All The [NERD] Rage: Week of October 8 – 14, 2011

It’s Friday! That means it’s time for another episode of All The [NERD] Rage, a lightning-round style review of the top nerd stories of the week. These are stories the Muggles may have missed. It’s time to catch up, so we’d better get started.

• iOS 5 Released
  Apple released the newest version of its mobile operating system this week. With over 200 new features, iOS 5 promises to do a lot more than just look “shiny.” Some of the most notable changes are:
  —Find My Phone feature: Allows users to locate their phone remotely if it is lost.
  —An all new notifications function allows users to view all of their notifications through one drop down folder, which is accessed by swiping downward on the home screen.
  —The new Find My Friends app makes stalking way easier.
  —There is a new way to send messages/texts directly from phone to phone, without having it count against your monthly texting limit. (Note: You have to be messaging to another iPhone with iOS 5 enabled. I’m still trying to sort out how this works exactly, but it looks promising.)

  All in all, it appears Apple did a great job this time around. And speaking of time—if you’re updating to iOS 5—make sure you have a lot of it. Some users say it takes at least an hour to complete the update. I updated three devices yesterday, and it took two hours for each.
  [Source: Apple]

• Phoenix Jones Arrested In Seattle
  Street vigilante Phoenix Jones—crime fighter extraordinaire and real-life super hero—faced a court hearing on Thursday due to charges that he “assaulted a group of people with pepper spray outside of a nightclub” in Seattle. Perhaps more injuring than the arrest is the result that this has exposed his secret identity. We now know that Phoenix Jones is actually Benjamin John Francis Fodor, 23. Having gained notoriety since donning his hero costume a year ago, Reuters reports “Fodor has been joined on some exploits by any number of fellow freelance crime fighters who assume such alter egos as No Name and Thorn in a collective that bills itself as the Rain City Superheroes Movement.”

  Regarding the charges, Fodor stated on Twitter, “I WOULD NEVER ASSAULT OR HURT ANOTHER PERSON IF THEY WERE NOT CAUSING HARM TO ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.”
  [Source: Reuters]

• TV & Movie News
  This week, we got our first real look at next year’s Marvel team-up-nerd-wet-dream The Avengers. Directed by Joss Whedon, and written by Whedon and Zak Penn, this first trailer doesn’t disappoint. All of your favorite Marvel movie heroes—from the last few years—are back, along with some new faces: Oscar nominated actors Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo join the team as Hawkeye and the Hulk, respectively. We also get a glimpse of who ostensibly will be the film’s villian, Loki. The trailer features the perfectly chosen song, “We’re In This Together” by Nine Inch Nails. Maybe it’s the depression talking, but I think if you put Nine Inch Nails under any video, it will make it inherently amazing. The trailer is available on iTunes and YouTube.

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  Speaking of Marvel, they just announced Patty Jenkins will be the director of Thor 2. That will make this the first Marvel movie directed by a woman. Jenkins is best known for directing Charlize Theron in her Oscar winning role in Monster. It was also announced the film’s release will be pushed back to November of 2013.

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  It looks like the Winchester brothers will finally be making it onto your favorite Netflix streaming device. The embattled media company has made a mult-year deal with The CW, reportedly worth $1 billion. So normal people will get Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, and whatever else is on The CW, while nerds will get killer genre shows like Supernatural and Smallville. Look for the Winchester boys and their demon friends on Netflix sometime around January 2012.
  [Source: Blastr, /Film]

• Wow Netflix, Now You’re Just Embarrassing Yourself
  In a move that surprised absolutely no one, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced Monday that Netflix will indeed not be dividing itself into two companies. So we can forget about that whole Qwikster nonsense, as if they were doing it all on a goof. Good on Netflix for making the right decision in the end. However, Qwikster wasn’t a goof, it was a serious announcement about a major business decision they had made. This situation doesn’t install confidence in the company’s investors or the public. Maybe Reed Hastings should be called Reed Hasty until they can stop jumping the gun. Or maybe they should just call Gob Bluth from Arrested Development to get advice on how to develop a new “business model.”
  [Source: The Huffington Post]

• As They Say on The Totally Rad Show: “Dan Becomes A Man”
  I called it. Back in August, I wrote that it was only a matter of time, and now it’s happening. Commercial director Dan Trachtenberg—from The Totally Rad Show—made a name for himself with the live-action short film Portal: No Escape. And now he will now be directing a feature film for Universal Pictures. Not much is known about the project so far, except that it is a sci-fi action heist film, and it will be called Crime of the Century. Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast Five, 47 Ronin) is producing the project. This is an example of a nerd, who instead of raging, simply did quite well for himself through hard work and persistence. So it can happen; maybe there’s hope for the rest of us.
  [Source: /Film]