As we draw ever closer to the holiday season and the New Year, it is once again time for me to give the gift that gives: Humpday Links.  No, no, don’t thank me.  It is the least I could do.  Literally.

– The second trailer for the upcoming John Carter (of Mars; see how that works, Disney?) is out.  Despite Disney’s stupidity surrounding the movie’s title (“women won’t go to see a movie with Mars in the title”) it looks pretty cool.

– While we’re on the subject of movies that shouldn’t have been made (oh, we weren’t? My bad…), there is apparently a remake of Starship Troopers in the works.  They are bragging about the writers attached, so that gives me hope.

– There will be a whole slough of similar articles, I’m sure, but here is CNN’s gift suggestions for the gamer in your life.  Pathfinder is on there, so the list has immediate veracity for me.

– The guest list for the Nerdist Christmas Eve television special has been announced, and it is pretty nerdy indeed.  It is also slanted completely to the xy side of the chromosome pairing, which is just a little unfortunate.

– I posted this in my Twitter feed late Monday, but this article on bullying by Liana K. is worthy of your time.  Please read it.

– So this teaser prequel for the Doctor Who Christmas Special definitely got a reaction from me. Is there a word for crying while grinning?

– Thanks to @GeekyJessica for pointing this article about the Giant Weta out to me.  No, really, thanks. Like I needed another reason to sleep with a shotgun under my pillow.

– Continuing with people on Twitter pointing out freaky stuff, here is a little gem from @d20Blonde: what if children’s art was rendered realistically?  Personally, these are all becoming creatures in one of my games…

– This has made the rounds but is worth a watch if you haven’t seen it: Zach Wahls speaks about his two mothers.

– Presented without comment (because really, what is there to say?): Weird Al and a John Travolta dummy.

– Yeah, I would put up these Christmas decorations. Put them up so hard!

– In a step towards creating their very own mad-scientist lair, this nuclear power plant in Florida wants to stock their cooling canals with crocodiles.  I could not make this up.

– For the comic book fans, here is a redesign of Galactus by Matt Rhodes.  Personally, I think this is a lot scarier than the giant purple man.

– Staying with comics, straight from the “Freakishly Talented Musicians” file is guitarist Alan Loo with the acoustic Superman theme.

– And finally, I leave you with Alan Moore’s response to Frank Miller’s “Occupy” skreed.

That is all for today. Stay tuned tomorrow when I’ll update my con schedule and talk a bit about the geekiness you can expect during the holiday season.