Genre Character of the Week: Neil

Last week we looked at Captain S, the Video Land Defender. That guy was well meaning, friendly, and exactly who you wish you could be if you were ever sucked into a video game. This week, I'm taking a look at pretty much the polar opposite to Captain S; Neil, from the web series The Legend of Neil.

A quick warning, The Legend of Neil is entirely Not Safe For Work - it is incredibly funny, but not the kind of thing that is even a little work or kid friendly.

The premise of the show is simple, What if you were sucked into the original NES game, The Legend of Zeldda? What if everyone there thought you were Link (the main character in the game)? and what would you do if you were pretty much the total opposite of the brave and honest Link and instead were a lying, cheating slacker?

The show itself pokes a lot of fun at the original game, including many of its characters and concepts, but for me the main appeal of the show is definitely Neil himself (played by Tony Janning - pictured above), a man who has fallen into this crazy world and is willing to do almost anything to get out of it.

Much like Jim Profit, Neil is not the sort of Character of the week I would want to invite into my own life, but I can definitely admire him from afar - very very afar. If you haven't seen the show yet, check it out. It is totally worth the watch.

Genre Character of the Week: Captain S

I can still remember playing old NES games like Mega Man and Legend of Zelda and wondering - what would I do if I could get into the game? Would I be as cool as Mega Man or Link? Television shows like Reboot (yay Canada!) and Captain N the Game Master look at this concept as well, but my personal favourite example of this idea comes from the web series The New Adventures of Captain S, from PBC Productions. This week we'll take a look at Chad Belmont, aka Captain S, Video-Land defender (pictured above).

Chad is a pretty simple guy, he's good matured, loves milk shakes, is a Junior in High School and a huge SEGA fan. He's got two best friends, Lunk and Becky, and a major crush on a girl named Stacey. Everything changes for him one day when he receives a magic SEGA game cartridge and is called to be the prophesied Video-Land defender, Captain S.

As super powered Captain S, Chad needs to balance his day to day life with his adventures in video land, which is under attack by a villain named the Game Genie and Chad's nemesis at School - Nigel Edmond Silverman, aka NES. Chad stands out as a genre character of the week due to his ability to learn valuable sitcom-style lessons each week, defeating the bad guy, helping his friends, and going out for delicious milk shakes afterwards - the stories are simple but very effective.

The show is incredibly clever in its references to '80s era sitcoms, and the catalogue of SEGA Genesis games, which I played a lot of when I was in elementary, but not so much since then. If you haven't seen it yet, go and check it out, the webisodes tend to run about 5 minutes and the entire series is only 10 episodes. I love that they have a lot of behind the scenes videos on the website as well.

Bookmonkey's Top 5 Holiday Stories

I'm sure everyone has them, holiday books, movies or TV shows that come out each December. As a kid I can remember re-reading The Night Before Christmas every year around Christmas. It was a simple poem that got me excited for Christmas morning and after a few years of reading it around this time of year it became a habit for my entire childhood.

These days, I've still got a few fun Christmas treats that make their way onto my shelf each year, but they have definitely gone beyond the classics.

Bookmonkey's top five Genre stories for Christmas

5. Nicholas Was...

For my first seasonal story, I like re-reading Neil Gaiman's 100 word poem, Nicholas Was. Like many of my favourite stories, it takes a common concept (Santa Claus), and shows it to you in a different way; a horrible, horrible way. I actually found this as a christmas card a few years back and sent it to many friends - some of whom still talk to me at Christmas.

4. A Very Nerdy Non-Canonical Captain S Christmas

I'm a pretty big fan of the Angry Video Game Nerd, so last year when I was working my way though his videos I came across this bizarre little gem, wherein he teams up with Captain S to save Christmas, I had to check it out. If you haven't heard of Captain S, start watching the series now! It is incredibly fun, and for those Sega Genesis fans out there, it is simply awesome. You can see the Christmas video here (just scroll down to the 5th video).

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas

I've been showing this movie to my kids since there were toddlers as a Christmas movie. It's great fun and if you have an edition that contains them, check out Tim Burton's Frankenweenie and (my personal favourite) Vincent, after you watch this freaky, but funny holiday flick.

2. The Nostalgia Chick's Top 10 Disturbing and Inescapable Christmas Songs

Every year my wife and I attempt to do all of our Christmas shopping before the end of November, why? Because we hate the non-stop Christmas music you are constantly attacked with at every store in December. When I first watched the Nostalgia Chick's (pictured right) video on these songs I couldn't stop laughing. I love the way that this video focuses on the frightening and creepy side of these holiday classics.

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1. Hold Me

This is actually a John Constantine: Hellblazer, comic (Issue 27), that takes a deeply scary concept - a ghost which whispers "Hold me" and then sucks the warmth (and life) out of its victims, and a full-time a**hole (John Constantine), and brings them together in what ends up, for me, to be a story that says everything that the holiday season should be about.

So there you have it, five quick views or reads that help put me in the holiday spirit!