I'm a Geordi!

Which TNG character are you? Find out here!

Music Munday: Not Literally

Today's post is another geeky parody group: Not Literally. They take catchy pop songs and make them into anthems to Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Disney movies, Doctor Who, and tons more. Here are a few of my favorites:

"I Ship It" (aka, "The greatest ode to fandom EVER"):


"A Character I Used to Know" (spoilers for GoT):


"Through Time:"


"Walk of Shame:"


And the Hogwarts House Pride videos:

"We R Slytherins" (Slytherin, obvs; have I mentioned my weakness for Ke$ha?):


"Gryffindors:"


"Sorted This Way" (Hufflepuffs, represent!):


There's also a Ravenclaw video coming soon, which I'm really excited about.

I'm a Willow!

Which Nerdy Sidekick are you? Find out here!

Music Munday: The Doubleclicks

Today's Music Munday is a special one: a music video featuring yours truly!

I've written about The Doubleclicks before. They're still awesome and still making fun, geeky music. I recently funded their new album kickstarter, and I can't wait to hear it.

Last week, this showed up on my twitter feed:

Want to be in our burrito video? email burrito@thedoubleclicks.com. You'll be asked to take a picture of you&burrito to specific directions.

— The Doubleclicks (@TheDoubleclicks) March 13, 2014

Of course I had to join in the fun! Batman and I went to lunch at Hankook Taqueria, one of our favorite restaurants in Atlanta. I got a shrimp burrito to use as my music video prop:

It was one of the easiest (and tastiest!) ways I've ever participated in a fandom. :)

Here's the finished product, "Love You Like a Burrito:"



I'm at 2:15, in case you missed me. :)

Review: Backward Compatible

Title: Backward Compatible
Authors: Sarah Daltry and Pete Clark
Genre: YA, romance
Published: 8 December 2013
Pages: 316
Rating: 5 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "A YA Gamer Geek Comedy in the vein of Scott Pilgrim and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Ideal for fans of The Big Bang Theory, The Guild, and all things Joss Whedon.

WARNING: There is no sex in this book. Your Kindle or other device will remain at a pleasant room temperature. At no point will your panties drop. Your significant other will be allowed to snore in peace as you read. You may, however, laugh yourself out of commission.

Not too long ago, in a town that, depending on your current location, is either not super far or actually quite close... (insert Star Wars theme music here...)

It is a time of chaotic hormones.

Two nerdy gents home for winter break have discovered a female gamer at a midnight release.

During the break, the gamer trio manages to reveal the game's secret boss, a hidden enemy with enough power to destroy anything in its path.

Pursued by other gamers who want to be the first to beat this boss, George and Katie race to level up, and, in so doing, restore decency and sexual activity to their personal galaxy..." (from GoodReads)

My Review: Ok, here's the thing. I'm not the target audience for this book. I thought I was (I'm a geek, I'm [relatively] young, I'm a fan of all those things listed in the synopsis, I picked up on almost every single reference in this book, etc), and yet I really didn't relate to the characters in this book. For one thing, they are REALLY immature. When they talked about being in college, I didn't believe them. I teach high schoolers with better socialization skills than these kids. For another thing, they are REALLY mean. And not just to the random mean girls who show up towards the end and harass one of the main characters; George and Lanyon, supposedly the best of friends, spend most of their conversations trading insults. When they game as a group, they gang up on one player in particular (a "hipster douche" who had the temerity to grow a goatee IRL) and constantly attack him verbally and kill him virtually. The two main geeks are pretty one-dimensional: Katie likes to game and has boobs! George also likes to game and he also likes boobs! Neither one of them really has much personality, and they don't really know anything about each other. Katie seemed like she was getting some characterization and growth (she appears borderline-agoraphobic and admits to feeling depressed and anxious about her budding relationship with George), but that is magically dealt with when he - no joke - pulls a Spider-Man-esque stunt and cheers her up. George, for his part, spends a lot of time quoting Shakespeare (along with literally HUNDREDS of pop culture references) and reading books, so of course he's an English major. I felt like these were stock "geek" types rather than being fully fleshed-out people. There was no need for George and Lanyon to constantly allude to Star Wars, Portal, WoW, etc. And some of the allusions didn't make sense! Sephiroth's forehead compared to a bright light? Seriously? And can we please, for the love of all that is holy, drop the "That's what she said!" jokes? There were other minor things that bugged me as I was reading (ripping on The Hobbit sequel, referring to it as The Hobbit 2, sexual harassment during said movie, Katie's vehement anti-girly agenda), but honestly I'm getting more annoyed now as I'm thinking about it.

Which is not to say that it was all bad. There were parts that I liked - the "secret boss" of the video game and what it entails reminded me of Ready Player One, but I really enjoyed the twist in this book. It's also got some humor, although a lot was lost on me because it involved insulting someone's mom or threatening violence or rape. Ultimately, it's a lighthearted romance that just didn't work for me.

Full disclosure: I received an electronic ARC of Backward Compatible from NetGalley.

Other Reviews:

If you have reviewed this book as well, leave me a message in the comments and I'll link to your review.

NYC 2013, Part One

Last week, Jon and I went to NYC. It was an incredibly packed trip - we had something planned almost every day! This is already a super-long post (really unusual for a blog that rarely gets updated anymore), so I'm dividing it up. Here are the highlights from the first half of the week:

Saturday
Our first night, we went to a D20 Burlesque show. This one was especially awesome, because it was a tribute to Joss Whedon!

Even the drinks were Whedon-themed! I had a Slayer-Ade and it was delicious.

"Anya" and "Xander" sang and danced (and stripped) to "I'll Never Tell" from the "Once More with Feeling" episode of Buffy.

The best was definitely Astonishing X-Man Cyclops - he even had tasseled pasties over his eyes to mimic optic blasts!
Sunday
That evening, we saw ASSSSCAT 3000 at the UCB Theater. It was so crowded, we actually sat ON the stage. I didn't take any pictures in the theater, since that was a big no-no (and would've been really noticeable during the improv, considering we were practically sitting in their laps), but one of the shows is available on YouTube:


Monday
At the crack of dawn (seriously), we arrived at the Dominique Ansel Bakery to wait in line for our cronuts:

Let me tell you, the whole cronut thing is NUTS. Jon discovered them while he was researching stuff for us to do in the city, and the hullabaloo over them only intensified in the days leading up to our trip. This is an approximation of a conversation I had with my mom the day before we left:

Mom: Are you guys going to get cronuts while you're there?
Me: How do you even know what a cronut is?
Mom: They were talking about them on the news.

Holy cow. You know it's big when my mom has heard about it. So anyway, we got to the bakery a good two hours before the opening and ended up being 10th and 11th in line. One of the men in line in front of us turned out to be a homeless guy who had been paid $40 by a yuppie to wait in line for him. (!) When Dominique opened up the shop, he was really nice and said hi to everyone, but he refused to allow one guy in because he was an honest-to-God CRONUT SCALPER. Seriously, these people buy the cronuts for $5, then turn around and sell them for $20 - $50. EACH.

Long story short(-er), the cronuts were delicious. Maybe not worth standing in line for two hours again, but definitely worth it for the experience. We also went back to the bakery later in the week to try some of the other pastries; I actually preferred the salted-caramel eclair to the cronut.

Our Monday night was spent at my favorite Brooklyn bar, The Way Station. It's Doctor Who-themed! The walls are decorated in steampunk paraphernalia and the bathroom entrance is a TARDIS (because it's bigger on the inside):

The reason we went to the Way Station on this particular night, however, was because of the band playing there: The Doubleclicks! My current favorite song (and not just because they dedicated it to me, the only English major in the crowd) is "Oh, Mr. Darcy," which you can hear here:


Tuesday
We didn't have anything planned for Tuesday, but while I was getting ready in the morning Jon managed to get us tickets to that day's taping of The Daily Show. This involved going to Hell's Kitchen in the afternoon to stand in line to pick up the tickets, then coming back an hour and a half later to wait in line for the actual taping.
The show was great; John Oliver is incredibly funny and the guest was one of my favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan.

Continuing our comedy motif, that night we went to the Sweet Comedy Show. It was kind of a weird show - the comedians were great, but there were some very drunk hecklers in the balcony that really detracted from the show and threw off the vibe of the room. By a strange coincidence, I had read this excellent essay by Patton Oswalt earlier the same day. To read about how hecklers can affect a show and then to actually see them do it was disconcerting. I was glad when they finally left (after being called out by the comedians and yelled at by the rest of us in the audience), but I felt really bad for the comedians who had to put up with them during their sets.

That seems like a really weird place to end this part of the travelogue, so instead I'll leave you with this list of the 10 most satisfying cases of hecklers getting destroyed. Stay tuned for Part Two!

(Crafty) Nerd Alert

Here's some crafty/geeky stuff I working on! Some of it is really cute, and I wanted to share it. Let's go in order of completion, shall we?

First up: this is a cross-stitch I'm working on of Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly character from Breakfast at Tiffany's. I just started working on it, which is why there's been so little progress. I found the pattern in the Craftster forums (an excellent place to go for ideas and inspiration, I might add). I'm doing the piece in various shades of blue, and if it turns out well it'll be a Christmas gift for a friend of mine. She loves Audrey, and already has a painting of her hanging in her daughter's room. Fingers crossed!

This hat is another project I'm working on for someone else, and I need to get it finished relatively soon. It's going to be a viking beanie (I still need to crochet and stuff the horns on the sides) for my friend Casey. Dragon*Con is coming up, and this year I'm going to be in the parade! A whole group of us are, actually, and we'll be representing the Periodic Table. (There's a Facebook group if anyone else is going and doesn't have a parade costume yet - we still have elements available!) Casey's going as "Thorium," so I talked her into dressing like Thor by offering to crochet her a viking helmet. I found this pattern on etsy, the home of awesome stuff.

Next up is the only thing I'm currently working on for myself. Anyone else a Doctor Who fan? I recently fell in love with the newest incarnation (thank you, Netflix streaming video!) starring David Tennant. I haven't been able to catch up with the older series (yet), but I decided to go ahead and make this anyway. It's a scarf based on the one worn by Tom Baker during the 12th season of the original Who series. The pattern is available online if you'd like to give it a go as well. I've been working on this thing off-and-on for MONTHS. It's an easy stitch, so I usually pick it up and knit a few rows while I'm watching TV. You can't really tell from the picture, but it's already longer than I am tall (5'5") and it's probably one-third to one-half finished. I was hoping to have it done in time for Dragon*Con, but I really doubt that'll happen. Next year, maybe...

This little guy is another Who-inspired creation. He's an adipose baby, which if you watch the show you know is basically an anthropomorphic blob of fat. But isn't he cute? He's a birthday gift for a friend of mine. I bought enough fabric to make 4 or 5 (I think), which is good because I've already started making another one for my BFF and one to keep for myself. I got the pattern for him from the Crafty Tardis livejournal community. I'm pretty sure you have to be a member to see the pattern posts, but it's well worth joining if you're interested in this kind of stuff. Next I might make a sonic screwdriver out of Sculpy! Or just buy one from ThinkGeek when they get some back in stock.

Last, but not least, we have The Nerdiest Thing I Have Ever Made. Srsly. I saw this in an episode of Futurama a few years ago and always thought it was a funny/geeky take on the "Home Sweet Home" sampler. My friend Jay recently bought a house, and seeing as we met in a computer class back in 6th or 7th grade, I thought this was pretty much the best housewarming gift I could make for him.

Your turn! Do you have any craft projects you'd like to share or patterns you think I'd like? Post 'em in the comments.

Lots o' Links: Comic-Con Wrap-Up Edition

I had so much fun putting together last week's Blog Post BINGO post that I've decided to do it again! This time, it's a collection of links I've been reading about Comic-Con 2009. I couldn't go, so I'm living through the lucky thousands that did.

* First up, the trailer for the new Alice in Wonderland. It's not coming out 'til next year, but I cannot wait:

Alice in Wonderland (2010) at IGN.com

(via BWE)

* SCI FI Wire has a recap of the Chuck panel. And Jeffster performed!

* Scott Allie discusses the future of Dark Horse Comics. The highlights? More Joss Whedon comics! Including a Dr. Horrible one-shot, a Serenity mini-series focusing on Shepherd Book, a Serenity one-shot written by Patton Oswalt, and a Guild comic written by Felicia Day. Yay!

* I'm not sure how I feel about this movie, but here's three clips from the upcoming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus:


(via Wired)

* Also from Wired, my girl crush Kristen Bell talks about her role in Astro Boy.

* BoingBoing Gadgets has photos of various toys for sale. There are a bunch in this Flickr pool, too.

* And finally, The Park Bench has a recap of the event from a first-timer: Preview Night, Day One, Day Two, Day Three (make sure you check out the video she links to in that one, especially if you're a Doctor Who/Torchwood fan...rowr), and Day Four

I really want to go next year. Who's coming with me? :)

BIP Blog Post BINGO: The links post

This week's challenge for the Blog Improvement Project is another blog post BINGO challenge. I'm not going to get to all 12 of them, but I'm certainly trying. Number one is a link post, so here are a bunch of random things I've found recently that are too wonderful not to share.

* Did you know that the Vatican's newspaper does movie reviews? Even better: they actually liked the new Harry Potter!

* Speaking of Harry, here's an adorable video of Japan's #1 HP fan meeting Daniel Radcliffe:


(via Gawker)

* Anyone else excited about Rock Band: The Beatles? Joystiq has the song list and a video to whet your appetite. (via my friend Luke)

* Star Wars: Uncut is Star Wars, broken down into 15 sec. segments, reshot by fans, and put back together again.

* Weezer goes 8-bit! (via BoingBoing)

* From the "Things That Make Me Go, 'Awww!'" file: an article about a Woodstock couple still together after 40 years. (also via BoingBoing)

* The (new) Doctor in costume. I gotta say, I love the bowtie! I wonder how many of these will show up at Dragon*Con this year...?

* For my fellow Game On! dieters: four myths about staying hydrated.

* After this past Peachtree Road Race, I'm thinking about joining the Atlanta Track Club to help me get serious about running. I don't know if I'll ever work my way up to "marathoner," but here's a list of 11 celebrity marathon runners to help me get motivated.

* If I ever have to get married, I only ask three things: play the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" as I'm walking down the aisle, let me have a karaoke machine at my reception, and please, for the love of God, would someone help me make a wedding video as awesome as this one?!:

Brian & Eileen's Wedding Music Video. from LOCKDOWN projects on Vimeo.

(via i am bored)

* Any other Firefly fans out there? Check out The Browncoats - "The Hero of Canton" does surprisingly well as a pop/punk song.

* There was a bit of a kerfluffle this week when Kindle owners realized that Amazon had deleted their copies of 1984. Here's how to read it anyway.

* Because mocking the Twilight movie never gets old: "Twilight," in a Nutshell.

* And just to bring this full circle, Jimmy Fallon had some clips of DRad and RPatz's YouTube spat:

Music Munday: JoCo and Paul and Storm

Sorry this one's going up a bit late; I'm on vacation and I was out on the beach all day. :P I had planned on writing about my obsession with a Cappella music for this week's Music Munday, but then I went to a Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm concert Saturday night. It was one of the best concerts I've been to in years, and since it was a tech-geek-heavy crowd, there's footage of it on YouTube!

Before my BFF Fran invited me to the show, my only exposure to JoCo was the song "Code Monkey" (which my ex-boyfriend loved and played for me a few times) and this Warcraftian video for "First of May" that a friend of a friend made me watch a few months ago (NSFW - the f-word is used liberally and the video features animated creatures...um, acting out said word). I wasn't at all familiar with Paul and Storm, which gives me some measure of shame to admit now that I've seen them. Both musical acts are fairly simple: acoustic guitar + geeky lyrics = success!

To be perfectly honest, I actually preferred Paul and Storm, the opening band, over JoCo. But they were both awesome. P&S were just a bit more upbeat. They also gave away "FABULOUS PRIZES" during their set, usually to people who cracked funny jokes. I have to say, that crowd was one of the quietest I've ever heard; while the songs were being performed, everyone was listening attentively (and laughing appreciatively). But during the silences in between songs, well, there was some pretty funny heckling. Paul and Storm got us a bit riled up: when Jonathan Coulton came on, he jokingly complained about the vivacity of the audience (I blame "The Captain's Wife's Lament" - see below).

Now, on to the videos! Since these were recorded on digital cameras, the quality isn't the best, but I think you get a pretty good idea of what it was like. First up, Paul and Storm's first song, "Opening Band." This video is not actually from the Atlanta show, but it was such a funny song I wanted to include it.



It's pretty similar to what I saw Saturday, except during the lyric "No panties have been thrown," a bunch of people at the front of the stage threw panties of varying colors and sizes (including a pair of Batman Underoos) and one frying pan. We were rechristened "Pant-lanta," but it apparently happens every time. At least I know for the next show...

This is the last Paul and Storm song, "The Captain's Wife's Lament," which got us all pirate-y:



This was Jonathan trying to get us to stop "Arr"-ing:



Following this clip, he requested, "Don't put that $h!t on YouTube." As one audience member so eloquently put it, "Too late!"

This interesting little instrument is called a zendrum. The song, "Mr. Fancypants," was one of my favorites of the night:



That's right, we got Rick Roll'd.

And, last but not least, Jonathan Coulton AND Paul and Storm singing "Creepy Doll":



If you liked these songs, I highly recommend you check out the websites. They also sing about zombies and fighting nuns and stuff, too. Both acts have Twitters, too: @jonathancoulton and @paulandstorm.

Thanks to Chris for hosting Music Mundays. You can learn more about them here.

Happy 3.14 Day!

It's Pi Day! Last year, I celebrated by participating in a Pi Run. I would've done it again this year, but the weather's been finicky lately and today was drizzly and rainy. So instead I decided to bake a pie!

The day wasn't my only inspiration: tomorrow is my Mom's birthday and I wanted to make something sweet for her; also, I had a recipe for a pecan and walnut pie that I really wanted to try out. The recipe came from Katie Brown Celebrates, which I won from Bethany a few months ago.


Ingredients:
1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
4 eggs
1 (10-inch) deep-dish pie crust
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and salt in a bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and mix well. Spread this mixture into the pie crust. Combine remaining brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs with the syrup and nuts. Pour this mixture over the cream cheese layer. Bake 40-50 minutes.


This is the completed, but unbaked, pie. It's much prettier than the baked-and-cooled version, which puffed up and oozed over the sides. Good thing I had it on a baking sheet!

More Pi fun:
* a collection of pie recipes from Cake Spy
* pie songs
* Simple As 3.141592 t-shirt

How are you celebrating?

Best. Ornament. EVER!

I have this tradition with some of my friends from the MAT program I completed this summer. There are six of us who managed to get teaching jobs near Milledgeville, where we went to grad school, and every week we get together for dinner and tales of teaching (the good, the bad, and the ugly). A few weeks ago, we decided to do a Secret Santa gift exchange, rather than having everyone worrying about getting a gift for everyone else in the group. I unhelpfully listed "books" as my desired gift, because I'm a voracious reader and really not that picky. Lo and behold, my friend Annie pulled my name out of the hat (literally!) and pretty much picked out the perfect gift:


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which I've been wanting to read anyway) as a GRAPHIC NOVEL. It's too awesome, and I'm insanely pleased by it.

"But wait," you say. "What's that small green folded thing in the bottom right-hand corner?"

That, my blog-pals, is the second-awesomest thing I got tonight. See, every week, we pick a different restaurant. This week, someone suggested Chinese. Not my favorite, but lord knows I talk them into eating Mexican enough, so whatever. I actually really enjoyed my Spicy Bean Curd, and I have enough leftovers for the next 2-3 days. We were leaving to pay, and I noticed that there was a Christmas tree near the cash register decorated with origami ornaments. On closer inspection, I realized quite a few of them were Yoda! I asked the guy at the register if I could buy one, and he told me to take one off the tree gratis, provided I come back to eat again. How great is that?

A closer look:



And just cause that guy was so nice: if you're ever in Milledgeville, Georgia, and looking for a place to eat, I highly recommend Lieu's Peking Restaurant. Maybe next time I'll talk him into teaching me how to make one of these myself.

Star Trek trailer!

ICYMI - STAR TREK TRAILER @ Yahoo! Video

I am so, so excited!

Read-a-Thon!

<--- Get used to this picture; you'll be seeing it a lot this weekend. :)






The 24-Hour Read-a-thon is starting tomorrow at 12pm GMT - 7am for me. I'm excited, because this will be my first time participating as a reader. Last time I was a cheerleader and hosted my very own mini-challenge.

In addition to my current TBR pile, here are the books that I picked up to read for the 'thon:
In her Read-a-thon preview post, Nymeth included the opening lines from her RAT books (she credits Debi for giving her the idea). I liked it so much, I'm doing it, too:

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
"We didn't always live on Mango Street."

Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
"For numberless years a myna had astounded travelers to the caravansary with its ability to spew indecencies in ten languages, and before the fight broke out everyone assumed the old blue-tongued devil on its perch by the fireplace was the one who maligned the giant African with such foulness and verve."

Bella at Midnight, Diane Stanley
"When the message came and I saw it was from Edward, I nearly choked on my plum cake."

Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn (This just came in from BookMooch today - it's been on my wishlist for ages, so I'm thrilled it got here in time for the 'thon!)
"Dear Cousin Tassie,
Thank you for the lovely postcards. I trust that you and Aunt Mittie had a pleasant trip, and that all your stateside friends and paternal relations are healthy and happy."

Pretties, Scott Westerfeld (I finished Uglies today, so I'm looking forward to completing the trilogy this weekend.)
"Getting dressed was always the hardest part of the afternoon."

Specials, Scott Westerfeld (ibid.)
"The six hoverboards slipped among the trees with the lightning grace of playing cards thrown flat and spinning."

The Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Blade Runner (I have no idea where this came from, but I'm eager to see how it compares to the original book.)
"The city is vast. Its levels deep. Its towers are tall; monuments of stone and glass thrusting out of perpetual smog and mist rivaled only by exploding plumes of industrial fire."

Marvel Comics Dune The Official Comic Book (I've had this since my undergrad days, but only recently discovered it again when I moved.)
"A beginning is a very delicate time. Know then that it is the year ten thousand one ninety-one."

The individual comics are the Serenity: Better Days series, which I bought at Dragon*Con a few months ago and haven't read yet. Why? I don't know. But Wash better be in the story, or I will be a very angry fangirl.

I also have some novels and short stories from The Classic Tales Podcast and LibriVox saved on my iTunes and iPod, just in case. You never know when I'll get the urge to walk around in the woods while listening to Jane Austen's Love and Freindship [sic]. I also have some e-books saved on my computer, including a glorified Firefly fanfic. At some point, I will probably watch Neil Gaiman read The Graveyard Book, and for other Gaiman fans out there, here's a link to a free audio download of "A Study in Emerald," from Fragile Things.

Ooh, and I almost forgot: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart
I don't have the opening line for this one, as I checked it out of the school's library today, left it in my car, and am too lazy at present to go get it. Plus, it's raining. But I'm sure it'll make its way inside somehow. :)

Happy reading!

Why so serious?

Being the geekette that I am, of course I went to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight last night. I actually made it a comic book movie night and saw Hellboy 2 beforehand. (It was awesome too, for the record.) But DK was just...amazing. It was nearly 3 hours long! And so much stuff happened. The biggest surprise I'm not even gonna mention, because I wasn't spoiled for this movie and I don't think anyone else should be, either. Christian Bale was hard core, and Michael Caine was great for comic relief, but Heath Ledger totally owned this movie. He was just so perfect as the Joker: creepy and scary and frackin' insane.

One thing I was disappointed about - no Harry Potter teaser. But we did get this:

which is just is good.

Anyone else see it? What did you think? Did you have nightmares?

I've gotten a little obsessed with amigurumi over the past few months; I made the cutest little penguin for Ashley, and now I've got my crochet hooks set on something slightly more difficult. Watching Hellboy 2, all I could think was, how awesome would it be to make an amigurumi Hellboy? With, like, a Sculpey rock hand and Big Baby?

More DK links for your entertainment:
Does Batman Have Insurance?, from Best Week Ever
"Dark Knight" Dogma, from MTV

The Dark Knight

Being the geekette that I am, of course I went to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight last night. I actually made it a comic book movie night and saw Hellboy 2 beforehand. (It was awesome too, for the record.) But DK was just...amazing. It was nearly 3 hours long! And so much stuff happened. The biggest surprise I'm not even gonna mention, because I wasn't spoiled for this movie and I don't think anyone else should be, either. Christian Bale was hard core, and Michael Caine was great for comic relief, but Heath Ledger totally owned this movie. He was just so perfect as the Joker: creepy and scary and frackin' insane.

One thing I was disappointed about - no Harry Potter teaser. But we did get this:

which is just as good.

Anyone else see it? What did you think? Did you have nightmares?

I've gotten a little obsessed with amigurumi over the past few months; I made the cutest little penguin for Ashley, and now I've got my crochet hooks set on something slightly more difficult. Watching Hellboy 2, all I could think was, how awesome would it be to make an amigurumi Hellboy? With, like, a Sculpey rock hand and Big Baby?

More DK links for your entertainment:
Does Batman Have Insurance?, from Best Week Ever
"Dark Knight" Dogma, from MTV

Cunning, ain't it?

I finally got around to adding the pompom ball up top. Yay! This one's for Fran, but I'll be making more for Dragon*Con later. My next project is an amigurumi penguin for Ashley, who's moving into the apartment complex this weekend.

Imitation is the craziest form of fandom

Chuck Klosterman wrote an article for the Guardian that looks at bands and their fans:

If you scrutinise the followers of any significant rock group, you will predominantly find unrelated, nondescript quasi-hipsters who represent nothing in particular; the clearest sign that any entity has become mainstream popular is when it appeals to random people who don't really care. Asking a band about who inhabits their fanbase tells you nothing. A better question is this: "Who are your fans that care too much?" Because it's always the fringe lunatics who matter more.

There's also a photo gallery that lets you test how well you can match the fans to the bands. Some of them are ridiculously easy (Marilyn Manson, Rod Stewart, Missy Elliot), and some are less so (The Klaxons? McFly?).

It's pretty interesting, and it makes me wonder: do people take your fanness less seriously if you don't emulate your object of obsession? This coming from the girl who's dressed up for Harry Potter book releases and is already planning her Dragon*Con costumes...

Adventures in god-sitting

A few weeks ago, my mom's friend asked me if I would stay in her house and watch her dog for a week and a half. I jumped at the chance, because a) I LOVE dogs and have always, always, always wanted one of my own, and b) her house is five minutes from where I work on the weekends, thus saving me a bunch of gas money. Win-win!

This is Mulligan:

He's a very sweet, energetic springer spaniel. He had a few digestive problems earlier in the week, but after a trip to vet, a few pills, and some special wet food, he's doing much better. We were having a great time together, until...


Well, actually, this was pretty cool. I was downstairs cleaning up when I looked out the window and saw a deer, chillaxin' out by the fish pond.

In the middle of the day.

I was surprised, because although I've seen hundreds of deer out here in the sticks (I even hit two in my old car, which is why I upgraded to the Yaris), I had never seen one after 9 am or before 7 pm. This cell phone picture was taken at around 1:30 yesterday. Right after I took it, Mulligan saw the deer and went CRAZY. His barking and scratching at the windows drove the poor deer off into the woods. I figured that would be the end of the drama.

Five minutes later, Mulligan starts giving me the "I have to go outside now, human!" look. As soon as I opened the door, he ran like hell for the woods. I started to get worried when he didn't reappear for a few minutes. I was all set to start organizing a neighborhood search when I saw the deer, running for its life from a dog one-fifth its size. Mulligan eventually returned to the house (after exhausting himself chasing his new friend), and that was when the smell hit me.

Mulligan's owner warned me that he liked to roll around in deer crap, but I didn't believe her until I saw (and smelled) it for myself. Washing him turned into a huge ordeal; every time I picked him up and put him in the tub, he jumped right back out. Then he wagged his tail and ran around in circles, because he was clearly having the time of his life. In the end, I managed to herd him into the shower stall, although he cowered in the corner where the spray barely hit him. Let me tell you, trying to wash deer excrement off of a squirming wet dog while fully clothed and mildly annoyed is NOT a good way to pass the time.

Luckily, yesterday was also the day that I finally got to see the Iron Man movie. I think I embarrassed Casey; I made her sit through the end credits, listening to me talk about the Avengers movie and how disappointed I was that there was no Sam-Jackson-as-Nick-Fury-cameo in the movie. And then that little teaser scene at the end happened, and I completely lost it. I haven't had a geekgasm like that since last year's DragonCon.

Oh, and the subject line isn't a typo. I was trying to tell Casey (via Facebook) "I'm dog-sitting this week" and ending up typing "I'm god-sitting this week" FIVE TIMES before I finally got it right. Freudian slip much?

Video games, sex, and coloring

This is a cute little video I found on BoingBoing. In it, SCAD prof Daniel Floyd discusses the use of sex in video games, and why they're not taken seriously as an art form.

And here's something that may help: Lifehaker has a link that shows how to turn your Nintendo DS into a digital sketchbook. There's also a video demonstration that looks pretty sweet.