Category Archives: Vlog

But I Digress…, Episode 47: Unboxing ‘A Time for Everything’ (NEW ANTHOLOGY!)

(I intended for this to be set as a premiere on YouTube, but it didn’t work. Oops).

I’ve been sitting on this video for a while now, and I finally got around to editing and uoploading it. In this, I unbox a new anthology from Onward and Upward Media, A Time for Everything, which is a collection of short stories to which I contributed. Each of the tales within is based on a line from Ecclesistes 3. I chose “a time to dance” because I’m a ballroom dancer in my spare time. Enjoy this fun little video!

“But I Digress…” Returns–for Gen-Con 2021!

After the longest of hiatuses, my old YouTube show returns as a live show/YouTube shorts series! I relaunched it for Gen-Con 2021, doing daily recap streams with my friend and co-author Eric Anderson, the founder of Nerd Chapel, discussing what we did at the convention and how our book sales went each day. Check out the playlist below!

The “But I Digress…” Gen-Con 2021 playlist.

Lost and Now Found: A Review of “Kong Unmade” by John LeMay

The cover of “Kong Unmade,” the newest book by film historian and kaiju fan John LeMay. It is available in paperback and KIndle on Amazon.

Tokusatsu film historian John LeMay has done it again! After indexing every kaiju (giant monster) movie from the 1950s to today with The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies, Vol. 1-2, his newest is essentially the third entry in what could be called his Lost Films trilogy. Previously he discovered unused scripts and story treatments for famous Japanese monsters like Godzilla and Gamera with the copiously-researched The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films and more down-to-size Japanese science fiction and fantasy films with Terror of the Lost Tokusatsu Films. Now he brings readers the “lost films” of the granddaddy of all kaiju, King Kong, with Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island.

While Kong’s impact on pop culture is humungous, his filmography is surprisingly short. In all, he has only ten official films (plus one upcoming movie) in over eight-and-a-half decades. It’s not from a lack of trying, though, as LeMay details. Director/producer Merrian C. Cooper tried for years to make another sequel to the 1933 classic after the hastily-made Son of Kong. The New Adventures of King Kong would’ve been a “midquel” that took place while Kong was being transported from Skull Island to New York, where he escaped into the jungles of Africa. A similar and even more outlandish idea was Tarzan vs. King Kong, where the big ape would’ve met the famous ape man. On the other side of the Pacific, Toho Studios attempted to create Frankenstein vs. King Kong, which eventually became King Kong vs. Godzilla. After its massive success, a script for a rematch—cleverly titled Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla­­—was written that would’ve had Kong become a surrogate father to a lost infant. And that’s just a few examples!

Essays on these lost films aren’t all that’s in this new volume. There are “bonus reviews” and “development of” chapters on the Kong films that did get made. They detail many concepts that were abandoned or changed during the filmmaking process. For example, the script Peter Jackson wrote for his 2005 remake was originally quite different (Ann Darrow was British, for one thing). There are also essays on lost or obscure Kong media such as Don Glut’s Tor films and what would’ve been an animated sequel to King Kong Lives featuring Kong’s son (who would’ve had the ability to change his size) by producer/artist Robert Lamb. Several of these essays are written by excellent guest contributors. LeMay also writes on obscure and lost films that were inspired by King Kong, such as The Mighty Gorga and the infamous A*P*E*. If they don’t get a full-length chapter, they’re included in one of the book’s several appendices.

One improvement over LeMay’s previous books is the inclusion of many images. These are photographs, movie posters, and concept art. The aforementioned chapter on the proposed Kong animated series includes concept art from Lamb, which gave me flashbacks to the Saturday morning cartoons of my childhood. A downside of the images is some of them are placed on right-hand pages opposite from the previous essay, and since these don’t have captions, it isn’t apparent that they’re meant to signal the next essay.

As usual, the design of the book is creative. The spine is designed to look like it has a library index code taped onto it. The title pages have a few ink splotches to simulate age and a half-faded stamp that says, “This book has been discarded by the Skull Island Public Library.” They’re wonderful touches, and the sort of clever design choices I wish I saw more often in books.

If I may mention a fairly significant nitpick, there are points I think the book could’ve been edited and proofread a bit better, but this is coming from someone who spends a lot of time editing in his work, so it’s hard for me to miss.

For fans of Kong, kaiju, film history, and/or LeMay, this is a must-read!

Five Stars out of Five.

But I Digress…, Episode 40 – My Thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery

“But I Digress…” Hosted by Nathan Marchand It’s been a while, but since Star Trek is one of my all-time favorite franchises/fandoms, I thought I should weigh in on the premiere episode of the newest Trek series, Discovery. Is it worth breaking down the paywall? Watch my review to find out!

Here’s the Star Trek Continues episode I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMasS…

Here’s the YouTube channel for my podcast, Kaijuvision Radio: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSI2…

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New Video: NERD RAGE! Episode 2: Fifty Shades ANGRIER!

Since I haven’t posted in a while due to time and illness, I decided I would share with you the two newest videos on my YouTube channel. These include an overdue second episode of “NERD RAGE!” (wherein I once again dare to rant about a certain book/movie trilogy I hate) and my annual Valentine’s Day Karaoke video. Here’s the first. Enjoy!

“NERD RAGE!”
Hosted by Nathan Marchand
It’s been a while since I posted an episode of “NERD RAGE!”, so I decided it would be appropriate to make a sequel to my infamous #FiftyShadesOfGrey rant since that stupid movie has a sequel opening this weekend. I don’t get as crazy this time around since nobody got the joke the last time or chose to ignore it. #FiftyShadesDarkerSo bring it on, trolls! Bring. It. On!

Ankle Pickers, Episode 4: No Teabagging Allowed (enhanced version)

“Ankle Pickers”
Hosted by Nathan Marchand, Sergio Garza, and Bill Miller

(You may have seen be post a version of this video earlier this week. I was having trouble with one of my video editing programs, but I wanted to have something posted, so I posted that version. Here’s the “complete” (or should I say “komplete”) version. Enjoy!)

(UPDATE: I was informed that there are audio issues with this version of the video. Once again, I blame the video editor. My apologies, viewers. After posting this video *three times,* I’ve finally managed to fix the problem. Enjoy!)

It’s been a month, but the Ankle Pickers are back! In our highly topical episode, we discuss the recently-announced ban on teabagging at the Killer Instinct World Cup because losing players were threatening the winners with real-life violence. We discuss whether taunting altogether should be banned, then.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Should teabagging/taunting be banned?

Please comment, subscribe, and share!

Digression 15: My Tribute to Carrie Fisher

The year 2016 ends with yet another tragic celebrity death, one that has left the nerd/geek community in mourning: Carrie Fisher, who famously played Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars saga. In this video, I share some of my memories of Carrie Fisher, most notably when I met her at Indiana Comic-Con 2015.

What are your memories of Carrie Fisher?

Music: “Funeral Pyre for a Jedi” by John Williams
Fonts Courtesy of www.Dafont.com

Ankle Pickers, Episode 3 – What We Want in ‘Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite’

“Ankle Pickers”
Hosted by Nathan Marchand, Sergio Garza, and Bill Miller

It’s been a few weeks since PlayStation Experience when Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was announced, but we decided we had to say something about it! Bill wasn’t able to join us, so this time a very excited Sergio and Nate talk about what features and characters they’d like to see in this next entry in the “Vs.” series.

What about you? What/who do you want in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite?

Please comment, subscribe, and share!

Ankle Pickers, Episode 2: DLC Debacles

“Ankle Pickers”
Hosted by Nathan Marchand, Sergio Garza, and Bill Miller

In this episode, we discuss the often obnoxious DLC practices that plague modern gaming, and in several fighting games in particular. While Nathan tries to defend some, Bill and Sergio have choice words for those games.

What are your thoughts on how some developers are handling their DLC?

Ankle Pickers: where if you don’t like what we say, start blocking low!

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