Nerd Factor wraps up the year
Dr. Mike Robinson, LC Communication Professor
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Columns
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To Supergirl: I spent a lot of time talking about your cousin this semester, but I wanted to say congratulations on your upcoming 50th anniversary in May. Honestly, you haven't been quite right since you were killed off in 1986's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Although many of the attempts to revive and recreate you since then have been awkward and unsuccessful, I'm glad you're still around. To me, the Legion of Superheroes is never quite right without you.
To Mom: Some of the film students actually jumped at that one moment in the 1951 version of The Thing. However, they don't believe the giant radioactive ant in Them! was ever scary. Thanks for sharing all those old sci-fi films with me, so I could share them with the students.
To the users of Old Yeller dog food: Judging by the number of online comments, last year's column on Old Yeller dog food is the most controversial thing I've written. I'd just like to say that I'm glad your dog enjoys the food, but that's not the point. Disney named the food after a rabid dog that had to be put down. That's weird.
To the late Harry Kalas: I'm not much of a sports fan, but even I know the voice of NFL films. Your narration made every slow-motion moment truly epic. You will be missed.
To the creative folks working on Amazing Spider-Man: J. Jonah Jameson is going to be the mayor of NYC now? I'm officially back as a regular reader of Spider-Man.
To zombie fans: Read the Walking Dead written by Robert Kirkman. What started as an experiment to see if the zombie genre could work in the ongoing serial form of monthly comic books has become a compelling must-read.
Speaking of zombies, to any people looking for the Democracy Matters meeting who accidentally walked in on the film class showing of 28 Days Later: I bet that was a surprise. Still, I think you could use this for a debate. Do zombies represent the worst case scenario of what happens when people don't vote? Or do zombies represent democracy gone wild?
To Cassie Gregory: Thanks for your editorial patience with my inability to understand the concept of "word limit."
To William Shatner: Yes, this new Star Trek movie is recasting all the leads and yes, this means someone else will get to be Captain James T. Kirk. However, this does not mean you are being replaced. You are not becoming just "a Kirk." Dude, you will always be THE Kirk.
To Rorschach: I know we're supposed to be afraid of the truths you represent about the insanity and brutality of superheroes if they were real, but the Watchmen movie made you even cooler than ever. Keep on doing what you do, you crazed, sugar cube-stealing, cold bean-eating vigilante.
To everyone: Wolverine, Star Trek and a Terminator movie? And that's just in May? Oh, are we going to have stuff to talk about when you get back. Enjoy your summer and I'll see you next fall.