Introducing: Me

[Please excuse some dated references, this was originally written in 2011]

   Wow, well here it is. I've finally managed to get my shit together and finish writing my first blog. I know I'm a bit behind the curve, but don't worry, for me it's worth it. I've been on the blog bandwagon since the early days, I just never really felt like they were for me personally. I'm not a writer, I don't claim to be, I won't be trying to make a living at this anytime soon. However I do enjoy writing and this is merely an outlet for me because I've felt lately that I have something to say about things that are going on and, whether you read it or not, I want to put my thoughts out there.
   My name is Ian, they call me the Chief, and I like to refer to the nerd world within which I reside as the BlurredEdge.
   If you found this blog, then you're in here with me. The BlurredEdge is a place of cross-pollenization among all the wonderful nerdy things that we love, adore, worship: Videogames, Movies, Comics, TV, Art, Books, Toys, Music..., the list can go on.  The BlurredEdge is the exploration of the convergence between our various nerdy obsessions, the spaces between the categories: when a comicbook gets made into a movie, or when a videogame gets made into a comicbook, or when a movie gets made into toys. This seems like a simple premise and there was a time when it was. The older crowd will remember the rarity of cross platform entertainment; toys and merch were one thing, but remember the Spider-Man TV show? or the Hulk... TV show? or the Batman.... , well you get what I'm saying.  Nowadays, if a property doesn't have at least two sequels, a videogame for each, a comicbook line, a couple novel adaptations, a line of action figures, and a cross-marketing deal with at least three grocery products including a soda, a lunch meat, and a maxi-pad, it's considered a failure! Why do you think Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was a flop? They didn't get in on the feminine hygiene market integration. Sure it made money, SHITLOADS of money, but what does it matter if you don't see Starscream etched into your panty shield with wings (see what I did there?)
   Anyway, I'll climb down off my stack of soap boxes for now. This is just my first post, there will be plenty of time for bitching, moaning and pissing you all off. No need to scare you away now.
   So who am I? I'm a guy who likes to ask himself questions and then answer them. I enjoy long walks on the beach and my turn-offs include pushy people and cigarettes.
   In all seriousness, what do I nerd out about? I'm actually a huge Transformers fan and if you must know, I liked Revenge of the Fallen. I also enjoyed the Star Wars prequel trilogy. What now, bitches? Sure, they weren't as emotionally investing or as well made as the originals, but they served their purpose to tie up the story and be fun while doing it. Don't gripe to me about the CGI, or Jar Jar, or the marginal acting ability of Hayden Christensen unless you like yelling at a brick wall. It's not like insulting me is going to get me to change my mind.
   I'm what one might think of as an eternal optimist when it comes to life and nerdiness. I most certainly am not a guy who'll write some scathing review of a movie that maybe wasn't too fantastic just for the sake of it, wherein I try to think of the most hurtful and clever metaphors to let my readers know that I'm not only a 'Master of Snark' (I fucking hate that word), but I'm also a huge douche. Those of you who do this, you know who you are, and I'm sure you're proud of it. I even read some of your blogs and enjoy them. I'll even call out Devin Faraci (@devincf) as being one of the worst of this ilk, a true elitist film snob - but only in the most complimentary sense. The bottom line: he's a fucking great writer, I read his stuff, enjoy it, may not agree with it, he's even straight up insulted me on Twitter, not that he'd remember. My point is that I'm not him, I'm not this type. There's a place for it in the modern world of Internet entertainment, now welcome to this world.
   My style, as I mentioned, is optimism. I always look for the good in an entertainment product. I always report on what something is and how you might feel about it were you to consume it, rather than just telling you all the horrible things about it with some wiseass prose. I'll post a few slightly older movie reviews that I've written, you'll see what I mean. It's not easy to come up with some good reasons to see Spider-Man 3, but by-golly I did it!
   I'm going to start getting ahead of myself soon, I tend to ramble and go on and on. I've got a lot to say and I don't want to put it all out there in the first damn post. Hopefully someone, somewhere will actually read this and even better if they give a crap. I enjoy trying to be funny and informative about the things I talk about and the things that we all love. I'm not saying I'm funny or interesting to anyone but myself, but hey, I may be wrong.
   To finish off the list of what I love just so you can know a bit more about me, I play videogames on a casual basis, though my time has been short lately. I read comics almost exclusively on my computer in the digital format; I've recently finished (ie, read issues 1-86 - almost up to date) of The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman (@RobertKirkman) in response to the amazing AMC television show that I freaking loved! I'm currently starting on the Blackest Night saga and I've got a ton of series that I'll be reading soon that I need to get caught up on.
   I'm a nerd cinefile in that I pretty much love every comicbook movie, game movie, nerd movie in general almost without exception. As I mentioned, Spider-Man 3 was a little bit of a stretch but I still enjoyed it - my review on that is forthcoming, along with a couple others that may not be timely but I want to get them out there.
   I listen to only a couple podcasts, most importantly is Chris Hardwick (@nerdist) on the Nerdist. Chances are, if you're here, then you listen to him too. He's pretty much the King of Nerds, beyond anyone else that I can think of; though Joss Whedon has to be in there somewhere. It's probably not a monarchist setup, but maybe more of a Parliamentary design....
   I collect toys, aka action figures, aka male dolls, primarily Todd McFarlane (@Todd_McFarlane) stuff, though I haven't made a purchase in a while just because nothing has come out recently that struck my fancy.
   I love animated TV like the Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Robot Chicken et al. I love some dramatic TV like The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Game of Thrones. And I'll even admit to enjoying some of the reality TV out there, but only the shows based on a skill like cooking, or.... ahem.... sewing... it's my wife's fault.
   I own a printing business outside of Sacramento, California and that preoccupies 95% of my time and I have two dogs, Vinny and Gino, whom I treat like my sons.
   So that's me. Not in a nutshell - as Austin Powers pointed out, how ridiculous would that be? If you stick around, there'll be more about my psyche that will no doubt be revealed as I share my thoughts on what's currently going on at any given point in time within this crazy, amazing nerd world that seems to just get nutsier by the minute.
   Oh, and in spite of how it comes off here, I really don't take myself that seriously. Now let the bad-mouthing in the comments section commence!