It’s Thanksgiving here in the US, and we’re tucking in some Big Lebowski awesomeness. Joining us are the authors of I’m A Lebowski, You’re A Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You, Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell. Highlights: We analyze the movie’s complex plot, discuss Donny’s meek outlook and reason for hanging with Walter, hear about the infamous Lebowskifest pope s***ing in the woods costume, shake our heads at rich-people crime, note how everyone just knows where to call the (pre-beeper and pre-phone) Dude, marvel at the art that is The Jesus, wonder who other than Walter and The Dude show up at Larry’s house, love on Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s incredible acting chops, philosophize about bowling alley as community center, enjoy (the smokin’ hot) Maude’s accent and attitude, point out that whenever the Dude says something original he’s absolutely correct, and speculate about what happened Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-style — Did The Dude get paid? Did The Big Lebowski get something out of the deal? And what happened to Bunny and the Nihilists?
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“About 12 hours ago” (in the vBulletin patois) one fan of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica–blissfully unaware of the original series’ tasty, stinky, running cheese–decided to take on the “real” BSG episode-by-episode, sharing his insights with the rest of the community in real time. His name, ironically, is Lucky.
Will he make it? I’m betting not. But he did survive the no-”craaaaap”-tastic Saga of a Star World, and that counts for something, doesn’t it? Some of my favorite moments through Lucky’s eyes:
- “8:19 Good to see that even skilled viper pilots still need FIRE and TURBO stenciled in large friendly lettering on the throttle. It’s easy to forget.”
- “18:04 Well, in both series Starbuck kills Zak in a roundabout way due to negligence. Baltar runs. Had to be Larry—he always shoots down an Adama.”
- “33:00 Starbuck crash lands. I am not feeling particularly emotionally moved at the colonies bombardment yet. Well, except for when Boxey’s dog died. He didn’t ask for any of this craaap.”
You can find the rest of Lucky’s first-timer discourse in the forum. And you can, if you choose, egg him on to take another plateful of cheese and shove it down his maw for our entertainment. I’ll be right there beside you. In fact, I think I’ll go post some encouragement right now.
If any of you visiting this site have only enjoyed the podcast to date, please hear this: the podcast we do every week is far eclipsed by the beyond-awesome GWC community. Really. I’m not kidding here. So to encourage you to check out the forum and its wonderful, ne’er-a-better-group-of-people-exist crew, I’ve rounded up five reasons they continually blow me away with their all-round cool:
We started doing frak parties back with Zack Exley founded his now-defunct FrakParty.com leading up to the season three BSG premiere. But we didn’t stop there. We frakked our way clean through a full re-watch of BSG through the long pre-season four hiatus, and we’ve been frakking on into Star Wars and a ton of other sci-fi (and just plain fun) flicks since.
But that’s not the half of it: the GWC community also organizes their own frak parties for anything and everything, and these parties are well attended. This means that pretty much any night of the week you can hop on the forum and watch something fun with some friendly and (possibly) like-minded (but always entertaining) GWCers. How cool is that?
4. The (Un)Official Introduction Thread
Wonder what kind of people GWCers are? Check out this thread. Founded just after the forum a year and change ago, this community-maintained thread serves as most people’s first stop in GWCdom. Here you’ll find dozens of introductions and hundreds of welcome responses. If you’re in doubt that this is a welcoming commmunity, a quick visit her will assure you.
Next to Twitter, long-time GWCer EmilyFromOhio’s Questions-Only Game is easily one of the most fun ways to express one’s self in few words. Think of it as Haiku for geeks. It’s fun, and that’s why it’s one of the most popular threads on the forum. Topics range from the absurd to the sincere, but one thing’s certain: you’ll always find new posts here — every day.
2. The B_tch & Moan Thread / Cool Craaaaaap Thread
These threads founded at similar times, and according to the (un)official rules GWCers try to make a habit of posting equally in each thread. But you’ll note that even the B&M thread doesn’t take much of a negative tone. Crazy, that.
1. Themed Avatars
Ever since we began filling the pre-4.5 break with other sci-fi, GWCers have taken to customizing their avatars for each arc. Almost everyone has a good time with this, but Pike’s are some of my faves. In order of BSG, Matrix, Terminator, and Back to the Future:
0. It’s The Friendliest Place In Geekdom(tm)
In honor of our recent I, Robot re-watch, I’ll add this: I’d love to link you to a couple of posts to prove to you how incredibly cool, relaxed, insightful, and generally awesome GWCers are, but I have no idea where to start because there are so many. We’re varied in background, belief, opinion, and geography, but we share one thing in common: we’re decent people who enjoy each other’s company. If that sounds like you, why not click the “forum” tab above and join the fun?
We wrap up the Will Smith arc with I, Robot. Highlights: we discuss the movie’s relation to the short stories, note the movie’s perfect blend of Smith one-liners and hardcore sci-fi, crack on Susan Calvin’s wardrobe, wonder how bad it would be if we had robot employees that would actually follow stupid corporate policies like holler greeting, gush over Smith’s workout regimen, speculate on what effect true humaniform robots would have on commerce and jobs, titter at Asimo busting his ass, state our fear of *very capable* robots over *intelligent* robots, take on the concept of exponentially-accelerating technology, remind listeners that all asses look good on a bike, and discuss the new Trek trailer. Next week’s fun Thanksgiving break flick: The Big Lebowski.
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This week: Independence Day. Highlights: besides pointing out the forum’s achievement of 100,000 posts, we talk about the “sci-fi hookup,” relate our ID “first time” stories, note Goldblum’s nerdy-sexy nature (and advanced, Smith-beating swagger), hear Audra’s “oh” face, love on Adam Baldwin’s great ID appearance, enjoy ID’s cheesy goodness, worry about Watchmen’s possibly-modified ending (sans spoilers), pre-attack the new-Star Trek haters, and listen to Chuck’s why-is-Sarah-Silverman-sexy rant (again).
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For those of you who may have missed our TalkShoe discussion of GWC’s October book of the month, Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, here’s the conversation in its entirety. (Originally recorded Nov. 8, 2008.) And don’t forget to join us in GWC forum to discuss this month’s group read: Asimov’s Foundation.
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It’s the start of our Will Smith sci-fi arc, and we’re talking Men In Black. Highlights: We discuss what it takes to be a Man In Black — specifically respecting “aliens” as important as “humans” — draw a comparison between MiB’s everyday cops and the movie’s inept border control, agree that people are indeed scared crazy animals, love on Tommy Lee Jones (and hear about Audra’s San Saba visit), debate whether J’s skills really do mean “dick,” celebrate the 53rd anniversary of the flux capacitor, discuss Sean’s History channel addiction, and feed Chuck’s watch addiction with a listener challenge.
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What do Men in Black, Independence Day, and I, Robot have in common?
…if you said 7 Degrees of Scifi goodness, step right up and get your geek card validated.
Men in Black -> Tony Shalhoub -> Galaxy Quest
Independence Day -> Mary McDonnell -> Battlestar Galactica
I, Robot -> Alan Tudyk -> Firefly/Serenity
The three movies also feature an up-and-coming actor, Will Smith. Make a note, this guy is going to go far.
Want to join in the discussion? Find Frak parties here:
Men in Black Frak Party
Independence Day Frak Party
I, Robot Frak Party
GWCers on Flickr
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