The Funday Post

November 30, 2014 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

♥ The new Star Wars trailer gives us all reasons to stay alive! Did you get goosebumps when the Millenium Falcon showed up? I DID.

♥ In true Nerdfighter fashion, John Green didn’t forget to be awesome and donated signed copies of his books to the public library in Ferguson!

♥ Can you believe Christmas is already around the corner? Here are some fun ways to geek up your gift wrapping.

♥ Puppies dressed like Disney characters is the best thing EVER.

♥ Who Said It?: The Dowager Countess or Jane Austen? I got 11/12 and I don’t know how.

♥ I found this DIY summer bracelet tutorial on Pinterest, but think it would be fun to do as a stocking stuffer!

♥ Another Pinterest DIY craft find: make your own Iron Throne for your phone.

♥ I rooted for Alfonso and Witney on Dancing With The Stars, but how cute is this Super Mario inspired number by Mark and Sadie?

Cheers,
Nina

5 Fandom Friday: Favorite Halloween Flicks

October 24, 2014 Nina Penalosa8 Comments

Halloween is next week! In order to get ready for it, today’s installment of 5 Fandom Friday are my top 5 favorite Halloween movies, or movies on my “must-see” list for the spooky holiday. I’m not a fan of scary movies with suspense and gore, and all that super-duper macabre fanfare that is associated with Halloween. I mean, I like my fair share of macabre, but my wee heart can only take so much. This is the girl who finds Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs incredibly terrifying if that is any indication on how easily I scare.

1. Shaun of the Dead

I remember being very hesitant about watching Shaun of the Dead because… well, ZOMBIES. But I was told that it was absolutely hilarious and not scary, so I gave it a go and now it’s one of my favorite movies EVER. It’s so brilliantly funny with the right amount of gore. It’s about a deadbeat named Shaun who just gets dumped by his girlfriend, and after a night of drinking his sorrows away, the town he lives in has suddenly undergone a zombie apocalypse. While battling a hangover, he tries to win the girl back, reconcile with his mother (who is married to a man he can’t stand, but is actually quite nice), all the while trying to save them and his best friend from getting infected. Good times!

2. Hocus Pocus

This one is an absolute no-brainer, am I right?! It’s been a good while since I’ve seen this movie (total blasphemy, I know), but it’s a classic from my childhood. It also taught all kids another term for boobs: yahbos. Thanks, Thora Birch! Plus who doesn’t love a movie about witches coming back to life because a virgin lit a candle and then all hell breaks loose? Oh, and there’s a talking black cat AND a living dead guy. And singing!

3. ParaNorman

I’ve only seen ParaNorman once, but I feel that it deserves a spot on my list because it seems so under appreciated. It was nominated for Best Animated film at the Academy Awards, but lost to Brave (which I love), but think it could’ve definitely gone to ParaNorman or Wreck it Ralph instead. Anyway, ParaNorman is about a kid who can see and communicate with the dead, and no one believes him. He feels extremely isolated from his family and peers as any young prepubescent boy with super natural abilities would. But his odd ability goes up a notch when he sees a vision of his town’s past and being pursued as witch by the townspeople. I do believe that it’s on Netflix, so if you haven’t seen it you should watch it!

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas

No Halloween movie list is complete without The Nightmare Before Christmas — or any Christmas movie list for that matter because it doubles for both holidays! I just love it. The songs, the characters (Oogie Boogie is sassy as f*ck) — just the overall look and feel of the movie! I remember I was in first grade when it came out and I thought I wasn’t going to like it because it looked “weird.” Now I’m all about weird. 🙂

5. The Craft

This is the only movie on my list that’s rated R. Ooooh! I don’t know why, but I loved this movie as a kid. I feel like I watched it ALL. THE. TIME. And I really had no business watching it because I was 10 when it came out, but I thought witches were cool. The Craft is basically like Clueless with witches. The movie poster even says, “It’s Carrie meets Clueless!”

Honorable Mentions:

Coraline
The Addams Family Values
The Witches
Donnie Darko

What are your favorite movies to watch around Halloween, my little ponies?

Cheers,
Nina

out & about · the biblio files · the reel world

BookCon: Comic-Con for Bibliophiles!

June 7, 2014 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

I got to go to BookCon last Sunday while I was in New York and it was BANANAS — B-A-N-A-N-A-S. I had to spell it out Gwen Stefani style because that’s just how bananas it was.

I didn’t know that it was the very first one, or that Book Expo America (BEA), a trade show for industry folks, would be going on at the same time. One side of the exhibit hall was cut off just for BookCon while the rest was devoted to BEA and it was constantly crowded as BEA attendees were also permitted access to the show floor at BookCon and the panels. It felt like all I did was wait in lines for a majority of the time — lines to get into panels, lines to get into the bathroom (which sounds normal, but 30 minutes?), lines to get freebies, etc. It was mass chaos — especially when it came time for the The Fault in Our Stars panel. My sister and I didn’t even bother trying to get into the queue, so no John Green for me. 😦

But with all that aside, I’m really happy that I was able to go! I just need to remind myself that it was their first go, so it wasn’t going to run perfectly smooth (no convention really does, in my experience). Hopefully they’ll take into account some of the snafus from this year to make the next one more successful. Plus I GOT SO MANY FREE BOOKS (pictured below)!!!

We went to the kickoff panel the night before where Tina Fey (AHH!!!), Jason Bateman, Shawn Levy, and Jonathan Tropper talked about and showed some special clips from the film adaptation of Tropper’s novel This is Where I Leave You. I read the book a couple weeks prior to the trip and I loved it. I’m all for stories about dysfunctional families (who isn’t?) and Tropper is a great storyteller, and based on the clips they showed it looks like it’s going to be a hilarious and gut wrenching adaptation. Oh, and I BREATHED THE SAME AIR AS TINA FEY (and Jason Bateman, but I’m mostly excited about TINA FEY). Just being in the same room as her was a f*cking honor! And Jonathan Tropper read a few passages from This is Where I Leave You to set up certain scenes they showed, which I thought was quite spectacular. He also wrote the screenplay, so it was definitely interesting to learn how he and the director decided to translate the book and figure out what parts to keep, what parts to tweak, and what parts to omit all together.

I also got to go to a panel that featured debut novelists Courtney Collins (The Untold), Yelena Akhtiorskaya (Panic in a Suitcase), and Celeste Ng (Everything I Never Told You) where they talked about their own individual journeys on how they got their first novels published — pretty informing stuff for aspiring writers. I also got a copy of their novels after the panel as well. I feel slightly bad though because the volunteer that was putting them on the table for us to collect them said, “One each.” I thought he meant one of each. But he didn’t. He meant literally only take ONE book. Oops. Courtney Collins’ book is in stores right now — I actually saw it at work yesterday. It’s such a trip to know I saw her and heard her talk about her book and a slew of other things!

SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE HALLWAY FOR THE PANELS. O__O

I got a free signed copy of Eric Smith’s The Geek’s Guide to Dating and I was pretty stoked to meet him since I started following him on Twitter after seeing an article about how he proposed to his fiance with a copy of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars last year. If anyone is qualified to write a guide book on dating for geeks, it’s him, no question. I mean proposing by way of The Fault in Our Stars? SHUT UP, OKAY? OKAY. I high fived him for that too (I’m very enthusiastic about high fives). And he also sent me a copy of Ransom Riggs’ Hollow City to review last month, so I was happy to be able to thank him in person. Which reminds me, I really need to get crackin’ on that! By the way, I highjacked the picture above from his Twitter page since my sister and I are in it. I look unamused, but I promise I was happy. 😀

Like I mentioned earlier, I got quite a few free books! This isn’t everything, but they’re the main biggies that I managed to grab. I still can’t believe I got the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter audiobook for free. CRAYCRAY! I also got a couple tote bags and a tumbler that says “I Read YA” which I will proudly sip Arnold Palmers out of as I read YA novels this summer.

Since the line to wait to get into the The Fault in Our Stars panel was too crazy for me (like holy sh!t, so many teenyboppers — but I’m glad they’re all fangirling over something respectable like TFIOS instead of boybands like I did back in the late ’90s-‘oos), so we headed to Jason Segel’s panel where he talked about his upcoming children’s novel Nightmares which he co-wrote with Kirsten Miller. Luckily we got there before the line got too crowded! Listening to him talk, it’s clear that he’s a child at heart which just made me appreciate him more than ever. He talked about some of the crazy nightmares he had as a child — a witch that would eat his toes, and being chased by Dracula in his castle, and how one night he dreamt that he found a secret room in the castle that Dracula didn’t even know about and he just chilled there. And he said that he believes in magic and called Kermit the Frog the Tom Hanks of Muppets.

Oh, bless him. ♡

I didn’t get to take a picture with the infamous Grumpy Cat (that line was too hectic as well), so I had to suffice with this crazy ass taxidermy Fantastic Mr. Fox looking fellow.

Did any of you get to go to BookCon, or watch The Fault in Our Stars or are excited for Jason Segel’s book and the movie adaptation of This is Where I Leave You?

Cheers,
Nina

out & about · the reel world

August: Osage [Fangirl] County

February 8, 2014 Nina Penalosa1 Comment

It’s every introvert’s dream to watch a movie in a theater all alone — or whoever they happen to be with. Right? Or is it just me?Last week Caitlin and I headed a town over to watch August: Osage County because I’d honestly rather drive to a country bumpkin town 40 minutes away than go to the nice movie theater downtown that’s 15-20 minutes from my house. If you’re familiar with Stockton, you’d understand. Anyhow, much to our delight, when we walked into the theater for the 10pm showing it was completely empty! I did my little happy bounce knowing that I’d be able to fangirl whenever Benedict Cumberbatch’s strange yet handsome face would grace the screen. Of course, my happiness dwindled down when a couple of other folks came into the theater minutes later. *shakes fists at the heavens*

I had heard many good things about August: Osage County, and from the trailers I had seen I thought it was supposed to be a bit of a dramady, and I did laugh… the things I laughed at weren’t necessarily supposed to be funny though. This movie was rife with tragedy. A LOT of tragedy. I really did enjoy the film, but I just don’t think I’d be able to sit through it again. It was depressing as hell and emotionally shattering. Meryl Streep’s performance as Violet Weston, a begrudged middle-aged house wife with mouth cancer, was phenomenal (duh, it’s Meryl Steep after all), and the rest of the cast (Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, etc) was perfect too. And there were so many moments that were horribly uncomfortable and shocking, it got to the point where I had to take the sides of my cardigan and criss-cross them over my face to blind myself from what was going on in front of me. I get second-hand embarrassed so easily. x__x

Given the content of the film, I felt slightly horrible for my fangirl actions. Fangirl actions? Like what? Well for instance, when Ewan McGregor’s handsome bearded mug popped up my natural instinct was to reach out to the screen longingly and turn to Caitlin and whisper, “OH MY GOD! EWAN McGREGOR! SO HANDSOME! I TOTALLY FORGOT HE WAS IN THIS MOVIE [because I was so goddamn excited about Cumberbatch — we both were].” And when Benedict Cumberbatch showed up as Little Charles, the mentally slow but oh-so-sweet nephew of Meryl Streep’s character, we both reached out to the screen and were like, “Awww, baby! Don’t be cry! OH MY GOD HE’S SO CUTE” (he’s in a bit of a sad state when the audience first meets his character). Oh, and he plays the piano and sings in the movie too [see clip below to hear it]. Yeah. Really. That’s when we had to try our very best to contain our feels, but both of us managed to mutter “No, don’t play the piano, you’re going to make me love you more. OMG YOU CAN SING. I LOVE YOU. DAMN YOU.”

DAMN HIM AND HIS TALENT AND HIS STRANGE BUT BEAUTIFUL FACE.

Whew. Sorry.

I swear, I acted as if I was watching Twilight or something. Ugh. I did my very best to not interrupt the viewing experience of the two other people in the theater though. But y’know what? I think the fangirling helped a bit, otherwise I would’ve left the theater in a completely horrible state of mind which wouldn’t have been ideal for the drive back home. The family dynamics were just so broken, and it didn’t matter that I knew it was fictional, I just felt so miserable witnessing every character shatter like fine china onto the ground. So I’m glad I watched it with a fellow Cumberbitch who happily and quietly squeled along with me. 🙂

Um, well… this wasn’t much of a review now was it? If anything this movie going experience only showed me that hanging onto itty bitty pieces of your youth (being a fangirl is a step up from being a 12-year old teeny bopper) can definitely help make the most out of any awkward and depressing situation. Does that even make sense? Whatever. I’m gonna shut up now.

Penalosa out. *drops mic*

Cheers,
Nina

bloop · geek style · the reel world

When You Wish Upon a [Death] Star

November 4, 2012 Nina Penalosa6 Comments

mickey mouse stormtrooper pin disneyland pin trading — Why, what’s that on my shirt? It’s a pin of a Stormtrooper wearing Mickey Mouse ears, which I got at Disneyland BEFORE Disney bought Lucas Films. Disney x Star Wars ain’t nothin’ new.

On Tuesday, nerds around the world became up in arms over the George Lucas-selling-his-company-to-Disney-for-$4.05 billion debacle. My Tumblr and Facebook feeds were filled with posts along the lines of “WHY,GEORGE, WHY?” and “I can’t believe he did that” and there was a plethora of Disney/Star Wars mash-up art as well.

For those who are still sad/enraged by this merger, I urge you to CALM THE FUG DOWN.

Disney/Star Wars mash-up art (or just Disney/Stars Wars mash-ups in general) isn’t anything new — in fact, you can already see and buy that kind of stuff at Disneyland and Disney World considering the fact that there are both Star Wars and Indiana Jones attractions at either park. In Tomorrowland, you can buy popcorn inside an R2-D2 unit. Hell, there are even R2-D2 mouse ears and you can make your own light saber. Disney World holds Star Wars Weekend (which is totally unfair! What about Disneyland?!) and there’s also the Jedi Training Academy Show where little kids get to learn how to wield a light saber and face Darth Vader and Stormtroopers.

So when I first heard the news I thought, “Oh, that’s cool” because it just seemed like a natural thing given the facts I have previously mentioned.

And this video exists:

(click here in case the video doesn’t work)

I didn’t hear about Episode 7 being put into the works until a bit later (because I didn’t bother clicking any links to read the full story), but when I heard, I started thinking, “NO, DISNEY! DON’T MAKE PEOPLE HATE YOU.” My boyfriend calmed my nerves once he told me that George Lucas was only going to be a creative consultant, because if he’s not in full creative control, then they can always turn down anything he has to say. I told Shanice (my bestest friend who hasn’t seen episodes 1-3) about that and she said, “That’s a bad thing. That can hurt Star Wars!” To which I argued, “No, it’s a GOOD thing. George Lucas is the worst thing that has ever happened to Star Wars.” You know it’s true! ~~Just watch The People vs. George Lucas. Watch the original trilogy and see Han NOT shoot first~~. Just look at Jar Jar Binks.

r2-d2 mickey mouse ears hat — photo courtesy of EndorExpress.net

vinylmation star wars series 2 — photo courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

Despite the fact that they’ve had more than a few flops (The Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy and the plethora of Air Bud movies), Disney are great story tellers. I have no doubt in my mind that they’re going to respect the Star Wars franchise and the people that will be working on Episode 7 are going to be folks who grew up with Han Solo and Chewie, so they definitely won’t bastardize the franchise. And weren’t many skeptical about Disney buying Marvel in 2010? Has anything gone wrong with that merger? No? Yeah, I thought not.

james hance beauty and the beast star wars — photo courtesy of James Hance

star wars up_ — photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar

Lucas is also donating all the money he got from Disney to educational programs, which makes him better than a lot of people (looking at you, government). So you can’t hate him completely.

Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers pointed out something pretty interesting in his last video — Lucas has an effects studio called Industrial Light & Magic and in the 80s a computer graphics department was made and then sold to Steve Jobs for $5 million. That computer graphics department was Pixar and Disney bought them for $7 billion in 2006. Pretty sweet deal, right? I’d say the only bad thing to come out of that is Cars, but Cars Land at California Adventure looks pretty damn awesome. So I withhold judgement until I get to experience it in 14 days.

So people, PLEASE STOP COMPLAINING AND LET DISNEY DO ITS MAGIC. When Episode 7 comes out, THEN start complaining. Or start cheering. Whatever floats your Jabba barge.

Cheers,
Nina

geek style · the reel world

Moonrise Kingdom

October 18, 2012December 4, 2017 Nina Penalosa1 Comment

Mod Cloth is currently having a contest to put together an outfit inspired by Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, which happens to be one of my favorite movies of the year! The winner gets a gift certificate to Mod Cloth and a BluRay copy of the movie. Since I loved Moonrise Kingdom soooo much, I thought I’d enter the contest. 😀

Here’s what I came up with:

Moonrise Kingdom by chezfancypants featuring a grey hat

The contest ends tomorrow (Friday, 19 Oct), so if you’re interested in entering, go HERE for more details.

And if you’re not familiar with Moonrise Kingdom, it was written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, and the film is set off the coast of New England during the 1960s, and follows Sam and Suzy, pair of 12-year olds who have fallen in love with each other. They make a secret pact to meet up and run away into the wilderness together. Shenanigans occur as a search party consisting of the local sheriff, Suzy’s parents, and a troop of Khaki Scouts look for them, and the oncoming storm doesn’t help them much either. It’s hilarious, adorable, witty, and happens to be out on DVD/Blu Ray right now, so you should totally check it out!

I absolutely loved Suzy’s outfits, with her knee high socks and saddle shoes and cute dresses. Who knew women all over would be looking to a 12-year old for fashion inspiration? I sure as hell didn’t dress as well as Suzy when I was her age. Then again, I grew up in the 90s. o__0

[photos courtesy of Focus Features]

pup life · the reel world

Frankenweenied

October 1, 2012 Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

Tim Burton’s latest movie Frankenweenie doesn’t come out until this Friday, but for now we can all upload photos of our beloved fur babies and give them a ghoulish makeover to hold us over!

Rory ended up looking like a patchwork sea creature.

I had so much fun making Rory’s, I decided to do one for my boyfriend’s cat, Eevee. 🙂

You can Frankenweenie-fy your pet –> here

the reel world

Mirror Mirror

April 3, 2012 Nina Penalosa6 Comments

I didn’t have very high hopes for Mirror Mirror when I first heard about the project being made, but upon seeing its trailer I thought it looked like it would be cute. And then I found out Tarsem Singh directed it and I thought HOLY CRAP I MUST SEE THIS IMMEDIATELY. Had I looked further into the making of this film when first announced, I’m sure I would’ve gotten excited a lot sooner. But I don’t really look into these sort of things anymore. *shoulder shrug*

If the name Tarsem Singh doesn’t sound familiar to you, he directed this incredibly gorgeous film called The Fall a few years ago. It is, without a doubt, the most stunning film I have ever seen. EVER. It’s visually orgasmic; so rich in color and the scenery. OHMYGOD the scenery! And Lee Pace, aka Ned the Piemaker from Pushing Daisies is the leading man. AND it’s currently available to stream on Netflix. Um… are you still reading this? GO WATCH THE FALL RIGHT NOW. And then come back and finish reading my little blurb. 🙂

So you watched The Fall? Okay, awesome! Back to Mirror Mirror. It’s a fresh take on the Snow White tale as the original one, and reinterpretations of it, is solely focused on the Queen’s vanity and obsession to be the “fairest of them all,” whereas Mirror Mirror also has the Queen (played by Julia Roberts) hungry for power. The premise in Mirror Mirror is that the Queen is completely broke — she makes the village pay ridiculous taxes in order for her to throw lavish parties and whatnot. And of course, she loathes Snow White (Lily Collins aka Audrey Hepburn Jr.). A baron from a nearby kingdom suggests that him and the Queen should get hitched, but the Queen is repulsed at the thought. When a young, strapping prince (Armie Hammer) comes along she plans to marry him to save her kingdom. Seriously, who wants a baron when you can haz a prince?

Mirror Mirror was saturated in rich colors, much like The Fall, and the beginning of the movie had a fantastic animated bit that sort of reminded me of the story of the Deathly Hallows/Tale of the Three Brothers scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1. The characters were fun to watch, Julia Roberts makes for an awesome evil queen, and Lily Collins is Audrey Hepburn reincarnated. Unlike Snow White and the Huntsman, I can see how Lily Collins’ Snow White is > Julia Roberts’ Queen. I mean, Kirsten Stewart over Charlize Theron? PUH-LEEZ.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and this whole fairy tale trend that’s taking over Hollywood with making Snow White a little badass (ex. Mirror Mirror, Once Upon a Time, Snow White and the Huntsman (I guess)) is pretty effing rad.

the reel world

Lumos!

July 14, 2011 Nina Penalosa5 Comments

It’s Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 eve! While I’m extremely excited that the final movie is coming out, I’m also sad because there’s nothing else to look forward to. No more books. No more movies. Pottermore is coming out at the end of the year, but it’s not the same! The end of an era is nigh. 😦

I’m not going to the midnight show, but Jen, Shanice, and I are trekking to San Francisco to watch it at 3:30 am in IMAX 3D. Last year, when Jen and I still lived in the bay, were planning on going to the midnight show for the last HP movie, but they sold out. The next available one was at 3:30 am, so we went and it wasn’t all crazy. There were still lots of people, but they weren’t all rowdy and whatnot. So we’re doing it again!

Since this is the last hurrah, I’m dressing up like a Hogwarts student! Gryffindor to be exact. I’ll be throwing on a button-up shirt and tie later. And since I don’t have a wand, I’m just going to bring my Sonic Screwdriver (I’ll be a Timelord wizard!). Note my scarf — Jen knitted it for me! 🙂

Last night I spent what seemed like an hour and a half sewing this Gryffindor patch onto my cardigan. My sister bought it for me 8 years ago at Comic Con. I’ve always meant to put it on a cardigan or blazer. Finally did so last night, and I have to say, it was a bitch. The patch is really thick, so it was hard weaving the needle in and out.

It’s 8:08 pm PST. Time for me to take a power nap before I leave for the movie!

PS: This will be me at 3:30 am…

geek style · the reel world

“Leave your stupid comments in your pocket.”

June 12, 2011 Nina Penalosa1 Comment

Yesterday I hung out with my good pal Tim and was later joined by his lady Alise. Tim and I had been talking about how we hadn’t watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World since January and kept talking about having a nerd-out day to watch it together, but we’ve both been B I Z Z A Y. I have such a nerd boner for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World — I watched it 3 times in the theater last year, and I bought the DVD the morning it came out. In fact, I walked to Target to buy it before I had class (I used to live within walking distance of a mall). He suggested making it a double feature with The Room — Entertainment Weekly hailed it as “the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” It’s so bad, it’s AWESOME. We ended up watching it twice. Ugh… so hilarious. It’s supposed to be a drama, but the acting is so horrible, the script is weak, and there’s tons of plot holes, BUT IT’S SO AMAZING.

Take a looksie:

Tommy Wisseau, who wrote, directed, and starred in it, said that it’s a black comedy, but you can totally tell it’s trying so hard to be a drama. It was also filmed with both a 35 mm camera and an HD one because he didn’t know the difference… /facepalm.

The Room also has some pretty fantastic dialog. Here are some of my favorite lines:

“Leave your stupid comments in your pocket.” – Mark
“I feel like I’m sitting on an atomic bomb waiting for it to go off.” – Steven
“If you think I’m tired today, wait till you see me tomorrow.” – Claudette
Mark: How was work today?
Johnny: Oh pretty good. We got a new client… at the bank. We make a lot of money.
Mark: What client?
Johnny: I can not tell you, it’s confidential.
Mark: Oh come on. Why not?
Johnny: No I can’t. Anyway, how is your sex life?
“As far as I’m concerned, you can drop off the Earth. That’s a promise.” – Mark