Nintendo are keen on poking the bear this week. For the purposes of this metaphor I shall be playing the bear and the poking stick is represented by the recent glut of Wii U announcements. They’re poking me into a fevered state where I suddenly find myself compelled to pre-order a brand new console and then feel dirty about it afterwards. I have some genuine soul-searching to do.

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Last week I covered TV cops.  This week we’ll hit the second part of the equation.  The Crooks.  These are the guys that break the law, yet in some odd way, we root for them.  We see stories from their point of view.  Sometimes they make decisions that we ourselves would make.  Its hard to demonize them when we can see a bit of ourselves in their characterizations.  So here we go.  My top TV criminals.

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Summer 2012 has blown through the nerd universe with a thunderous fury, and OL rode the wave to its first major convention appearance.  We rocked FanExpo Canada in Toronto, home of yours truly, and generated some fantastic buzz on the show floor.

The essential blow-by-blow follows.  Brace yourselves.

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If you listen closely during Autumn here on the Eastern seaboard of the Empire, you can hear the gentle hum of the Universe. Raised hairs on the nape of your neck, don’t despair. You are sensing during the Fall the quiet passage of Existence. For some it drives them into intoxicants, lonely. For some, it drives them to intoxicants, relishing the diminished weather. For me, I find a gentle joy in the gathering of family around roasted beasts, around football games, around the scattered leaves and the comfy clothing.

This is Monday Morning Commute. The column where we all gather and share what we’re enjoying on a given week. Let us not acknowledge the grind this week, but rather enjoy our little community. Humming along towards star stuff repurposing, humming along together.

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Ahh September is upon us.  Fall is almost here.  Speaking about the Fall, cops ensure crooks take the fall for their crimes.  For example, I am guilty of the worst segue of all time.  Since you are witnessing it and not reporting it, you’re all my accompliceses.  If I were to go down for this, these are the fictional TV cops that I’d want to see slap the cuffs on me.

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Can you feel the winds of progress caressing your face?

If there’s a breeze at your back, you need to turn around! Post-haste! Hurry up, goddamn it, or else you’re goin’ to miss it! No, not the future — the future’s already old news. Passé. The stuff of anthropology. Hell, every average seventeen year old possesses a single electronic device that can be used to make phone calls, research vast informational databases, watch movies, listen to music, and navigate via GPS.

And that average seventeen year old also wants the newer model.

But rather than letting these futuristic winds whip our backs, let’s trudge forward. Scratch that — let’s sprint. `Cause the fact of the matter is that it’s easy to spin our wheels here in the future. Hell, how could it not be? We’ve got everything that our parents and grandparents could’ve ever imagined. But if we hold our heads high, welcome alien gusts that tussle our hair, and keep movin’ ahead, we could go to some incredible places.

Let’s go beyond the future.

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Thanks for tuning in to the Monday Morning Commute! As per custom, I’m goin’ to show you the various bits of entertainment and brain-rot that I’ll be using to get through the workweek. After scoping out my pile of fun-detritus, hit up the comments section and tell us what you’ll be doin’ this week.

Time to party.

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Hello friends.  Look, I’ve been doing this for a while now and its about time we had that talk.  There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it.  You’re a geek.  If you’re reading this, then there is some part of you that is a geek, plain and simple.  Don’t bother denying it.  Its ok, there’s nothing wrong with it.  I certainly don’t mean it as a pejorative.  After all if you are simply a geek for reading this, what does that say about the guy writing it?  So today we’re going to tackle The Geek Question.  That question is of course what super powers would you want to have?  Lift them from books, movies or comics, or simply make your own.  No rules here.  Hit the jump to see mine, and don’t be shy in the comments about yours.

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As the self proclaimed “Zombie Czar” of Omega-Level, I’m constantly on the lookout for freshness in the genre to show off to the class. So the other day, while doing research on Tumblr about the upcoming season of AMC’s The Walking Dead I stumbled on this gem of a web comic called The Dixons. The comic traced the dark nature of fan favorites Daryl and Merle Dixon, both characters exclusive to the AMC show (but not found in the original comic). If you have not read it yet, drop everything you are doing and click here or here.

I started reading, and was immediately hooked on the brooding tale of dysfunction that seemed to fit so perfectly with the show itself. I tracked down the author, and demanded answers! What I discovered was a young international prodigy on her way to greatness. Check her out after the jump. You’ll be glad you did.
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[WEEKEND OPEN BAR: The one-stop ramble-about-anything weekend post at OL. Comment on the topic at hand. Tell us how drunk you are. Describe a comic you bought. This is your chance to bring the party.]

Mom and Dad are gone.  It’s just us.  Alone.  In the dark.  This can only mean one thing.  We have to throw a rager.  Grab the kegs and hide your sisters, it’s time to burn this mother down!

While Rendar and Caff are off to the frozen tundra of Narina or Canada, or where ever the hell they’ve gone, they’ve decided to leave their baby, OL, to us, the B-Squad.  God help us all.  It’s not all bad.  If things suck, they can scapegoat us, fire us, and have us killed for disobedience.  If things run great it’s a testament to their leadership skills and eye for talent.  Of course if we manage to shoulder the burden of entertainment for a mere 48 hours, then it proves that they are not irreplaceable and must then watch their backs.  Things have certainly taken a turn towards interesting.

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As many of you know, Tony Scott recently passed away.  I figured I’d throw this High 5 out in tribute to him and his work.  Before we get started I do want to say that I am not a Tony Scott fan.  I know going into his movies that I am going to get his editing style, his aerial views, and his grainy footage. Despite my distaste for his cinematography, the man always entertained me.  So here we go, hit the jump for the highway to the danger zone.

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