camino coming out in like 2 weeks!

More than 6 years after the final episode of the groundbreaking series ended, Jesse Pinkman, Skinny Pete and Badger are all back to…umm…see what happened to Jesse I guess?  If asked A) do you want a Breaking Bad movie and B) if so, what would it be about, for some reason my gut answer to A is yes, but then when I get to B I hesitate because what else is there to tell?  I guess we will find out, and the trailers make the viewer intrigued because of the look and feel of what it presents. I am just hoping that the feeling of interest isn’t driven solely by love of the past content. I don’t want this to be like going back to an old restaurant you loved as a kid and in your mind it was incredible and then when you go back as an adult you find it’s just a diner that had one special that you already had a million times and has nothing new on the menu. But all that being said, the writing and acting on the show was superb and the creative staff has had ample time to craft this story to their liking.  I can’t wait to see what happens and see if Mr. White goes all Obi-Wan Kenobi and ghost advises Jesse!

Jonah Hill and Jeffrey Wright in The Batman

photo from EW.com

So this Batman movie is going to be interesting if nothing else.  I remember when I first heard all those years ago that Affleck would be Batman and thinking, “sure, that’s one way to go.  Whatever”.  And frankly that’s how I feel about Pattinson being cast.  He’ll do well as Bruce Wayne, let’s see how he does as the Bat.  New information has come out that Jonah Hill has been cast as a villain in the film, either the Penguin or more likely The Riddler.  Both of those are plausible, but never in a million years would have I juxtaposed Twilight sparkles against Superbad.  I can’t stop picturing Cedric Diggory battling Donnie Azoff from The Wolf of Wall Street.  It’s somewhat ridiculous, but then again people didn’t think Mr. Mom could pull off Batman and look at how that turned out.  Another piece of casting news is the team is talks with Jeffrey Wright to play Commissioner Gordon.  Sure, that’s fine.  Maybe this is me, but whoever is playing Gordon is like telling me who is performing the halftime show of the Super Bowl.  It’s like, “yeah I know it’s part of the whole show, but it’s not the reason I’m sitting here watching the thing, so just don’t mess the thing up and we will be fine.”  But for those of you who are interested in a strong, diligent actor bringing some gravity to that grizzled Commish role, Wright is a very solid option if the casting goes that way.

Deleted Scenes from Iron Man

Recently, the MCU has been talking a lot about “What If”, both in their fictional universe and here in the real one.  Obviously, part of the Phase 4 slate is an animated What If… series showcasing alternate versions of the various plots we have come to know and love.  But not long ago, deleted scenes from the O.G. Iron Man film surfaced with alternate takes on the now famous Nick Fury post credit scene.  In this non-canon version, Nick Fury makes reference to the mutant’s of X-Men fame and a certain Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Now at the time, the choice was easy to exclude this cut of the scene as Marvel Studios had exactly zero legal ability to use or reference those characters in their films, but it tickles the fans to think that the concept of having mutants and web slingers running around these films have been in the back of Feige’s mind since day 1.  I personally think it would be somewhat humorous to see this real life what if makes its way into the new What If… show, seeing X-Men in Sokovia or Spidey fighting the Chitauri.  

Well there you have it folks, a few hearty pieces of news to chew on as we slide into the cooler months.  As we race towards the end of the year, there will be plenty more articles, podcasts and goodies from GGR for you to chew on.  If you are a content creator and are looking for an outlet to exhibit your podcasting, writing or artistic talents, reach out to us here and we can find a place for you! Thanks for stopping by the Refuge and as always, don’t be a Juicebag!