Age of the Geek

Crimney, what a dull week.

     I couldn't come up with a single topic to rant about, so let's just hit some of the highlights.

     The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is the Internet's latest fad, but at least it's a fad for a good cause. For those interested in charity, the challenge has certainly succeeded in raising awareness. More than $50 million has been donated to the ALS Association so far, 2,000 percent more than in the same period last year.

     It's entertaining as well. Endless minutes of amusement can be found from either watching people you know dump buckets of ice water on their heads, watching celebrities make elaborate shows of dumping a bucket of ice water on their head, and, of course, watching strangers hilariously fail to properly dump a bucket of ice water on their head.

     It's truly astounding not just the number of people who manage to fail at dumping water on their head, but the number of ways they manage to fail at it. One girl got so excited she fell into a lake. A little kid grossly underestimated how much a bucket of water actually weighs and spent a solid minute just trying to get it above his head. And then there are the many people that ask their friends to drop the water from a great height, only to suffer a head injury when their friends drop the bucket itself.

     Next year I imagine we'll have a challenge to raise money for those injured by this challenge.

     After 10 years and countless explosions, the Mythbusters' secondary crew have left the show. Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara busted their final myth during the recent season finale. With the team's departure, most likely due to budget cuts, the show will be going "back to basics," with Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman.

     I admit, I haven't watched "Mythbusters" in a while. I'm pretty sure I'm at least a season behind, but it's a shame that ratings for the show have dropped to this point. I'd hate to see "Mythbusters" be canceled in favor of another inane 'reality show.'

     People assume that the trio will go on to host shows of their own, but I'm not sure that will happen. With the skills they've acquired over the last decade, there's a lot of work behind the camera that they are just as qualified for.

     Last weekend was first full episode introducing Peter Capaldi as the twelfth incarnation of everybody's favorite Time Lord. It was a good episode, except showrunner Steven Moffat spent far too much time talking directly to the audience.

     Yes, Peter Capaldi is an older gentleman and that has thrown some people off, but never before has an outgoing actor had to physically look at the camera and ask the audience to give the new guy a chance.

     Finally, now would be a good time to buy stock in Funko! As if the vinyl bobble-head producers weren't successful enough, selling super-deformed figures of characters from any and every popular franchise you can think of, Marvel has announced an upcoming figure based on Dancing Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy."

     I can't think of many things that could be in higher demand.

     "Guardians of the Galaxy," itself retook the top domestic spot this weekend, topping "Transformers 4" and officially becoming the most successful movie of the summer. While still quite a ways away from the billion dollar prediction I made, the movie hasn't yet opened in several foreign markets. I can't imagine what's taking so long, but there you have it.

     Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and hopes next week has something juicier to rant about.