5 fandom friday

5 Fandom Friday: My Favorite Swag from SDCC

I can’t believe it’s already been a week since Comic-Con happened! I’m still trying to recover from it. Going back to work was R O U G H, you guys. There were a few times I woke up in the morning feeling like a sack of garbage and was tempted to call in sick to sleep a bit more. But I didn’t. Thank goodness I don’t work Fridays though. WOO! So today’s theme for 5 Fandom Friday is to share some of our favorite pieces of swag we got at a convention. Since SDCC just happened, I’m sharing the best things I scored!

1. Agent Carter poster

This is the one freebie that I truly cared about obtaining, and it was bitch trying to get it. I went to the Marvel booth a few times, but they never had it when I’d go there. I asked the workers if they would be passing them out, and each time they answered with, “Yes, later today. I don’t know what time, but check back later.” UGH. I always asked very politely too (because I’m a Hufflepuff, duh), but they were quite bitchy. It’s like, okay, I understand that this is probably the millionth time you’ve been asked that question today, but if someone is being polite as hell the least you could do is try and be courteous. Am I right?

I went to the ABC booth on Sunday and my friend asked one of the workers if they had any Agent Carter posters there, and they were super nice about it and checked for us. And they did have them! So I finally got one after I did the photo booth thingy that they had at their boothw. YAY!

2. Photo booth pictures

I took A LOT of photo booth pics during SDCC. Pixster was at both the Geeks Go Glam and SherlockeDCC parties I went to, and my bloggy buddies and I had way too much fun hamming it up in front of it. And at the ABC booth they had photo booth with a random generator — characters that you could possibly take a picture with were Miss Piggy, Animal, Fozzie Bear from The Muppets or Regina from Once Upon a Time. I was freaking out because I was so worried that I’d get Regina. Although she’s one of my favorites on the show, I REALLY wanted to take a picture with a Muppet. I was beyond relieved when I got Animal. 😀

3. Pins/buttons

I got some really cool buttons and pins this year! At the Tsum Tsum booth they passed out envelopes with pins after you take a picture at either of their photo ops. There were a total of 24 pins that you could collect, but who has time to do that? I managed to get Minnie and my absolute favorite Lady. I also got some free Star Wars pins from Loungefly (only Darth Vader is pictured), a button from Sam Maggs’ book signing that says “I’m the Doctor, Not the Companion,” an exclusive AT-AT pin from Think Geek with my purchase, and an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Secret Warriors pin. 🙂

4. Legend graphic novel by Mari Lu

My sister is a huge fan of Marie Lu’s Legend series and I decided to go to book signing with her since she’d be signing free copies of the graphic novel adaptation of Legend. I love graphic novels, especially since my attention span isn’t as great as it used to be when it comes to reading (I get SO distracted), so I’m really excited to start reading it.

5. Personalized Coke can

Over at Nerd HQ they had a machine where you can personalize your own Coke can! You could make two at a time so I wanted to make one that said Peggy Carter and Captain America… except it wouldn’t let me. RUGH. So I made one with Peggy and kind of panicked for the second one and just did my name. After I left I was like, “I COULD’VE MADE ONE THAT SAID STEVE” (for Captain America’s civilian name). Oh well. At least I now have a little Coke can with my name on it (despite the fact that I bought a Diet Coke bottle bearing my name last month).

Were you at Comic-Con this year too? Let me know what your favorite freebies were this year! And if you didn’t go, feel free to leave whatever kind of comment! 🙂

 


To find out the origins of 5 Fandom Friday, go here. And check out The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick to catch up with the latest prompts! 

 

geek style

5 Fandom Friday: Characters I’d Love to Dress Up As For Halloween

Screen-Shot-2014-09-25-at-7.48.24-AM

 

Halloween is just around the corner! Can you believe it? I bloody well cannot. I mean… how are we even in the midst of October already? Where did September go?! Anyhow, I never really have set plans for Halloween every year, but I like having a costume ready to wear anyway because who knows? Something just may pop up! So for this edition of 5 Fandom Friday, I’m sharing the top 5 characters I’d like to dress up as for Halloween!

1. Mabel Pines

I’m actually going to be dressing up as Mabel this year and I’m super excited!!! I found a cute little pig costume at TJ Maxx for Rory last month and took that as a sign. After all, what’s Waddles without Mabel? I already have a couple of pullovers that I can Mable-fy, but I’m still uncertain of which route to go. That girl’s novelty sweater game is seriously on point.

2. Snow White

Snow White is my favorite Disney princess, so of course I’d love to dress up as her for Halloween! In second grade I asked for a Snow White costume from the Disney catalog and got to wear it at school for our Halloween parade. I thought it was the greatest thing EVER! The only thing was I was super tan from playing outside a lot, so I looked more like Dirt Brown than Snow White, y’know? I’m pretty pasty these days, so I think I can pull it off now.

3. Mary Poppins

I considered dressing up like a modern day May Poppins with my blue blazer and black skater skirt, plus this white frilly top I wore with my TARDIS costume last year. But then the Mabel thing happened, so I’ll have to put a pin on the Mary idea until another Halloween. Or convention. Who knows?! And I honestly didn’t want to deal with scouring thrift stores for the perfect carpet bag or black straw hat. #lazy

4. Camilla

Dressing up like Camilla the chicken (Gonzo’s lady love from The Muppets) seems like a random choice, I know! I came up with the idea when I was still with my ex because he had some black and white shoes that totally screamed Gonzo. So I thought it would be stupid adorable if I dressed up like Camilla and he Gonzo, except I didn’t want to go out and wear a bulky chicken costume. Hell no! I had an idea to make a dress with a bunch of feathers and make it look all flapper girl-ish. Though I may be Gonzo-less, I still don’t see why I can’t one day put this Camilla costume into fruition.

5. Lumpy Space Princess

Like, oh my glob y’all! Lumpy Space Princess is hands down my favorite character on Adventure Time. She may be full of herself, and obnoxious, but I can’t help but love her. One day I’d like to find a pouffy purple prom dress and make a flashy gold star to put on my forehead and call it a day. A co-worker of mine is planning on being a “trashy” version of LSP complete with red talons, red lipstick, and a can of beans. I’m sure it’ll be epic!

Do any of you have any idea who you’re dressing up as on Halloween yet?

Cheers,
Nina

bloop

Geeky Confessions

When one identifies themselves as a geek, people will assume that they like and are knowledgeable about certain franchises in the Nerdverse, but this is never the case. Despite what Tyler Durden may say, us geeks are all special unique snowflakes because none of us are completely alike. Not all geeks love Doctor Who, think Ewoks are great, have never read the Harry Potter books, or watched Firefly — although I gasp dramatically when I learn these things from fellow geeks. I know deep down (waaaaaaay way way deep into the core of my soul) that it’s okay. Except for maybe the Ewok thing. HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE EWOKS? They are adorable and totally badass and the Rebellion would be nothing without them!

– deep breath – Okay, okay. I’m okay.

Anywho, Mariko over at Gamerwife put together a list of her geeky confessions and has invited other bloggers to join her in sharing their deepest and most honest confessions about their geekyness.

So these are my geeky confeeessioooonsss (sung like Usher):

1. I decided to hate Harry Potter before I even read the books.

I am beyond ashamed to even admit this, but I was super “hipster” about Harry Potter. In 8th grade a librarian came to my one of my morning classes and talked about different books we all might be interested in. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone was among one of the books and I thought it sounded interesting, but quickly forgot about it. Then a few years later Harry Potter was EVERYWHERE. Shirts, backpacks, socks, lunch bags — HARRY POTTER MERCHANDISE UP THE WAZOO. And it bothered me! Like, “ugh, why is this little wizard boy all over the place? What the eff is Quidditch? UGH.” Then it was adapted into a movie, and my aunt bought the book since it was all that was being talked about and I was like, “WHY?!” because it’s cool to hate on crap you don’t know about, right?. /sarcasm. My older sister read it out of curiosity. She told me it was actually good and I’d probably like it.  After I read it I was hooked and devoured books two, three, and four over winter break since those were all the ones that were published at the time. Now I wish I had a time turner so I could visit my younger self (in disguise so I wouldn’t go insane) and punch her in the lady parts for being such a stupid Muggle!

Lesson learned: Give things chances before I decide if I hate it or not. 🙂

2. I loathe Tinkerbell.

I am self-proclaimed Disnerd. Disney is the very first fandom I was ever part of. But just because I love Disney doesn’t mean I love EVERY character the company has ever created. That being said, I LOATHE TINKERBELL. I think she’s a jerk (I’m actually putting that very lightly, because I’ve called her more colorful things). She tried to have Wendy killed because she was jealous of all the attention she was getting from Peter for eff’s sake! Peter’s not even worth any girl’s time of day because he’s a jerk too. I can’t stand how she’s one of the most popular characters or how her image is used for almost every piece of Disneyland merchandise. And Disney, you are not fooling me with the franchise based on Tink and her fairy homegirls. Am I supposed to believe she was a nice little fairy that makes little do-dads before her days with Peter? Nope. Nu-uh. Not buying it.

3. I’ve never seen any of the original Star Trek episodes/movies, or The Next Generation (TNG). I’ve only seen the two JJ Abrams movies.

When I was on my community college’s newspaper staff, some of the writers talked about how much they loved TNG growing up, and when I admitted I had never watched it they were all shocked. And despite the fact that it’s now on Netflix, or that my former co-worker gave me a big binder full of bootlegs of EVERY Star Trek incarnation (except TNG because her brother told her to keep it), I have yet to sit down and watch them. I’ve always been familiar with the characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed the JJ Abrams movies… I’ll get around to watching the originals/TNG. I swear!

4. I don’t ship Kermit the Frog  and Miss Piggy.

This bothers me so much I actually wrote about it in my journal. Here’s a gist of what I wrote in it:

I think Kermit the Frog is a great as an individual. He’s extremely loyal to his friends and a well accomplished performer (“Rainbow Connection” brings me to tears), but as a significant other, he absolutely sucks. Here he has Miss Piggy who is utterly fabulous and loyal to him, and loves him to bits and pieces, but he DOES NOT APPRECIATE HER!!! He’s a total commitment-phobe. He doesn’t want to settle down with her properly despite the fact that they’ve been together for years (long before I was even born). Their relationship is just so messed up, I don’t even know why they’re together. I mean, I realize they’re fictional, but still! I want to slap both of them! I want to slap Kermit for being an unappreciative prick with a wandering eye (have you seen The Muppets Take Manhattan?). And I want to slap Miss Piggy because even though she can be obnoxious she’s still super fabulous, has an amazing sense of style, and is totally confident in her own skin, however when it comes to Kermit her senses turn to mush. It’s like dammit, Piggy! You are strong and confident, and that frog clearly doesn’t love you the way you love him. You deserve better!

Oh, and one of my friends told me while she was watching an old episode of The Muppet Show, Kermit made comments about Miss Piggy’s weight. MUCH RUDE. And y’know what? Just watch the last two Muppet movies that came out recently, and maybe you’ll miffed too. Okay, I’m going to stop now. I could go on about this, and I know it’s kind of ridiculous, but it seriously irks me to no avail.

5. I have never read a Jane Austen novel all the way through.

It’s expected for all English majors to have read at least one Jane Austen novel. Hell, I even took a Jane Austen class and was super excited about, but I would lose interest with each damn book almost immediately after opening it. I had to consult Spark Notes and whatnot, and whenever I read a chapter summary I’d think, “Well that interesting, what’s next?!” Then I’d go back to the book and re-read with a better understand, and then I noticed what my problem was. Jane Austen likes to ramble. I read the graphic novel version of Sense & Sensibility and loved it! And I assume I only enjoyed it so much was because it took out all the tangents the original text had. A year or so ago I attempted to read Pride & Prejudice and even downloaded an audio version to read along with (those sometimes help me stay focused on the text so my mind doesn’t wander), but I just couldn’t stick with it! So I’m thinking the only way I can enjoy Jane Austen is if her entire collection was turned into graphic novels. * shrugs shoulders *

I still don’t know how I passed with a B.

So what are your geeky confessions?

Cheers,
Nina

out & about

T-Rexes and Dragons and Jedis, OH MY!: Part 2

Jedi Training Academy @ Disneyland

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I was out and about and didn’t have a computer handy. Sooo, here it is, part 2!

For our second full day at Disneyland, we headed to Tomorrowland to watch the Jedi Training Academy show. I’ve seen it in bits and pieces from previous visits as I passed by, but it’s actually a lot of fun to watch. Jedi masters pick kids out from the crowd and teach them how to battle with lightsabers.  They call the kids up by what they’re wearing — some kid had R2-D2 Mickey ears on and the Jedi said, “You, with the r2 unit on his head.” 🙂

The way he talked reminded me of the Old Spice guy — very charismatic with tons of machismo. I think this is probably the raddest job a person can have at Disneyland — you get paid to be a Jedi and play with lightsabers!

Darth Vader, a couple of Stormtroopers, and Darth Maul (not pictured because I couldn’t get a decent shot of him) came out, and the little padawans got to duke it out with them. My nephew Jacob NEEDS to do this the next time he goes to Disneyland. He would go to town with a lightsaber and kick Darth Vader’s ass. I’m sure of it.

Force push!
Darth Vader!
Even if you don’t have kids, any Star Wars fan should watch this.

After the Jedi Training Academy, Tim and I picked up Fast Passes for Space Mountain, and then the four of us watched Captain EO. What’s a trip to Disneyland without some Michael Jackson in space?

“Oh boy, my first 3D movie!”

Since my sister had to go back to work the next day (booo), her and Ryan left after we took pictures with Eeyore, Tigger, and Pooh.

Tim’s favorite!
The one and only T-I-DOUBLE-GA-ER!

It didn’t occur to us until afterwards that we could’ve taken a group picture with one of the characters. So here we are by Splash Mountain:

Basically the one and only decent group shot of us.

After they left, Tim and I headed back to Space Mountain and looked around the gift store near the exit with all the arcade games. In there, I saw a claw machine full of Beanie Babies! Tim was determined to get one, so he got enough tokens for each of us to have a go at it. He went for a little non-Beanie Baby black bear, but missed. For my turn I decided to go for the little black bear as well, since he seemed attainable and was really the only cute thing in there. And I GOT IT! I’ve won a toy from a claw machine once, I was probably 6 when it happened. As I saw the claw scoop it up (this claw machine had a nice scoopy-thing going on, which is way better than the traditional claw because it makes it feel like you have a chance), I tried really hard not to jump up and down out of excitement for fear of possibly shaking the bear out of the claw’s grasp. And when it landed in the slot, I did my little happy dance. “I got it! I got it!” I think I was more excited about this win than the first time I actually won one when I was 6. Tim said there was some girl behind us that said in a somber voice, “She got the one that I wanted.” Is it bad that that made me even more excited? o,0

So where’s the bear? You’ll see him in a bit.

We watched The Muppets 3D show. It’s nice way to escape the SoCal heat.
GONZO!

Decorations for the Mad T Party are already in place near the Monsters Inc. ride. Unlike elecTRONica, the Mad T Party doesn’t take up most of the Hollywood Backlot, which is nice because I hated how it overpowered the area… not that I don’t like TRON or anything. It just took away from the rest of the place!

Don’t worry, White Rabbit. You’re too early.
House of Cards.
Mickey Mouse pretzel!!!
Tim’s Mickey ears.

I didn’t know that some changes were made to The Little Mermaid ride recently, but it was a pleasant surprise to spot them. There are two bits of an animated Ariel that were originally CGI, so they looked nothing like the Ariel that we know and love from the movie. Those were changed to look more like the hand drawn animated version of her, so she looks more familiar to riders. And more bubbles were added to the part of the ride that stimulates a decent under water.

The biggest change I noticed was Ariel’s hair during the “Under the Sea” part. Before, her hair looked like a big giant red tornado, or a Treasure Troll. Take a look here. It was just all kinds of awkward. And apparently John Lasseter thought so too, hence why all the changes were made to the ride.

Ariel’s new ‘do. Less Treasure Troll, more mermaid-y.
Kissy kissy.

After visting Ariel and co. we went to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail so I could find out what my spirit animal is! I’m kind of obsessed with spirit animals. I keep trying to find places that will tell me what my legit spirit animal is, but I always wind up with funky online quizzes.

Redwood Creek Challenge used to be themed around ‘Brother Bear’

Tim and I didn’t see Kenai’s Spirit Cave the last time we went, so we went exploring and eventually found it. Yeah, we could’ve used the map, but what’s the fun in that?

Tim’s spirit animal is a wolf.

I got confuzzled when I went to go see what my spirit animal was. At first a skunk appeared, but then a moose quickly showed up after. Thus, I have decided my spirit animal is both a skunk and a moose. 😛

What, no deer?
Remember that bear I won in the claw machine? Well, here he is! Griswald Spaceman (spa-che-men, like Dr. Spaceman on 30 Rock).

Peter Pan’s Flight was our last ride of the night, but they had some crazy technical difficulties going on about a half hour into our wait period. But we stayed anyway!

Best ride in Fantasyland, hands down.
I love carousel horses! They are pretty much one of my favorite things.
Jingles, the lead horse, was dedicated to Julie Andrews in 2005. I love her. I wish she were my grandmother.

The next day we checked out of our hotel and before heading back up north, we decided to go to the park for a bit. On our way to Toy Story Midway Mania, we saw this Doctor Who and Mad Men art! Crystal Webb, the artist of the DW stuff, talked to us for a bit and we basically nerded out about the Doctor and what companions we liked, and some other random stuff. I think we talked to her for a good 15 minutes. Maybe even 30. I don’t know. Always nice to chat with a fellow Whovian though. You can check her out her art here.

Doctor Who art by Crystal Webb, Don Draper by Orlando de la Paz

As usual, the line for the Toy Story ride was a 45 minute wait, but it’s pretty much the best ride at California Adventure. I’m usually really good at kicking Tim’s bum on this ride, (and Astroblasters, Wii bowling, and Wii tennis too), but when we went in March, HE TOTALLY SCHOOLED ME. I had to redeem myself. We made a bet that the loser has to buy lunch.

Rex & Potato Head
Rex fits right in!

There came a point where we were neck and neck, but Tim won in the end. Hot dogs were on me. :/

DAMMIT.

After lunch we learned how to draw Phineas and Ferb. I don’t have our doodles, so I couldn’t take pictures of them to share with you all. Sorry! They didn’t turn out too shabby though. And since you can’t see them, you’ll just have to take my word for it. Or don’t. Whichever. I don’t care.

Concept art from Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tarzan

Before we embarked on our 7 hour drive back home, we hit Disneyland one last time to grab snacks at the Jolly Holiday Cafe. I think that’s my new favorite eating spot at the park. They have soooo many tasty pastries and soup and sammiches. And the decor!

Stained glass penguin.

And that was my trip! Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures. 😀

click here for part 1