The Tale of Two Todds

Truth be told, I haven’t been much of a “TV” kind of person this past decade of my life. In between work, life, and relationships, television was something I turned to when I needed to fill in the cracks of my day. That all changed when I lost my job. It was great, really. Wake up late, turn on the tube, and hang out all day with my sweet 42″.

Soap operas were definitely not my thing. My mother was a big fan of Days of Our Lives and used to have me record it for her while she was away at work. As a kid, the show never really stuck to me. I knew the characters and watched it, but couldn’t follow the story lines from my lack of interest. My little interest turned to zero when I noticed how ridiculous the story lines turned out to be. A ghost possessing the main character? A man who was known as someone else is no longer that person? What the? I’m over it.

But this was plenty of years ago. The time is now.

All I got to say is… One Life to Live. I was somewhat ashamed of my interest in this soap opera that has been running since 1968. This show has been running longer than my existence on this planet! The many stories in this series revolve around rape, murder, cheating, the changing of paternity tests, conspiracies, DID (dissociative identity disorder), and the list goes on. Needless to say, I am now a fan.

The running story line that I’ve been quite hooked on is the story of Todd Manning.

I seriously cannot describe the history of Todd Manning, as I don’t know all of it, but here’s a little rundown:

He’s famous for his rape of Marty Saybrooke
He was married twice and has 4 kids
He had a scar on his face
He went missing and when he returned, he had a new face
He owns a newspaper
He has a ton of money
His son, Jack, was accused of murdering Gigi Morasco (which he did, but not intentionally)
He paid off Jack’s friend’s father to take the blame for the murder
He has temper problems
He helped Marty Saybrooke leave the town after she murdered her doctor and kidnapped someone else’s baby
and more!

The list goes on! I mean really… how intriguing is all of this? But wait, it doesn’t stop there. There are TWO.. TWO, Todd Mannings. How is this possible? What in the world is going on?

Two Todds? What?!

That’s exactly what the characters and all the viewers thought when the “old” Todd (left) came face to face with the “new” Todd (right). As I previously mentioned, before Todd had went missing, he had a very distinguishable scar on his face. When he returned, he came back a new man. As expected, DNA tests were done, but what did the results show?

Both men came up as Todd Manning.

WTF?!

Turns out, both Todds are twins. There’s a-whole-nother story behind that, which I will briefly touch. Their mother, Irene Manning, had twins but could only support one so she gave the other one up, but kept a close eye on him when she started working for the agency (FBI). From there, she managed to kidnap the old Todd and brainwashed the new Todd (real name Victor) into believe he was the REAL Todd Manning. Knowing that Todd was a target, she decided to have his face changed to someone else. For 8 years, he managed to live a life that was implanted into his brain.

So… much… DRAMA!

The Todd’s themselves are going through absolute hell; Todd is trying to reclaim his life as Victor is trying to figure out what he’s going to lose from this truth. The families of Todd Manning are currently trying to figure things out. Do they remain loyal to the man they’ve know for the last 8 years, or do they run back to the man who is the original Todd?

What would you do?

Ok Go and The Muppet Show Theme Song

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Making its rounds of the internet is a new Muppets Show theme song. Chicago rock band, OK Go, has teamed up with the Muppets to produce this awesome video.

It’s part of a new music album called “Muppets: The Green Album”, which features other current music artists reimagining classic Muppet music. Consider this a promotional item for the upcoming Muppets movie in November.

Source

Feeling nostalgic? View the original The Muppet Show theme song below.

Demonization of Electric Daisy Carnival?

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An interesting editorial message was posted earlier this morning on LA times from Pasquale Rotella, who is the founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based Insomniac concert production company. That alone could be bias but the post is fairly informative and paints a picture from the other side. An interesting read for all EDM (Electric Dance Music) fans.

My Man Crush on Don Draper

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Television series have a double edged sword when it comes to character development: every episode presents the opportunity/challenge of developing a character. Remind the viewers why they love OR hate a character and they’ll keep coming back.

I’m barely finishing Season 1 of AMC’s Mad Men and am having trouble thinking of another male lead in television that I’ve been so attracted to. A lot of guys would suggest Jack Bauer (from Fox’s 24 series) as the ideal male character to vicariously live through. Bauer represents many of the adolescent fantasies one could conjure up: firing guns, pounding faces with our bare hands, and making things explode all for the sake of protecting the United States. Although Don Draper doesn’t have as many action scenes as Bauer, they both are a vessel for a multitude of issues and inner demons. Here’s a list of qualities for Don Draper, that I’ve become rather infatuated with.

(Note, if you haven't seen season 1, then there are spoilers)

Looks

Mad Men takes place in the 60’s. If there ever was an era that produced respectable fashion that stands the test of time, it’s the 60’s. Guys just look like such gentlemen with their skinny neckties/bows, perfectly cut, pressed suits, plastic/horn-rimmed glasses. Compared to the rest of the male cast on Mad Men, Draper, in particular, grabs your attention. Is it just a coincidence he also has the nicest hair in the show?

Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper, has hit the big 40, but I could definitely see him as a great candidate for Superman. If there ever was a modern advertisement for cigarettes, this show would be it. At times, I think the show should include a warning that cigarette addiction can occur from watching it. One time, I had a moment where I was holding a screw in my hand and caught myself holding it between two fingers like a cigarette.

Most importantly, the show has redefined how I measure success: if I don’t have a stack of fresh shirts in my desk drawer, I have not made it.

Power

Who couldn’t use a little more pull? Professionally, he’s THE guy who’s opinion matters the most. In any meeting, there could be 10 other guys chiming in with advertising thoughts on how to sell a product, but in the end, it’s Draper’s opinion that hooks the client. His ability to seduce initially unimpressed prospective clients never fails to be fascinating. Beg to differ? Opposing his opinion most certainly makes you an enemy (Pete Campbell). The key to his power is also the fact he almost never feels threatened. Control is everything

Issues

If I’m being honest with myself, I think my the biggest draw of Don Draper is how much of a mess he is and we all know everyone loves looking at a train wreck. Draper represents the American dream of rags to riches formula with a generous pinch of self-destructive crazy. Let’s review what we know of him so far:

He’s a bastard: I can only imagine how big the chip on my shoulder would be if I was also a bastard child. Being a mistake never feels good, ESPECIALLY if you’re, literally, the son of a whore.
He changed his identity while serving in the Korean War. Um yeah… who does that? Who goes “I just saw my superior get blown apart. Wow! This corpse is super toasty and gooey. Oh hey, look; his dog tag is still in tact. Score!”?
He made eye contact with his half-brother while faking his death and denied him.

Don Draper is clearly a sex addict. He demonstrates how married men can have their cake and eat it too. Any pretty women that crosses his path are not safe from his charm and insatiable appetite for sex. Even after he’s done gallivanting during office hours, he’s still the man of the house at home.

If you were to look at the cast without seeing an episode you’d probably go “Wow. He’s married to January Jones! What a lucky guy. How could he possibly want to cheat on her?”. Well… Just watch the show, you’ll see how. Having sex with women appears to be as addictive to Draper as the cigarettes he smokes. If you haven’t figured out how Don Draper’s mind works when it comes to women, here’s the formula: if he finds you attractive, he WILL have sex with you.

Sigh.

Handy Dandy Ambassador Checker

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For those of you guys who have made the leap of faith to the Nintendo 3DS, prior to the price drop (or even during the price drop but before the lock out date), Nintendo has provided a link to verify your serial number.

For those who didn’t know, the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program is Nintendo’s way of showing appreciation for consumers who purchased a Nintendo 3DS hand-held system during its first few months of availability. Nintendo 3DS owners who performed the latest system update or who visited the Nintendo eShop using a wireless broadband Internet connection prior to 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 11, 2011, were automatically registered for the program and will receive 20 free downloadable games before the end of the year. The first round of games will come from the NES Virtual Console games on September 1st and the second round sometime later on will be GBA Virtual Console games.

Personally I do weep a bit as an early adopter but at least I got some free games.. never mind the fact that some folks were able to buy it for cheap and qualify.. sniff.

Go here to check if your 3ds qualifies:
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/3ds/en_na/3dsambassador.jsp?menu=how&submenu=ctr-ht-amb-lookup

Long Beach Comic Con 2011 is Coming

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MAD Event Management is proudly presenting their 2nd annual Long Beach Comic-Con (LBCC) on October 29 and 30th!

An annual event held at the Long Beach Convention Center each fall, it is a celebration of comic books and pop culture. Within you’ll find talented writers, artists, illustrators, and creators of all types of pop culture. Likewise you can also find exhibitors promoting and selling various products, guest signings, and meet and greet sessions with celebrities. Some of this years guests include Felicia Day (actress from The Guild), Amanda Conner (artist and illustrator of Power Girl and Atlee), and Stan Sakai (creator of Usagi Yojimbo) just to name a few!

There are a couple exclusives such “Zombie Hero Exclusive Print” by Arthur Suydam (Hero Initiative). Other events include the LBCC Masquerade Ball, various tourneys for World of Warcraft TCG and Magic the Gathering and more!

For more information please visit http://www.longbeachcomiccon.com/

San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Wrap Up

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Comic-Con has come and gone and we are a bit sad by that, but good times were had by all and this year was simply outstanding! What were your favorite moments? What costume/cosplay outfit stood out to you the most? Can’t wait to see more ?

We’ll keep you posted with our aftermath coverage but for now save the date for next year! July 12th to the 15th 2012!

For more information go to the official San Diego Comic Con site!

HBO’s Guide to a Game of Thrones

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HBO has provided a lovely family tree with a little description to help identify who is who. Very helpful for those who struggle a bit with the names or just needed a refresher (it looks to be spoiler free).

Hopefully it’ll be updated when season 2 comes around. Likewise there is also an interactive map outlining the plot of season 1 (which doesn’t seem to be as Spoiler free) and the locations each episode takes place.

http://viewers-guide.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/#!/guide/houses/

A Look At Cosplay Fans (Los Angeles Anime Expo 2011)

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This year, I attended my first Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. I had a brief love affair with anime during high school but I have since been a bit out of touch with the latest franchises and hottest series. The wonderful thing about expos is that there really are no qualifications into getting in besides your ticket and an open mind. One can visit to see characters they love have developed or discover and fall in love with new ones. The Los Angeles Anime Expo is North America’s biggest convention that caters to hardcore fans and recent converts alike. One of the distinct features of an anime expo is that the show isn’t just made up of vendors, publishers, and creators. The fans play a huge role in creating a world that attendees are transported to once they enter the building and sky’s the limit when it comes to how far some fans will go to express how much much they love the genre.

Here are some things I discovered while at the Anime Expo, watching and talking to cosplay fans

Disconnect from reality

Anime has a huge following but relative to live action, it’s fan base is still considered minor. When you think about it, anime isn’t very different. It’s all about story telling. Unlike western cartoons and animation, there’s an anime series for every genre one could ask for: sci-fi, love, action, adventure, comedy, and that other category (the one with tentacles and other interesting visuals). The great part about a scene that’s so big is that outsiders like myself can’t even tell the difference. Once you take the red pill, even security guards, janitors, and information booth attendants look like they are cosplaying!

Come as you are

Anime comes in all different forms. Artists embrace liberties to alter your notion of realism with elements like gravity defying hair, disproportionate female measurements, vibrant eye colors, vampire fangs, giant impractical weapons… just search youtube for clips and you’ll get the point. Humans, in contrast, are pretty boring. We come in a few sizes and colors and that’s it. The key part of making a great cosplay outfit is really ignoring any of your limitations. Disregard differences in height, weight, skin tone, age, sex, cup size (In fact, NEVER get implants for any reason. It will just look even more silly if you are cosplaying), ethnicity, and MOST of all, don’t be discouraged to cosplay if you have braces. Regarding age, it actually seems the younger you are, the more drive you have at making an awesome costume. I was totally blown away discovering that high school students were making such detailed, professional looking costumes. Maybe there’s a connection between growing up and losing a connection with dreaming.

You don’t need THAT much time to make your costume

Some of THE best costumes/makeup I saw were done by fans that claimed the time they spent was only days. Don’t listen to what Hollywood tells you. All the required materials can be found at your local Michaels/Home Depot! The most important ingredient in your costume is sheer determination. If that means calling sick from your H&M part time job or missing a day of class to complete your costume, it will be worth it. Honestly though, some costumes obviously require more time than others. I met one fellow who cosplayed a Space Marine Scout who spent two months making his awesome costume. It definitely turned heads. On the flip side, the most affordable costumes I saw included a simple inkjet print and some tape to cover your face (I’m looking at you Mr. Trollface)

Mashups = fun!

My biggest takeway from the Anime Expo was discovering the Pokemen. That’s not a typo! I’m talking about the fit Asian guys who wear bright colors, suspenders, and wafer sunglasses. Who says you can’t add your own twist on a series.

Mobility is inversely related to costume appeal

Let’s face it: there are a lot of guys into photography, and what do guys LOVE? Duh! Girls cosplaying. This is Los Angeles. Fashion is always evolving. We’ve seen attractive people in those same outfits our favorite celebrities rock. But the Anime Expo is like an alternate fashion show for outfits that will never make it to retailers. So if we see fantasy become reality, we are most certainly obligated to document it. If you’ve invested enough time and resources into your costume, chances are people will stop you to take pictures and this is how that goes:

Me: “Awesome work! Mind if I take a picture?”

Fan: “Sure”

Me: “Great… 1 sec”

(30 seconds to pull out phone from pocket and switch to camera mode or 1 minutes to put down backpack and take out camera out)

Me: “Cool! 1 sec”

(5 shots quickly taken that all look identical)

Me: “Oh shoot! I had it on the wrong setting. Can I redo those shots?”

Just remember: that exact scene will happen with multiple people all starting at different times. Looking for the most popular person on the floor? Just stand still and look for the person with the biggest crowd around him/her looking around in all angles in confusion trying to figure out which camera to pose for.

Sorry ladies. The ratio of topless guys with 6-packs to pretty girls in costume is roughly 0:(pretty girls in costume)

Have fun

Trolling is not allowed! If you think there’s any costume that you can’t do, you’re doing it wrong! One of my favorites was a mid twenties red-head guy who cosplayed Misty from Pokemon. Check out the video after the break for some Q & A with cosplay fans.

E3 2011 Highlights and Photos

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Exceeding Imagination, that is what Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) represents. E3 is an annual trade show for computer and video games and related products by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). Located at the Los Angeles Convention Center, on June 7-9, 2011, it’s filled with tens of thousands of professionals. Everybody is there to see groundbreaking new technologies and never-before-seen products for computers, video game consoles, handheld systems and the internet. Wandering around the halls, you can’t help but feel amazed at all the sights and sounds.

With so many announcements, we can only highlight a small portion of the large picture (listed in no particular order):

PlayStation Vita announcement: Sony’s Kaz Hirai, Representative Corporate Executive Office and Executive Deputy President of Sony Corporation (long title), announced the release and pricing information ($249 Wi-Fi only and $299 for Wi-Fi + 3G).
Wii-U unveling: A prototype version of the Wii-U was present, including a demonstration of the controller touch screen and a Zelda HD Demo among other tech-demos.
Minecraft coming to Xbox: The breakout indie sandbox game is now coming to the 360, with and without Kinect support by 4J Studios.
Halo 4 announcement: The first part of a new trilogy, picking up where Master Chief left off. Nothing more than a teaser trailer was shown, so we’re not sure how the series will follow the Halo 3 conclusion.
Batman: Arkham City: A playable Catwoman was revealed! We had a chance to see a working demo displaying the difference of play between Bat and the Cat in similar scenario.
New Smash Brothers heading to Wii-U and 3DS: Development has yet to begin and information is scarce, but we know that Masahiro Sakurai, the creative force behind both Kirby and Super Smash Bros, and Project Sora are working on the latest iteration.
Mario Kart 3DS demo: A fun demo was available for us to play with, including hang-gliding and underwater races. The game also plans to feature more customization of karts than previous games (adjusting tires for example).
Super Mario 3D Land: Part 2D and 3D game play for the 3DS! This latest incarnation includes everybody’s (or at least my) favorite returning power up, the Tanooki (racoon) Suit! We only got to see the video, but from what we saw it looks to be shaping up pretty nicely!
Starfox 64 3DS demo: Nostalgia ahoy! I remember playing this game for a very long time as a kid and with a playable demo available, I made a quick bee-line to it. The controls in this remake felt a bit different, but the nostalgia was there and the graphics looked incredible!
Star Wars: The Old Republic: A demo was available and from what we gathered, consider us impressed! The new opening cinematic of the Old Republic was also revealed and is beyond words on the level of excitement being generated towards this MMO (if done right).

This doesn’t account for all the other stuff that we saw (like Gear of War 3, God of War Origins, Street Fighter x Tekken, and etc), but here are some photos that captured some of our moments (including many booth babes).