Summer 2013 is here!  In Alabama, we consider Summer from mid-May to mid-September.  During the Summer season, we see special animated shows on TV and in the movies.  So here is my list of the top animated features I am looking forward too this Summer.

Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel

I am really looking forward to this special!  Phineas and Ferb will help out Iron Man, the Hulk, Spider-Man, and Thor when Dr. Doof de-powers them.  Looking at this picture below, looks like Perry The Platypus will also be involved!

Wander Over Yonder

This new show on Disney Channel will premiere this Summer.  The show is created by  Craig McCracken and co-produced by Lauren Faust.  With great shows under their belts like The Powerpuff Girls and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, I expect this show to be awesome!

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

Okay, some adult fans of My Little Pony are not happy about Equestria Girls.  The movie is written by the same writer who writes the TV show, Meghan McCarthy.  The music is also done by the same person on the show, Daniel Ingram.  I will watch the DVD this Summer and I hope it is good!

Monsters University

Monsters Inc. was a very popular movie!  And now, Monsters University is coming out as a prequel to the original movie.  I wonder how the monsters were like before they started their careers?  I look forward to this movie coming out on June 21.

Despicable Me 2

The original Despicable Me movie was a great and heartwarming movie.  Now, the father, the three girls, and all of those minions are back!  Despicable Me has many fans and this movie will do very well when it comes out on July 3.

Last Season of Futurama

The seventh season of Futurama will be the last on Comedy Central.  I always loved watching this show but it always suffered from scheduling troubles.  Matt Groening says he will try to get Futurama picked up by another network.

Sanjay and Craig

This new show from Nickelodeon is produced by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, the creators of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which aired in the 1990′s.  Nickelodeon needs something to boost their ratings, maybe this new show will do it!

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. / Avengers Assemble

These two new shows will premiere this Summer on Disney XD.  I really like where Disney XD is going with their animation.  Along with Ultimate Spider Man and the new Star Wars series premiering in 2014.  Disney XD is going to be a great channel for animation.

SheZow

This Australian-Canadian animated show is about a 12 year-old boy who finds a power ring and puts it on.  The boy then transforms and takes on the appearance of a female super hero and fights crime.  I wonder if some people in Alabama will view this show in a bad way?  The show will premiere on The Hub.

Beware the Batman

In this new show premiering on Cartoon Network.  Crime-fighting vigilante Batman teams up with swordmistress Katana and his ex-secret agent butler Alfred Pennyworth to face the criminal underworld.  I look forward to this show!

Total Drama All Stars

I have always enjoyed the Total Drama animated series that is produced in Canada.  Cartoon Network ordered the next season and it is coming out this Summer!  Since I love Survivor, this show has gotten my attention.

Related articles

• The Attack on DHX Media Over Equestria Girls (geekalabama.com)
• ‘Phineas and Ferb’ Villain Takes Pitch to ‘Shark Tank’ in Disney Channel-ABC Crossover (variety.com)
• My Little Pony’s Sexy ‘Equestria Girls’ Spinoff Isn’t For Your Daughter (mamapop.com)
• Geek Alabama’s Top Summer Movies 2013 (geekalabama.com)
• Animation Monday: Five Kids Cartoons Adults Watch (geekalabama.com)

I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness last Thursday!  The movie was really, really good and I am going to talk about it below.  I decided to delay this post to Monday so I would not hopefully spoil it for anybody.  So below the poster, I am going to talk about the movie, SPOILER ALERT!

Star Trek Into Darkness begins at the planet Nibiru to observe a primitive civilization.  One thing many people were surprised at is the USS Enterprise can operate under water. Captain Kirk is running through the forest to escape the attackers while First Officer Spock is flown into a volcano to save the planet.  Spock is so determined to be killed he tells Kirk to not reveal the ship to the civilization.  But Captain Kirk does not care about some   Prime Directive and reveals the ship to the civilization and rescues Spock.  Spock is somehow not happy about being rescued, I would be kissing Kirk’s feet!

Back on Earth at Starfleet headquarters, Kirk is demoted to first officer for violating the Prime Directive.  Admiral Christopher Pike has re-assumed command of the Enterprise.  Spock has been reassigned to another ship.  The talk between Spock and Kirk is funny at this part of the movie!  After a scene of the movie where we see Kirk drinking his sorrows away, an emergency meeting is held at Starfleet Command to discuss the bombing of a secret Section 31 installation in London.  Before we see some action at this part of the movie, we see a father who will do anything to heal his sick child at a London hospital.  Khan gave the father the life saving medicine the child needs in return to going to Section 31 in London and bombing it.  Basically he was a suicide bomber.

Commander John Harrison flies a small ship and attacks the people in this emergency meeting with gunfire.  Several people including Christopher Pike are killed.  Kirk uses some equipment in the building to destroy the ship.  But before the ship fails, Harrison teleports himself out.  I really enjoyed the action in this part of the movie!  Kirk is reinstated as captain of the Enterprise with Spock becoming first officer again.  Harrison was discovered to be in the Klingon homeworld of Kronos, Kirk receives special permission from Admiral Alexander Marcus to hunt down Harrison.  The Enterprise is supplied with 72 long-range prototype photon torpedoes and Kirk is ordered to fire them at Harrison’s location once he is found. However, Scotty, Spock, Bones and Uhura convince Kirk to capture rather than kill Harrison.  Those torpedoes have something in them by the way!

Arriving on Kronos, Kirk, Spock and Uhura set out to capture Harrison but are surrounded by Klingons.  Uhura tries to negotiate with the Klingons but the Klingons don’t negotiate with anyone especially humans!  The attack between the Klingons and the crew begins with Harrison helping out the crew.  This was a brutal part of the movie seeing all the death and destruction.  Harrison somehow surrenders after learning that 72 torpedoes are aimed at him.  Kirk lets out his anger on Harrison by punching him repeatedly!  If I was in Kirk’s shoes, I might have done the same thing.  By the way, I noticed no damage from Harrison after all of those punches.

Back on the Enterprise, Harrison reveals his true identity as Khan, a genetically engineered superhuman who was awakened from his nearly 300-year suspended animation by Admiral Marcus to develop advanced weapons for war against the Klingon Empire. The torpedoes are found to contain cryogenic pods with Khan’s colleagues inside, who had previously been held hostage by Marcus.  Yep, someone from Starfleet has turned to the dark side!  This has Kirk upset, thankfully Spock tries to bring some sense back to Kirk.

The Enterprise is soon intercepted by an unmarked Federation warship, the USS Vengeance, designed by Khan and commanded by Admiral Marcus.  Marcus demands that Kirk hand over Khan, but Kirk refuses.  I just loved the performance of actor Peter Weller who played Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus.  He could easily show up in any movie to play the evil person.  The Enterprise starts to be attacked but somehow the crew gets the warp drive fixed and starts to warp back to Earth to have Khan stand trial, but the Enterprise is attacked by the Vengeance mid-warp, exiting 237,000 km from Earth.  For some crew, their deaths were quick and painless as there were sucked out into space in the middle of the warp.

With the Enterprise severely damaged, Kirk offers to hand over Khan and the 72 pods in exchange for the lives of his crew.  Marcus then beams the superhumans into his ship, then he tells the Enterprise he is destroying their ship. He reveals that it was his intention all along to destroy the Enterprise in his plan to dispose of the 73 superhumans and start a war with the Klingons. The Vengeance prepares to open fire, but suffers a power outage caused by Scotty, who had infiltrated the ship after following coordinates given by Khan to Kirk.  Earlier in the movie after Scotty quits the Enterprise.  Kirk calls Scotty from a bar where yes, Scotty is drunk!

Kirk and Khan works together and flies through space in these pretty awesome spacesuits!  They had to use jets to go around the debris floating around in space.  Both manage to get aboard the Vengeance with the help of Scotty.  Scotty ties himself down and when confronted by a crew member, he hits the button and the crew member flies out while Kirk and Khan flies in.  The three gets to the bridge and is confronted by Admiral Marcus.  Kirk decides to make Khan incapacitated but it did not work.  Khan kills Admiral Marcus and takes control of the Vengeance.

Khan negotiates with Spock, beaming Kirk and his boarding party back to the Enterprise in exchange for the 72 torpedoes.  Spock instead beams armed torpedoes to the Vengeance, keeping the cryo-pods on the Enterprise, having learned from Spock Prime of his experience with Khan in his parallel time-frame beforehand.  Spock Prime reveals that Khan was tyrannical and could not be trusted in his timeline.  Seeing the guest appearance from Leonard Nimoy was also awesome!  The bombs explode on the Vengeance before the Enterprise is destroyed.  Then, both damaged ships start descending towards Earth.  Captain Kirk decides to risk his life by entering the warp core room which is filled with lethal doses of radiation.  Kirk somehow aligns the Enterprise’s warp core, enabling the crew to regain control of the ship in the skies above Earth.

Kirk is found right at the door to the warp drive room, but the door can not be opened and Kirk dies.  After some sad moments, the audience sees the Vengeance diving towards San Francisco!  The ship crashes into Starfleet Command headquarters and causes a lot of damage and death.  By the way, did anyone notice the prison Alcatraz being destroyed?  Somehow after that spectacular crash, Khan is still not dead!  Spock then beams himself down to Earth and finds and attacks Khan.  This awesome chase scene through the streets of San Francisco was pretty awesome!

Back on the Enterprise, Bones’s experiment on a Tribble reveals that Khan’s blood contains regenerative properties that may reanimate Kirk.  Bones thus orders for Kirk to be immediately cryogenically frozen in order to preserve his brain function.  Meanwhile, Uhura beams herself on Earth and aids an enraged Spock in subduing Khan.  Seeing Spock angry and attacking Khan just like Kirk did was disturbing.  Spock’s human emotions were getting the best of him.  After all of that action was over, we see Kirk waking up in a hospital room and he is alive!  Khan is back frozen in a chamber and stored away with his colleagues.  And the Enterprise is rebuilt and launched for its five-year mission of exploration.

The movie was pretty good!  I went to the regular 2D version and did not pay for the 3D version.  Actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto did a great job in their roles as Kirk and Spock.  And director J.J. Abrams did the Trekkies a great favor by keeping the Star Trek story alive!  I thought Star Trek Into Darkness was a great movie and yes, you need to go see it!  I love seeing the Star Trek franchise keeping the hopes of space exploration alive in America.  Yes, science can be cool!

All images copyright from Paramount.

Related articles

• My SPOILER-RIDDEN Thoughts on Star Trek Into Darkness (claire-legrand.com)
• Star Trek Into Darkness Movie Review (rookerville.com)
• STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Spoiler Review! (badassdigest.com)
• 10 Things That Make Star Trek Into Darkness Awesome (nerdlikeyou.com)
• Review: Star Trek Into Darkness (lebeauleblog.com)

On Sunday evening, many people came out to Burgess-Snow field to hear Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band play some great music.  All of this was a fundraiser for Ben Tomlinson who was paralyzed after being shot in the back in Afghanistan in May 2010.  The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation and the Gary Sinise Foundation helped to raise the $400,000 needed to build a smart home for Ben in Jacksonville.

Learn more about the Gary Sinise Foundation at: http://www.garysinisefoundation.org/

Learn more about the Tunnel to Towers Foundation at: http://tunnel2towers.org/

Below are pictures and a video from the event, enjoy!

Related articles

• Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam 2013: Day Two (geekalabama.com)
• Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam 2013: Day One (geekalabama.com)
• Weekend Planning: Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam / Operation Ben Concert (geekalabama.com)

Chick-fil-A is trying to get more healthy with the addition of new salads and wraps.  Each day we have a choice, a choice to do the same old routine or do something unique and different.  What have you wanted to do for a long time?  2013 is almost halfway over and it’s time to do something new.  It’s time to grow, it’s time to make your dreams a reality. Chick-fil-A is helping you make today #FreshMade, by creating new menu options that you can feel good about!  They are introducing 3 new premium salads and an improved wrap all under 430 calories made with premium ingredients.

The Grilled Market Salad features fresh strawberries, blueberries, and apples.  Plus it has two servings of veggies.

The Asian Salad features mandarin orange segments and has two cups of hand cut veggies.

The Cobb Salad features charred tomato and crispy red bell peppers, bacon, hard-boiled egg, and has two cups of hand cut veggies.

The Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap features a flaxseed flour flat bread with grilled chicken and has one cup of fresh veggies.

And now, the folks from Partners Hub have an app to help you decide which salad or wrap is right for you!  The Chick-fil-A Fresh Made Blog App features information on the new salads and wraps, videos on how the salads are made, and it also has the “Are You A Starter Quiz.”  To access the app, click the link or the picture below!

https://archive.partnershub.com/show/4/cfa-freshmade/widget/cfa-freshmade/

One lucky reader will get a chance to enjoy these new salads for free!  If you enter and win the contest, you will receive two Chick-fil-A salad coupons!  All salads at Chick-fil-A are handcrafted and made fresh each day.

To enter, leave a comment with your name and e-mail address on the contact form below saying you want to win!  I will give each commenter an extra entry if you like the Geek Alabama Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/geekalabama or follow on Twitter @geekalabama.

I will randomly draw a winner using random.org based off all the entries!  The contest will close on Wednesday May 22nd.  Enter now!

Learn more about the new Chick-fil-A salads and wraps at: http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/new-salads

Note: Chick-fil-A are supplying these materials to give away.  I was NOT paid to write this post.

Enter the contest here!

[contact-form]

Related articles

• Big Change Coming To Chick Fil-A (accidentvictimsalliance.com)
• Chick-fil-A tosses its old salad menu (usatoday.com)
• Big Change Coming To Chick Fil-A (huffingtonpost.com)

The same traffic light problems are still occurring along Leon Smith Parkway at the Oxford Exchange.  I did this post and video in March about this problem.  View it below!

http://geekalabama.com/2013/03/24/sunday-discussion-traffic-light-problems-in-annistonoxford/

The traffic light at the Oxford Exchange / Oxford Commons intersection is working mostly properly.  The light needs to allow more time for traffic turning left into the Oxford Exchange.  Otherwise, the sensors are at least working.

But the big problem is the light at the Interstate 20 eastbound ramp, this one.

The light’s sensors are broken and will turn red even if no one is there to turn onto Leon Smith Parkway.  The left turn signal to turn onto Interstate 20 is staying green for a very long time.  And here’s the worst part, traffic going north on Leon Smith Parkway only gets around 20 seconds of green light time.  This is why so much traffic is backing up and blocking intersections.

A while back, there was a story in the Anniston Star saying these lights along Leon Smith Parkway would be re-timed.  Sadly, this is not the case!  If this light is not re-timed soon, Oxford is going to lose out on tax revenue as people quit going to the Oxford Exchange / Oxford Commons area so they don’t have to deal with the traffic.  I have talked about these lights since Summer 2012.  I would have thought these lights would be fixed by now.

Related articles

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• Roadscapes Wednesday: 10th St. / 8th St. Malfunctioning Traffic Lights (geekalabama.com)

Here are photos from the second day of action at the Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam at Burgess-Snow Field on the Jacksonville State University campus.  The first game featured the Ohatchee Indians vs. Pleasant Valley Raiders.  The second game featured the Alexandria Valley Cubs vs. White Plains Wildcats.  Ohatchee won their game 28-7 and Alexandria won 8-0 in a rain shortened game.  Enjoy the photos!

Related articles

• Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam 2013: Day One (geekalabama.com)
• Weekend Planning: Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam / Operation Ben Concert (geekalabama.com)
• The Evening Post: Jacksonville Alabama Roadscapes Video (geekalabama.com)

It’s time for Video Roundup!  My top 11 videos of the week!

Holland The Original Cool

This video was very creative!

The Baby Bachelor – Episode 1

This was very cute!

Mathematics – Spoken Word

Great video here!

Homemade Catching Fire Trailer

Very good work!

Blood Angels Space Marine at LinCon

Very cool machine/costume!

First Taste

The kid’s reactions were great!

Lego Casino Royale

Very geeky!

Dash Cam Video Helping Ducks

Good job officer!

Brave Motherduckers

Cute video!

Rev Knows His Song

Very funny!

A Grizzly Ate My GoPro

Watch out!

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• Video Roundup: Bad Lip Reading, Willie Nelson Audition, PBS The Movie (geekalabama.com)

Here are photos from the first day of action at the Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam at Burgess-Snow Field on the Jacksonville State University campus.  The first game featured the Saks Wildcats vs. Weaver Bearcats.  The second game featured the Wellborn Panthers vs. Jacksonville Golden Eagles.  Saks won their game 36-26 and Wellborn won 20-10.  Enjoy the photos!

Related articles

• Weekend Planning: Pigskin Roundup Spring Jam / Operation Ben Concert (geekalabama.com)
• The Evening Post: Jacksonville Alabama Roadscapes Video (geekalabama.com)

Here is the latest weekly recap for Geek Alabama!  Some of the most popular posts from last week included a book review of Lost Birmingham, the attack on DHX Media over Equestria Girls, Paddlin 4 Paws Boat Races, Calhoun County Relay For Life, Chris Hadfield’s Space Oddity, and a post talking about the homeless problem in Anniston.

Book Review: Lost Birmingham by Beverly Crider

The first ever book review for Geek Alabama.  I really enjoyed this book about the history of Birmingham, you will enjoy it too!

http://geekalabama.com/2013/05/13/book-review-lost-birmingham-by-beverly-crider/

The Attack on DHX Media Over Equestria Girls

This post was very popular this week.  Can you believe some My Little Pony fans are sending hate mail and death threats to the animators at DHX Media?

http://geekalabama.com/2013/05/15/the-attack-on-dhx-media-over-equestria-girls/

Paddlin’ 4 Paws Boat Races On Lake Wedowee 2013

Many people have come to Geek Alabama to view the photos and the video I took of the Paddlin 4 Paws Boat Races.  You will enjoy this post!

http://geekalabama.com/2013/05/13/paddlin-4-paws-boat-races-on-lake-wedowee-2013/

Calhoun County Relay For Life 2013

One of the biggest Relay For Life events in Alabama took place in Anniston.  Lots of money was raised and I took some awesome pictures and video!

http://geekalabama.com/2013/05/12/calhoun-county-relay-for-life-2013/

The Evening Post: Chris Hadfield’s Space Oddity

I loved seeing astronaut Chris Hadfield in space.  I really liked his last video from space which was his own version of Space Oddity.  A must watch!

http://geekalabama.com/2013/05/13/the-evening-post-chris-hadfields-space-oddity/

The Homeless Problem In Anniston Alabama

There is a really big homeless problem in Anniston.  Some people I know are sleeping in empty buildings at night.  Nothing has been done yet to fix this yet.

http://geekalabama.com/2013/05/15/the-homeless-problem-in-anniston-alabama/

Related articles

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Major flooding happened in East Alabama on Saturday.  There was flooding reported from Pell City all the way to the Georgia border.  I went to take some pictures of the flooding in the Munford Alabama area.  These pictures were taken along AL-21, Silver Run Road, and Jenifer Road.

First, this video from @jesshaynes611 shows flooding along Cheaha Road in Munford.

Here are photos and a video I took of the flooding in Munford, AL.