Interview with Aaron Douglas of Battlestar Galactica and The Bridge

Dork Shelf had a chance to chat with Canadian actor Aaron Douglas at FanExpo a few months ago. Douglas, best known to audiences for his work as Chief Tyrol on the acclaimed Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galactica, had just wrapped filming on the new police-drama The Bridge when we spoke with him. We talked about his new show, his work on Battlestar Galactica, what’s on his dork shelf and most importantly who he thought would win in a drunken brawl: the Chief or Colonel Tigh?

For the best viewing experience be sure to hit the 480p button.

The two-hour series premiere of The Bridge airs March 5th at 9 p.m. on CTV.

For more info check out The Bridge at CTV.ca and The Bridge Fansite

Podcast 16: Spock is Dead

Will, Jeff, Lucas and Noah sit down to discuss the Oscar nominations, the return of Lost, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online and its effects on social lives, Iron Man’s suit redesign and what people can expect from Iron Man 2.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 16 (44 MB, MP3, 64:54)
Subscribe: Dork Shelf Podcast RSS Feed
Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:00 — “The CN Tower can work it out (Final Fantasy ft. Q-Tip)” by Tor
• 2:26 — Academy Award nominations
• 19:20 — Lost Season 6 Premiere
• 24:49 — Dorky television and franchise cross-pollination
• 28:42 — “Royal Flush (Instrumental)” by Big Boi ft. Andre 3000 & Raekwon
• 29:26 — Mass Effect 2
• 42:31 — Star Trek Online and Martin Luther King Jr.
• 52:43 — Iron Man redesign, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers
• 46:15 — “Cousins” by Vampire Weekend

Discussed:

• Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online
• The Avengers, The Invincible Iron Man, Captain America
• Lost, The Hurt Locker, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Avatar, Star Trek, Iron Man 2

Interview with Michael Avon Oeming and John Broglia creators of God Complex

Image Comics recently began publishing the new creator-owned series God Complex from the creative minds of Michael Avon Oeming (Powers, Team Fortress 2), John Broglia (Zombie Sama!), and Dan Berman (Six, Thor). The comic tells the story of big guy named Paul, an otherwise ordinary man. But Paul is not as ordinary as he’d like people to believe; You see, Paul is actually the Olympian god Apollo. He has grown tired of the antics of his fellow gods, particularly his father Zeus, and is hiding out in New York City.  However, Paul’s attempts to lay low in the Big Apple are futile, the pantheon of gods want Apollo back. Jeff recently had a chance to talk with Michael Avon Oeming and John Broglia about the origins of God Complex, comic convention etiquette and what they keep on their respective dork shelves.

Jeff: Welcome to DorkShelf.com fellas. Let’s start with a nice easy one. Tell us how God Complex come about?

Michael Avon Oeming: It came out of Six, the comic I did with Dan Berman and Ethen Beavers. We sold it as THEM to Fox TV and they wanted another pitch so I started working on this idea, but after I wrote the outline and some dialogue, it didn’t go anywhere. I’ve been wanting to work with John for awhile now, so one day while talking with Dan about us working together again, I dusted this off and BAM! There you go. The two of them really brought this to life.

John Broglia: All credit for the concept and characters goes to Mike. I’m just along for the ride.

Jeff: The book pulls from various portions of Greek and Roman mythology. What draws you to mythological story elements?

Michael: It was sort of my first comics. Before I was reading comics, I was very into mythology, and for the same reasons I love comics – Dudes beating up monsters, fighting evil and such. Now, as I’ve grown up, I’ve become attracted to the psychological aspect of mythology, all that Joseph Campbell stuff about how mythology is our minds making sense of the world and our lives through story.

John: Everyone who has ever picked up a comic book and enjoyed it should be drawn to mythological stories. Ancient mythology is the cornerstone of the 20th and 21st century superheroes and comic book characters. The superhero genre has been stretched pretty thin unfortunately, so the next logical step seems to be taking those ancient characters and bringing them into our modern world.

Read the rest of this entry »

Interview with Gareb Shamus of Wizard Entertainment

Local convention fans have been abuzz since it was announced that Wizard Entertainment had purchased the long running Paradise Toronto Comic Con. Wizard Entertainment is a well known quantity amongst dorks, not only for putting on some of North America’s largest comic conventions, but also publishing the popular Wizard and Toyfare magazines. Originally started in 2003 by Paradise Comics proprieter Pete Dixon, the newly minted Wizard World Toronto Comic Con will be Wizard’s first show outside of the United States. Where the original Paradise show was a comic book focused event, the new Toronto Comic Con will be multi-genre event similar to Wizard’s other conventions.

So what can fans expect from the upcoming Wizard World Toronto Comic Con? Jeff recently had a chance to find out in a conversation he had with Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus. The two discussed the upcoming Toronto Comic Con, the Wizard World brand and how Wizard is adapting to the changing magazine marketplace.

Listen:  
Download: Dork Shelf Interview: Gareb Shamus (18 MB, MP3, 25:50)

Wizard World Toronto Comic Con runs March 26, 27 and 28th 2010 at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place in Toronto. Featured guests include Dollhouse’s Eliza Dushku, Battlestar Galactica’s Kandyse Maclure, Iron-Man artist Adi Granov and Wonder Woman writer Gail Simone. Be sure to check out the official Wizard World Toronto Comic Con site for more details and to see the constantly growing line-up of guests.

Podcast 15: New Word Unlocked

Will, Lucas, and Chris talk about what they’re looking forward to in 2010, mostly video games.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 15 (32 MB, MP3, 46:52)
Subscribe: Dork Shelf Podcast RSS Feed
Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:00 — “Casio Bossa Nova” by Holy Fuck
• 2:30 — Comics and Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire
• 9:00 — BioShock 2, Deus Ex 3, and ten-year titles
• 19:40 — Mass Effect, continuing game stories and characters
• 29:30 — “Go Shoppin’” by Bran Van 3000
• 33:00 — Melville and his narcissists
• 37:30 — Clash of Heroes and Dark Messiah
• 46:15 — “Boxcutter Emporium Pt. 2″ by Sixtoo

Discussed:

• BioShock 2, Deus Ex 3, Mass Effect 2, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
• Scott Pilgrim, Transmetropolitan, A Song of Ice and Fire
• Game of Thrones, Avatar, Jean-Pierre Melville

Podcast 14: High Rise Jeans

Jeff, the thief, Will, the knight, and Lucas, the wizard, take a break from stacking boxes and dissolving in acid to talk about what they’ve been playing and what the new year may bring. Lucas details his least favourite Genghis Khan biopic. Jeff talks about what DC has planned for next year, what looks promising. Oh, and Will saw Avatar. Hike up those pants, listen in, and continue the discussion in the comments.

Idhren's "Favourite Jeans"

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 14 (37 MB, MP3, 50:45)
Subscribe: Dork Shelf Podcast RSS Feed
Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:05 — “Soft Revolution” by Stars
• 3:30 — Trine and class warfare in TF2
• 10:00 — System Shock, franchises, and Arkane’s Arx
• 14:00 — Jeff on DC’s 2010 comics: Earth One
• 27:20 — “Öngyilkos Vasárnap” by Venetian Snares
• 27:55 — Batman’s lost in time; Krypton is orbiting Mars
• 35:00 — Talk about Mongols
• 39:15 — On Avatar
• 53:00 — “Killed by a Horse” by Buck 65

Discussed:

• Trine, Team Fortress 2: War!, System Shock, Arx Fatalis
• Earth One, Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne, War of the Supermen
• Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea, Mongol, Avatar
• Jay Pinkerton, J. Michael Straczynski, “Still your favourite MILF!”

Interview with Nathan Vella of Capy Games, Part 2

Capy's recent release, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

In the second part of our interview with Nathan Vella (be sure to read part 1), president of Toronto’s Capybara Games, we talk about game publishers and Ubisoft’s new Toronto studio, as well as independent game development in Ontario.

Read the rest of this entry »

Interview with Ubisoft Toronto’s Employee #1

Ubisoft Toronto's Employee#1

We recently had the chance to sit down with Derek Lebrero, Ubisoft Toronto’s Employee #1.  As the public face of Ubisoft in Toronto we wanted to find out more about him: who he was, how he became the first employee of Ubisoft’s new studio, and what he thinks of the Toronto video game scene.

Would he reveal to us the location of  the new Toronto studio?  Would he tell us which triple A franchise the company was bringing to the GTA?  Find out after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Interview with Nathan Vella of Capy Games, Part 1

Nathan Vella at Gamercamp (photo by Gavin Hay)

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Nathan Vella, co-founder of Toronto-based game developer Capybara Games. Capybara Games’ Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes for the Nintendo DS was released in Canada yesterday, and their excellent puzzle-game Critter Crunch is available on PlayStation Network.

Will, Nathan, and I met downtown at Capy’s offices—Queasy Games (Everyday Shooter), Spooky Squid (Night of the Cephalopods), and Micheal Todd are all nearby—to talk about Capy, how it got started, and what it’s been like developing games in Toronto.

Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast 13: Inside This Glass

The triumvirate is back for this sixth prime-numbered episode, almost none of which was recorded behind glass. The dorks find themselves deluged with games, fatigued by comics events, and infected with empathy—but it’s all good.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 13 (35 MB, MP3, 50:30)
Subscribe: Dork Shelf Podcast RSS Feed
Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:00 — “Blood Line” by iTAL tEK
• 2:30 — On Assassin’s Creed II
• 9:00 — Comics event fatigue, twisted back-stories
• 21:10 — Branagh’s Thor
• 29:30 — “Dundas, Ontario” by Manitoba
• 30:00 — Summary of Winterbottom’s Code 46
• 32:00 — Xbox Live, Modern Warfare 2
• 46:45 — Significant others’ gaming; Peter Hyams
• 49:10 — “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts” by Wolf Parade

Discussed:

• Assassin’s Creed II, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Wii Sports Resort
• Everyone Poops, Green Lantern, Blackest Night, Dark Avengers
• Thor, Code 46, Outland, Capricorn One

Podcast 12: Transformers

To celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Jeff, Joel, Lucas and Will discuss all things Transformers. From the original 80’s cartoon and comics to the toys and the recent live-action films we’ve got our giant shape-shifting alien robot bases well covered.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 12 (29 MB, MP3, 42:30)
Subscribe: Dork Shelf Podcast RSS Feed
Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:00 — Segue from the last podcast
• 0:30 — “Another Life” by Kano
• 1:30 — Transformers movies, comics, TV show
• 28:15 — “Theme from Transformers” by Russell Lieblich
• 29:00 — More about Transformers
• 41:45 — “Flaming Heart” by Meat Puppets

Discussed:

• Nothin’ but Transformers

Podcast 11: Zombies and Robots

Will and Lucas brave the cold and hordes of undead to talk about what they did around Hallowe’en and to look back and wonder about giant robots in computer games. Will dressed up in red and is always the first to get killed, and Lucas has been investigating and beating up armoured junkies. Will Twilight be discussed? Find out in episode one-one.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 11 (34 MB, MP3, 49:11)
Subscribe: Dork Shelf Podcast RSS Feed
Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:00 — “Captain Carter’s Fathoms” by Pepe Deluxé
• 2:15 — Romero’s x of the Dead, and more zombies
• 12:45 — Fun and mercilessness in recent horror movies
• 21:00 — Condemned: forensics and fisticuffs
• 27:45 — Challenge and Uncharted 2
• 32:50 — “Totem Crackerjack” by Clark
• 33:30 — Giant robots in computer games
• 48:45 — “Rock On” by Jackson and His Computer Band

Discussed:

• Night of the Living Dead, The Return of the Living Dead, Drag Me to Hell, Wolf Creek, Saw
• Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, One Must Fall 2097, Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance, Shattered Steel
• George Romero, Sam Raimi, Monolith Productions, Zombie vs. Shark clip