Chronic Geek

At Gen Con!

2011-08-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Geeky Musical Video

2011-08-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Over the last two weeks I put out a call amongst gamer friends to send me video for an upcoming music video parody. I got excellent footage, shot some of my own, and put it all together for a song I wrote called "Game This Way". The song is a parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and celebrates all kinds of gaming.

The lyrics are available at youtube.

Winner and Websites

2011-07-20T17:45:00.001-07:00

We have a winner in the IronDie steampunk wedding contest! It's Kieko!!! Congratulations on winning this fabulous purple D6!

Now, what should I have for the next contest?

Gen Con is fast approaching and before it hits I'll be taking a train into Chicago for a very fun weekend and a stay at a hostel. I'm so glad I can stay at such an inexpensive place and I've heard good reviews about it.

In the meantime I've been in demand doing work from home. A lot of it is for my last course as an IT student, so it's not paid. I've been building websites for several important departments at my school for an independent study credit. It's taken a lot of my time, but I've learned so much. Here's a screenshot of one of the sites in progress. I designed the banner.

Graphic design is a passion of mine, but in all the technical work I do, like coding, it usually gets pushed to the background.

I'm also designing logos and labels for someone else and have been making banners and Photoshop work for someone in trade.

Well I have some more work to do right now, so more later!

ENnies !

2011-07-18T11:44:00.001-07:00

Don't forget to vote in the ENnies! Go here to vote now.

Dragon Chow Dice bags are up for an ENnie and I certainly hope Dragon Chow wins! I will be at the ENnies at Gen Con and I'm looking forward to it tremendously.

In other news the winner of the Iron Die contest will be announced later today.

Harry Potter Premiere

2011-07-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

I am actually going to wait to see the last film. However, I am going to dress up as my own version of Bellatrix!

What are your plans for the premiere?

A New Mouse for a Plague Rat

2011-07-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

This week I came to the realization that my my mouse was broken beyond repair. In an effort to be thrifty I had been using the mouse from my netbook, but after 3.5 years of it's mousey life it was dying a tragic death.

So I went to the store to find a new one. I wanted one that was ambidextrous (because I am), ergonomic and lightweight (because I have hand problems) and cheap. At the store I was faced with the surprisingly high cost of mice until I came across one that met all my standards and was the cheapest one there.

There was just one catch. It was an LED mouse and changed color (although it can be set to one color). I kind of thought that a color changing mouse might be annoying in practice, but I was wrong.

Not only is this the most comfortable mouse that I've ever used, but it's also pretty delightful. With the lights off it adds a nice glow and the color changing is not distracting. I became a little obsessed with the mouse and decided to make a video of the color changes. I got a new video editing program two months ago and have been too busy to use it, so the mouse seemed like the perfect low-risk kind of video to edit with it. I shot the footage on my iPhone and in a few minutes I had a video ready. I also composed a quick Apple chipset tune using Acid Music Studio.

As much as I love technology and find fixing computers and writing programs enjoyable, well, tech might as well be low-key fun now and again.

Steampunk Ring

2011-07-12T12:50:00.001-07:00

Check out the jewelry of Jenna Scifres! Just click on the banner to go to her shop.

Jenna makes high quality jewelry at very reasonable prices. She's recently listed this very neat ring with movable hands! There's only one currently available so check it out here.

A few weeks ago I bought the gothic angel wing ring from her and she did a great job customizing the size to fit my small, hobbit fingers.

You can add Jenna's page on Facebook here.

Ok, that's all for now. Don't forget to enter my contest to win an awesome metal D6.

Pathfinder: Carrion Crown

2011-07-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

Our Carrion Crown game is on a break. We finished the first book and I have never been so satisfied by a gaming experience. It was perfect. In fact, the path we just finished The Haunting of Harrowstone is up for an ENnie. I hope it wins! Our gaming group will be at the ENnies again this year and I'm looking forward to it. Last year it was so much fun hearing from the RPG industry speakers and meeting some of the writers/creators of the products I love.

In the game I'm playing a Gnome Alchemist named Adaleet (she has several more names that she refuses to let me reveal here). Adaleet was drawn by my talented pirate friend Captain Balfour and this coloring was done by his co-Captain Crystal. When I described her I wanted her to sound as much like the Fourth Doctor as possible and I think Chris really got what I wanted!

Until our Pathfinder game starts up again we'll be playing a Dresden Files game. More details on that to come!

Time and Space Bridal Shower & Contest!

2011-07-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the good wishes about my bad news post yesterday. I think it was important for me to get that off my chest and get back into blogging with an honest start.

Yesterday turned out to be an awesome day as a gaming friend of mine held a bridal shower. My friend Beth arrived at my house looking pretty and glam to drive us to north to the event. I completely forgot that people dress up for stuff like this and was wearing a Victorian Tron shirt to try to fit the theme of the upcoming wedding.

Once there it was an awesome time of sitting around a table talking about gaming and anime with a bunch of other ladies. I'd never had the experience of just hanging out with a group of girl gamers without a dude present and while not super different than any other gamer conversation it was a positive experience. We were surrounded by movie themed decorations and by a very supportive family.
As the afternoon progressed we filled out a 2-page document that would be used to generate a custom RPG about the bride and groom. When the presents were open your sheet was used to fill out an ongoing story about the bride fighting her way across the world. At one point she defeated a book club and a mad-scientist surrounded by enchanted bunk beds! When it got to my answers...
My sheet was a little all over the board and once my present was open she had to face...ENCHANTED PROSTITUTES! (Hey, it said profession and that was the first that came to mind since I'd already used lawyer for a job title in a previous question).

Now on to my present. While I did get the Bride something for her house (ok Dragonfly decorative lights...) I also gave her a dice bag with a space print and an IronDie. What is that you ask?
Oh look there's my antique Tron shirt! Ok, and what's that I'm holding? That's an IronDie. It's an all metal D6 that retails for $5-$6 and can be used to replace your typical D6s or can be used as part of the IronDie Game. I included a different more steampunk looking one with the bride's gifts, but this lovely purple one is what I'm giving away!

To win the D6 leave a comment about what you would hope to see GO WRONG during a wedding that involved actual time travel. The contest is open until Sunday July 16th at 11:59 PM CST. The winner will be randomly chosen (using dice of course!) and announced on Monday July 17th.

Good luck! I leave you with the awesome cookie jar someone gave the bride. It makes the Tardis brake noise when you open it!

It's Been a Hard Year

2011-07-09T06:01:00.001-07:00

As my lack of posts may indicate and the fact that I did not get to celebrate my one year blog anniversary it's been a bad few months. In February I had two consecutive gluten exposures that sent me to the hospital for a week and I've been ill off and on ever since. It's no secret that the name of this blog Chronic Geek comes from the fact that I have chronic illnesses, but it's something I try to leave out of the blog. I would rather be the Chronic Geek because I've been a fan of something since childhood, and well, that's part of the reason for the name too.

Since my health has worsened I have quit working and am doing the odd research assistance and web design work from home. I have also found out that I cannot get financial aid for the upcoming school year since I already have a Bachelor's and a Master's. This means I will not be in school for I.T. any longer.

Let's not be down though! Anyone who has read my entries knows that this blog is a positive space. For the most part I DO NOT do negative reviews and I promote people and businesses on here that are awesome.

My blog is back up and running now. I may not be able to get out a lot to do stuff, but I am going to Gen Con and I was able to get a hotel connected to the ICC so that I can easily go back and rest as necessary.

So, let's get to some posting. Thanks for listening!

Flooding and Dandies

2011-04-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

There are three roads going out of the town I live in and one is closed due to flooding. My area of the US is having record flooding right now and I wanted to share a bit of that. The science geek in me would love to take some samples and study them. In high school I got to take a summer science survey course that did surveying for the state rivers and wetlands. It was so fun. This situation, however, is not so fun. If the other road floods I won't be able to make it to school or even worse, to work.

Well, check it out:

This video also links to a new channel on Youtube that I made to showcase my silliness, i.e. making characters and cosplaying as them. more on that later!

Here is another road that is getting close to flooding over. If this one goes then I can't make it out of town. My town has a gas station and a flea market, so prospects aren't good for getting stuck here, but I can always cosplay some more. Whew. This river is usually low and all the water you see was a farm field that I have never seen flood.

I took this photo earlier in the week and the water has actually advanced up to the pavement since then. I don't have an updated picture right now, but I did snap a quick image of the eastern side of the road which is also flooded. The water was up on the shoulder on Friday, having advanced without any rain falling.

It's been raining for several hours and is forecasted to continue into Monday with up to 5 inches so I'm expecting to lose access to this major highway very soon.

Custom Zombie Art Contest!

2011-04-30T21:03:00.001-07:00

My friend Lupe Posada is a wonderful artist that you should check out. She's holding a contest right now. What's it for?!

"A custom portrait of yourself zombified! It will be done with acrylic paint on an 8"x10" canvas board."

Visit her site to sign up. The winner will be chosen at random. While you are there be sure to browse her galleries. You can also go to her etsy store for more goodies.

Lupe's art shows in Southern California so be sure to look for updates if you live in the area.

Emilie Autumn

2011-04-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

I got to do something very excellent as a late birthday present this year. Emilie Autumn was in St. Louis at the Fubar and tickets were only $13 pre-sale! This was an incredible bargain to see her amazing live show.

Her stage set-up and some of her logos have a Steampunk flair to them. If you are into literature, especially Shakespearean, you recognize many of the themes in her music.

At the back of the stage was a big clock with a shadowy silhouette that was sometimes this adorable rat and sometimes Emilie or one of her Crumpets (the girls who are part of her merry band).

Once the show started it was about three hours of amazing singing, violin performance, dancing, pirate stilt-walking, and tea flying everywhere! There was also a sword fight and of course the rat-game (for those who know what that is). EA's next album, F.L.A.G. will be out in a year or so (hopefully) so be sure to see her live when she goes on tour again!

Harry Potter in China

2011-04-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Years ago I spent a year working in China. While I was there I was lucky enough to find a one-night showing of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in English. That particular print had Chinese sub-titles. The usual showing was dubbed in Chinese.

While I was working on a project for a course I got out my big scrapbook of memories from China and was delighted by this page. You can see my theatre ticket in the upper right, a promo card I got at the theatre, the theatre's business card and a blurb in the local English weekly newspaper.

I recall it being a very nice place with a good sound system and stadium seating. There were very few people present for the English showing. I was so happy to not miss seeing this film in the theatre.

Now, my trip to Hong Kong to see Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is another story for another time...

Web Project

2011-04-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

In the web class I'm taking we use Microsoft Expression to create sites. Well our final project is to create a site and then upload it to our free sites the school provides. When it's done I'll link it.

I decided early on that I wanted the site to look like it was a paper scrapbook or notebook full of stuck-in pictures, doodles, etc.

So, here's what I've come up with.

Carrion Crown

2011-04-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

My gaming group is back and we are following the new Paizo Adventure Path Carrion Crown! This is a dark, moody and wonderful story in which your characters are called together to a foreign land after the death of a professor.

So, what do I do faced with this Dark Shadows of the gaming world... I go completely against my normal routine and make a non-human, a gnome! I'm playing a gnome alchemist and believe me I have to be careful to not inject too much levity into this game. Our GM is doing an awesome job and the other players and I are having a lot of fun with this path.

Hummus, wine and a character sheet...ah, the high class world of Pathfinder gaming...

Normally I would give a game recap here, but since this is a set Path I don't want to give out any spoilers. I haven't been tempted to get the book and peek ahead, but I can't wait till we finish this first book so I can check out the art and more of the story!

Microsoft Student Partner App

2011-04-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

I'd love it if you could check out my video application to become a Microsoft Student Partner! In the video I have a minute to discuss how technology can help "the world's toughest problems". Comments are welcome, so please let me know your input about this idea!

LAN-SAKES!

2011-04-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

You look at this picture and see a ballroom converted into a LAN party... Well, I was there and it was really more of a WAN party. Let me explain. While some people were playing locally against each other, there was also a strong contingency of people playing games like Warcraft. I don't see anything wrong with that, but I hadn't been to a true LAN party since around 2001, so things have changed a lot!

I actually really enjoyed being around a large group of people who were all so caught up in gaming. There was a definite sense of camaraderie and good natured joking. It was also refreshing to see so many girls there kicking ass at games and taking breaks to watch Invader Zim.

The gaming towers did not disappoint. My own equipment has suffered many setbacks this semester, which had cut down on my posting and internet use. Due to age some of my computer tech died, but it burned out with glory, believe me. It was nice to see some computers with cool lights glowing around the room. Meanwhile, I brought my netbook to the party and it tried its hardest to let me play League of Legends.

There was also plenty of console gaming, including a lounge with Xbox 360's and even some older systems. Some of my cohorts were also playing Pokemon on DS against each other.

All in all it was an excellent night! The event raised money for charity and everyone seemed to have a great time. I felt recharged being around all those fellow gamers. Oh, and hey! I also got some vegan take out sushi, so huzzah! With all the pizza being consumed I had to find some deliciously gluten free to nosh on.

Tell me about your favorite or least favorite LAN party experiences in the comments!

Legend of Gamers: Video Game Store

2011-04-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Tucked away off the interstate in O'Fallon Illinois is a video game store, that like the Tardis, is surprisingly big on the inside. On a trip to the St. Louis area I had a chance to visit this awesome store and speak with the very cool manager.

Legend of Gamers can be found at 511 W US 50 in O'Fallon. This area also sports several other stores worth checking out and is well worth the trip if you will be near St. Louis.

Inside you can find a variety of arcade machines and fun decorations.

The selection of video games range from Atari titles to Game Boy games, NES, Sega and all the way up to current titles. You can find a variety of peripherals. There is also a selection of anime DVDs.Want to compete against your friends? They have a comfy space to battle it out. Check out the systems they have set up.

I really enjoyed my visit and picked up Kirby for Gameboy. Next time I'm there I'll be picking out a NES cartridge to give away in a future contest!

Bat Specimen

2011-04-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

Usually this blog focuses on the areas of comic books, games, and other entertainment. This past weekend I found something truly amazing that rekindled the love of biology and specimen collecting that got me through some dark moments in high school. Of course back then I was doing summer water surveying and tree studies for the state as part of a grant program with my high school.

I spotted this poor little bat while visiting family this past weekend. Those marks on the floor are rust, fyi, not anything gruesome.

The bat died of seemingly natural causes and was well-preserved in it's dry spot on the cement under a car port. After determining most viruses would not still be alive in the body (thanks internet) I collected the bat in the only plastic container I had handy, an empty Starbucks water cup.

The bat is in excellent shape and so I've decided to "immortalize" it by attempting some preservation. I'll update more once I get the time to work on it, but I promise no graphic photos will be published here!

Fishnet Friday!

2011-01-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

It's been making the rounds, but I thought the Flaming C was worth posting here because Conan is awesome!

Check out this action figure mod of the character over at Comics Alliance!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T16:39:00.001-08:00

A New Year means a new calendar...in years past my calendars have included the art of Tolkien, Domo, TokiDoki...this year I decided to indulge my love of WoW with a calendar.

Here's the opening page. It's gorgeous and I think sums up Cataclysm nicely. New races and renewed, super-heated tensions between the Horde and Alliance. For the Horde! (Confession: I've been playing Worgen...).

What's truly neat about this calendar is that it came with a big sheet of stickers for marking dates:

Here's a close-up of the most important stickers....
Finally, here's a general sense of what each month looks like:

Presents!

2010-12-26T17:07:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season so far!

I enjoyed Christmas yesterday including a very unique present from my brother:
It's I can be Zombie Barbie! My younger brother made me this amazing and delightful surprise! I've been looking for a Computer Engineer Barbie in the stores to no avail. I know I can order it online, but I wanted to find it in a store.

Anyhow. I have had a great time this past month finishing my Java game (zombies!), learning the Ruby programming language at work, and going with our gaming group to see Tron Legacy.

Let me know what kind of presents you got this year!

Zombie Dance, Dance!

2010-12-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

Whew. There are about 800 lines of code done after the last two weeks of making art, debugging, coding, making more art and etc. The server project for my networking class is almost done too.

Here's a dancing zombie that I made. Enjoy!

Is it Zombie Week Here or Something?!

2010-11-30T20:05:00.001-08:00

Oh lovely! Imported Zombie Virus! Yum, yum! I made my arch-nemesis Osmotic Ricardo this birthday present from a Halloween sticker and some Photoshop.

Here's the back:

It was nice to have a little break today from all the work that I've been doing.

Happy Birthday Ricardo!

Zombie Game Design

2010-11-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I enjoyed some gluten free corn casserole and mashed sweet potatoes (my brother made the casserole, yum!)

I have actually been working a lot on graphic design for various projects at school and some side projects with a very talented professional (top secret though).

In the rest of the free time I've been trying to get everything done for my game at school. I have to finish the chipset music for it and my Mr. Geek is recording some metal riffs. I'm not ready to unleash my guitar playing on an unsuspecting world (who would cover their ears!).

Here's some of the early design stuff for one of the zombie PC's in the game.

This is a quick sketch that I did and scanned into the computer. From there I cleaned up the area around the image. When I was working on the sketches I left the sketchbook out and my cats walked all over it, smearing the paper.

Since this game has low-res graphics and is not a full screen game I kept the drawings very simple.

Next, I began to color them in Photoshop (I have Elements student edition).

I wanted the zombie to have paradoxically gentle coloring compared to her goals in the game itself and so I went with soft colors and textures.

I am also making all the backgrounds and the npc's. So I better get back to work!

IT Crowd...v1.??

2010-11-16T08:01:00.001-08:00

This doesn't look like the typical scene from your average computer repair lab, now does it?

Today we had to use DBAN to wipe the drives on those poor monsters we hack up on a regular basis. The professor had warned us it would take awhile and an awesome classmate of ours brought an N64 and a TV. God Bless 'em.

We played Smash Bros (I ran as Samus and later Kirby) and Golden Eye while DBAN ate up the drives like a slow acid spill.

Aside from this life in the IT program continues on as incredibly busy. We are deep in the throes of working on our Java games. I am making the art right now and coding and coding and coding.

In the past few weeks I have been privileged to hear from some amazing speakers at my clubs and at conferences here on campus. I also got to teach a group of 11-13 year old girls the fine art of basic computer networking and setting up WiFi.

Here's a view of the Smart Board with the presentation loaded up. It was an amazing experience. The girls were engaged and willing to learn and 3 of them hope to work in engineering or IT. I also got to meet a professor who has been on sabbatical. She was very inspiring and I enjoyed working with her and the other two students for the presentation.

At an Innovations Conference two weeks ago I got to hear from industry leaders from Microsoft to Motorola and a really awesome Crash Space speaker with a Maker Bot:

He had a photo of it with a "Tea, Earl Gray Hot" cup on it, but I didn't get a good picture of it. Yes, this 3-D printer that you see before you could very well be the forerunner to the Replicator...

So, that's my busy life right now. I'm planning on going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter despite the fact that next week our campus is closing down early due to financial strains, thus interrupting my job and putting me in a very, very tight spot for what will turn out to be most of December and January. I must persevere!

Go Team ...Very Girly Smarties!

2010-11-15T13:05:00.001-08:00

I am not the girliest person out there, but I have my moments. I don't know how to use a curling iron, put on eye-liner (still!) and I don't often wear make-up. I wear jeans, carry a wallet, and prefer dark colors with the splash of purple or teal every now and then.

For years and years I rejected girl culture as irrelevant and problematic for women and men because strict gender roles are cultural constructs that unfairly restrict people, both men and women.

I still don't have a lot of female friends, but I have learned over the years to not stereotype or reject other women based on their girliness.

Some women like very feminine things and using the American cultural standard of what is "male" to define things like science, gaming, comic books, etc hurts all parties involved. Why can't a calculator be pink or a textbook have cute drawings in it? Making the Western concept of "male" as the default or even neutral is unfair. For women like me it makes us feel that we should be masculine if we like certain pursuits that are "manly" and cut us off from other women. In fact, the things we are into are not just for men, but are MARKETED to men, and men spread their love for those things to other men. That's the problem.

We need to market these things to all flavors of men and women. By doing so we increase by 50% the number of people reached, meaning increased sales and meaning a larger pool of intelligent people to step forward and become innovators.

To that end I am happy to see things like Computer Engineer Barbie and I plan to buy one.

I am also happy to see things like this video of a group of Cheerleaders who are also scientists.

Things like this let those little girls who are actually girly see that they can retain who they are and want to be and still go into the math and sciences. A lot of little girls like me got into math and science because we were "tomboyish" and attracted to the spaces and things that were stereotypically male. It wasn't because we were inherently masculine, but just that we liked those things.

Etsy Awesomeness

2010-11-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning for months to post the awesome work of an Etsy artist and her shop, Jhoeymonster which includes a variety of crafts including tiny, perfect cross stitch pieces featuring some 8-bit stars.

I bought a Tiny Boo Cross Stitch from her this past summer and I have it up on my fridge, but I am planning on putting it along with some patches on the perfect geek bag, once I find such a bag.

So cute!

Recently I also bought and received two pieces from Neisse on Etsy. Each is the anime version of an awesome character, in this case Codex from "The Guild" and Leela from "Futurama". It was hard to part with the Leela, but I gave her to one of my friends who loves Futurama (remember the Bender that I helped build, it was with her!).

Codex and Leela are so adorable as anime characters!

I set up Bender to surprise my friend when she came over.

Here's Leela's new home. Look at all the purple. Perfect!

Weighted Companion Cube Soap

2010-11-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

When I got home from a very long day after a very long week something wonderful was waiting for me courtesy of the mega-monstrously talented Kylee Lane of Luxury Lane Soap!

I cannot thank her enough for hosting the Weighted Companion Cube Soap Contest and for giving away not one, but TWO amazing soaps.

"Plush Companion Cube meet your soapy lil' Dopplegangers!"

You can get your own by clicking here. I'm excited to say that the ingredients don't have wheat! Furthermore, these little darlings SMELL amazingly delicious. YUM!

I have a problem....a habitual desire to stack things on my head...

So, that's that! I can't wait to put one on display and slowly kill the other one in my shower. Hey, it's the fate of companion cube to die....usually by fire, but eh, one way or another!

Java, Java, Java

2010-11-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

I made a game!

In my Java course our final project is a fully working game along the lines of a 2D sidescroller. We've been learning how to write code at an accelerated pace. We got into GUI's after a few weeks. The challenge of the class is that it's a teaching style I have never encountered before called problem based learning. Essentially we know just enough to start a project and then must figure out the rest on our own. While progamming languages like Java certainly involve a lot of logic and math (thankfully!) there are also certain things that are very specific and not easily derived. Sometimes this feels like it might if you were learning Spanish and knew how to say Dónde and you knew that estar was a verb, but didn't know the conjugation rules nor the word for bathroom.

In the last few weeks the workload has gotten intense leading up to this very simple game. Figuring out how to write code for the specific requirements for this program is our last assignment before we begin working on the final game.

So, here it is. I made a video explaining the process and it includes footage of the "game".

Happy Fishnet Friday!

2010-10-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Did you just get engaged, get lost, have your car break down and get trapped in the pouring rain with only a newspaper between you and the lightning??

What's that light off in the distance? Is it a place to go?

There's a light over at the Frankenstein Place

There's a light burning in the fireplace

Surprise! You just want to use the phone to call for help, but....

This guy is hosting a party...

Aw, he made him a man...

Then that happens amongst much singing, dancing, rejoicing, motorcycle/foot chase and hacking with the blood spurting and oh mercy!

Everyone gets freaky with everyone else and I'm sure there's a mathematical formula that you can develop and, or Java code that you could write to show how this part works.

Oh yes, and I can't forget. Like any good host Dr. Fank-n-Furter serves his guests dinner.

Funny, looks more like roast than ...Meatloaf...

It's all doomed! How could it end...

Boo and Blogs!

2010-10-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

Who's scaring up trouble this time of year? Boo!

As the week draws to a close my weekend Halloween plans are troubled by the amount of Java coding I am faced with, due before Tuesday. I must persevere! Hopefully the braiiins I eat this weekend in my zombie form will sustain me and increase my nerd skills. At the end of every semester in Grad School I always did a Lvl. UP tweet on my old twitter that showed my stat increase. This semester I've been doing fast leveling, methinks.

So! I'm very excited about developments on the many wonderful blogs I read. My commenting is down due to time crunches, but I'm still loving everyone's writing. Geek with Curves has a cool post about pumpkin carving up. The Green Lantern corps pumpkins are brilliant! (Oh, comics. I have not gotten my pull list in two weeks due to my work schedule!)

Be sure to check out my blog list on the lower right. There is some great content up, as usual! Let me give you some examples.... Nerds in Babeland can be found at a new URL and have some Halloween make-up tips in video form. Girl Gone Geek miss graphic design extraordinaire has an awesome Peach Halloween banner and really great entries from NYC Comic Con.

Huzzah!

kill!

They're Coming...

2010-10-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Oh no! I found a super hero generator and a zombifying web program to preview my zombie self for this weekend. However, my zombie costume will look much more terrifying than these... The superhero generator allowed me to mix stuff up enough to make a zombie jail-break!

Ok, this next one is pretty scary:

Marvel or Star Wars Pumpkins?

2010-10-25T18:52:00.001-07:00

Sunday is Halloween and I can't believe how quickly the month has flown by!

There is still time this week to carve up some pumpkins to celebrate Halloween! Frankly I need to get on that ASAP. Between coding and studying for exams I've been running out of time a lot lately, but I couldn't resist popping in here to share some very cool pumpkin carving kits that I spied.

I didn't see a DC heroes kit, but surely there's got to be at least a Batman one out there somewhere, right?

Ah, yes. Star Wars. I'd like to carve a pumpkin with a light saber, but that's just me.

So, I challenge you readers. Go forth and carve a pumpkin! Don't forget to roast the seeds in the oven. They are delicious! Then come back here and tell me all about the pumpkin!

Zombie Walk!

2010-10-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

Oh zombies! From friends of mine making zombie films, performing metal songs about the living dead, and oh yeah..video games...zombies seem to have taken over a little, decaying corner of my life.

I've run from zombies, but I've never portrayed one in a zombie walk. This Halloween weekend I will finally have a chance at the Paducah Zombie Walk!

Here's a couple of great promos for the event featuring video from last year's appearance of the walking dead...

My zombie costume will not be named for now, but I will be there terrorizing folks! So who else has done this or is planning to?

Blizzcon Fishnet Friday!

2010-10-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

Guess who's enjoying the Blizz Con Virtual ticket?! Originally, I had planned to spend this weekend in Chicago attending a con and meeting Leonard Nimoy. Unfortunately, Mr. Nimoy had to cancel due to surgery. I hope he's recovering well.

I'm fairly good at adapting, however, and I had the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket waiting in the wings to save the weekend! What an excellent purchase. Not only can I watch all of it live and On-Demand, but I can also download it! I've just had the best night in watching a Starcraft II Q&A and discussions with the music director and the head of web/IT. Finally, it all ended with an incredible costume contest, video contest, song contest, and dance contest! On stage was an ensemble band lead by an amazing violinist and cellist. The cellist had a pedal hooked up to her hot pink and black electric cello and rocked it out with BRUTALITY!

The costume contest included a continuum from zany to deadly serious. Personally, the Moonkin terrified me!

But, were there fishnets? Yes! Someone was dressed as a Vegas Showgirl version of Lady Vashj.

IT Crowd v. 1.6

2010-10-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

We've passed the half-way point in the semester in the IT program and I'm literally a few weeks away from needing to start the game design for my Java course. So far, I've created a random town map generator, but it needs more work. I'm hoping to be able to share my games/programs on my website for free as soon as I finish the class. For now the town generator is very simple and I want to refine it and set the maps up with squares. I'm not sure about the squares though. I could always put a distance key instead. Here's what it looks like. You hit the top bottom to get a random map. I drew the map elements in Paint and then assembled them in Adobe.

Aside from Java all is going well. I joined a group that does IT related community volunteer work. Since I tend to focus on what computing and gaming can do for me I'm excited about focusing on helping others. The game studio is also going fantastic. I gave a presentation, but I'll blog about that later.

Finally, I wanted to share with you some funny scenes from around campus:

Thank God someone put that in vector.....

Outside of the Engineering building someone added Pac-Man to the signage.

Charity Auction

2010-10-19T08:43:00.001-07:00

I want to take time out from the usual order of things around here to let you know about a charity auction that a friend of mine is holding. The auction is in honor of her sister who passed away due to breast cancer last Christmas and her mother who is a veteran survivor of 8 years.

Please click on the pink ribbon and take a look. If you know someone who might be interested pass it along.

Dethklok's IT Dept is a bunch of Ladies

2010-10-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

Everyone always wonders where the women are at in the tech fields. Well, I discovered the answer to this question as I was catching up to the new season of Metalocalypse on adultswim.com. Apparently, the infamous band Dethklok has many of them working as Klokateers in their web division...

If you haven't watched the show let me tell you a bit about it. The basic premise is that Dethklok is the most amazing metal band in the world. Using dark comedy and the perfect amount of gore Brendon Small gives the viewer an animated show that perfectly captures metal culture, while parodying it at the same time. If you love metal, have been in a band or go to a lot of shows you immediately get the humor. You also get the feeling you know some of the people in show...

I've been watching Dethklok since it premiered and count it among my all time favorite television shows. When Brendon Small first put a band together to represent Dethklok and went on tour to college campuses I was lucky enough to be attending one of the few colleges that they visited. Small sounded incredible live and the drumming by Gene Hoglan rivaled anything out of a drum machine on the show. It was a glorious night with Small and the band in darkness while a screen overhead showed extended cuts from the show and scenes with Face Bones.

Ok, back to the IT thing. Murderface (the bassist) is in the middle of a very dirty bet with Skwisgaar (lead guitarist) and heads off to find some ladies. This results ultimately in a sexual harassment lawsuit. Yuck! These women are just trying to keep the web side of the band's business going!

Kobolds Ate My Baby at Brewfest

2010-10-17T17:56:00.001-07:00

As you may recall I attended a small gaming convention called Brewfest which took place at a brewery on the Mississippi River on a lovely October day. The gaming was in full swing when we arrived and most people were enjoying either Pathfinder games or Warhammer. It was so cool!

Despite the name, Brewfest, seemed to mostly involve drinking brews like iced tea and soda. Mr. Geek and I did have some alcohol, but I also ended up mostly drinking my favorite version of tea, unsweetened with lots of lemon. For a small fee you could get a collector cup and drink all the non-alcoholic beverages that your gaming heart desired.

And what did our gaming consist of, you may ask. Well, we played Kobolds Ate my Baby! This is a very, very seriously light-hearted game. You play a kobold, which is a little furry beast in this game. You serve King Torg (ALL HAIL KING TORG!) and must venture out of your cave to do something related to gathering food, especially babies!

Yum! And see the baby wants to be eaten....

Kobolds do not understand human language, but as a skill can take "Speak Human" and gain the understanding of a whole SEVEN words. Your character has points in Brawn, Ego, Extraneous, and Refelxes, aka the BEER system. Very apt for the setting that day.

We had so many players that we had two GM's. Both did a really excellent job and made the game insanely fun. Our goal was to collect ingredients and then throw them into the volcano, but these ingredients included the dead body of King Torg because our side was allied to the Queen.

Queen Grot's Volcano Delight

1 volcano pepper
1 chicken alive or dead
1 zombie baby
cheese
the carcass of King Torg

To play the game you really have to be ready to be silly. You could be called upon to bark like a Kobold and upon death give a speech about your deceased Kobold. Player death is pretty common since you are basically a very stupid creature. Oh, we also at one point were put under a spell in which both sides of the table had to switch character sheets and play that character for a moment.

Somehow my stupid Kobold managed to survive most of the game and make it from our battlemap to the next table's where King Torg lived. Along the way I ran into a naked elf, ate a bunch of leather coats that were hanging up in a place I broke into and bored a hole with a spoon through a man's head... Finally, the Kobold Blehhh made it to King Torg, wrassled him (the game's term for grapple), but was tragically killed along with the King by one of his minions!

Whew. It was a real delight and we really enjoyed the company of the other gamers.

Pulsar Arcade Refurb

2010-10-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

As part of my experience in the IT department I've joined an organization that does everything from learning game design to working on arcade machines. This is a machine kindly donated to us by our Advisor. It's a 1981 Pulsar and this is the condition it was in when we all gathered one lovely Saturday to work on it. Our advisor has an awesome house with pinball and arcade machines everywhere. Paradise!

After some fun playing the LOTR and X-Files pinball machines and playing some guitar we got down to work!

First we took everything we could off of the cabinet. There were some surprises in how things were bolted in, but we got it taken apart fairly quickly.

Most of the electrical components are in fairly good shape and the monitor needed some tweaking to get it looking sharper. Many of the other pieces like the plastic components were incredibly filthy and scratched. They needed a lot of cleaning and polishing to remove as many surface scratches as possible.

Even the marquee was somewhat banged up and really dirty before I got to work on it. I soon discovered that the back needed as much work as the front. You can see how much improved it is from the first picture. I like the image on there. It reminds me of Tron!

Here's the front of the machine stripped down. The control panel needed cleaning and some work. Although the game was running it was not running very smoothly. The joystick had some issues and ultimately needs to be rebuilt.

You might be surprised to see how simple the parts are on the bottom of the control panel. They are even mounted on wooden blocks. Once the parts were clean and the control panel had been worked on we began to reassemble the pieces.

Look at that monitor! It's really in wonderful shape after it's been adjusted. So, what happened to Pulsar? Well, now it's in a temporary home in one of the computer labs. It looks shiny!

You can see more photos including the ORIGINAL manual with specs at my Photobucket.

Cool Dice Containers

2010-10-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I spent a very fun afternoon at a brewery on the Mississippi river at Brewfest! I'll be posting a full re-cap a bit later.

For now I wanted to share with you some very cool ways that people were keeping their dice safe and cozy at our game table.

Kitteh is hungry 4 ur dice! Meow!

Magic scroll container? Well, maybe, but it's also a mega tube o'dice for the gamer.

Naturally we had our Dragon Chow dice bags going. While we were gaming some random figures represented wild cats on the hexmat. The random figures included this little Ewok whose "cat" counterpart in-game I really, really wanted to kill.

You can see some wedding dice from my friend's wedding and the blue dice is from Gen Con. Actually, the Ewok could have represented my Kobold since you know in the game I was playing kobolds are ugly little dog creatures that eat people. Sounds like an ewok to me.

Halloween and Fishnets!

2010-10-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

It's Friday and around here that can only mean fishnets! Since Halloween is coming up you will notice that I changed my banner to include a costumed 8-bit Chronic Geek wearing fishnet gloves.

I am interested in hearing some of your Halloween costume stories! Have you ever donned fishnets to dress as a vampire? You can bet that I have! If you are dressing up for Halloween what will you be wearing?

I Won!

2010-10-06T12:33:00.001-07:00

When it comes to random chance drawings I almost never win things. In fact, this is the second time I've won something on the internet in my many years of entering stuff, the first time being a DVD I won from Alice Cooper in 2007.

So, here's what I won! It came in the mail today from the fabulous Dragon Chow Dice Bag. The blue bag I bought and the red/black bag with the dice I won. Hurrah!

Thanks so much to Dragon Chow!!

Wedding Dice and Anime Bookmarks!

2010-10-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

You may recall I was in a wedding two weekends past. Well, since it had a lovely Fall theme and I am celebrating the season I wanted to share with you some of the amazing favors that were given out!

The bride and groom had custom dice made with a Fall theme:

There were also bookmarks with a comic book/manga theme. I blacked out the details from the bride and groom.

There was also a bottle of Tequila floating around with a glass Tiki god inside of it.... Whew! Fun, piratey times were had. Arrrrr!

Here are the dice in action with a Dragon Chow dice bag!

It's October!

2010-10-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

October means that my favorite season and my favorite Holiday are here! It's a shame Halloween only gets one day and so this month I will be celebrating Halloween every chance I can get. You can expect to see zombies, Boo's, and the like popping up on the blog along with the regular content.

Since it's Friday I bring you my Gaia Online avatar wearing fishnets. Yes, Gaia is not the most stunning website out there, but since I spend so much time now on random computer lab computers I've started logging back into Gaia from time to time and playing broswer games on newgrounds.com. Technically, I could run WoW off of a portable hard drive, but.... For now, I'll resist.

I've been on Gaia off and on since it started up. Don't hate me. It's just the facts.

Wonderwoman, Valkryie and Green Arrow

2010-09-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

What a combination!

My pull list this week was small compared to last week when I picked up a backlog of stuff that my schedule had not allowed me access to. Whew.

Here's what I got:

Wonder Woman 603

We are a few issues into the new storyline and the infamous costume. How's it hold up? Well aside from the changes in costume and this completely different origin the essence of Wonder Woman is there. The first two issues were gritty and urban in appearance and since then we have transitioned to a sparese, mountainous region and...minor spoiler, the underworld itself. It's still very unclear what is going on in the grand scheme of things, but continues to be engaging. The new costume looks awesome when she fights by the way.

Valkryie

This is a Women of Marvel 1-shot. My enabler, er... the shop guy had a stack of them to put out and told me to check it out. Marvel's 2010 Year of Women continues to be really fantastic and I hope that they realize they can keep it going. I'd hate to see these one shots stop. Hopefully they continue to highlight female characters as the years go on, even if it's a few a year. The art is really nice. Many pages have a golden sheen to them that is very subtle.

Green Arrow 4

Wow. Green Arrow's world has been very interesting and messed up. I have really been in to the Blackest Night to Brightest Day elements since they started. I love it. I don't want to go to much into this issue because there has been a lot of storytelling up to now. It's the Fourth out, so if you haven't checked it out yet you can probably still get a hold of the earlier issues.

I'm Going to Brewfest

2010-09-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

Those of you that play WoW recognize this scene.

It's Brewfest! My DK is getting drunk, riding rams, and giving me a wicked gaming hangover with the wavy screens of doom that you get when your character gets her drink on.

What if you could go to "Brewfest" ?!

Well, when I picked up my comic book pull list today I found a flier advertising just such an event. It's a regional gaming convention happening within driving distance of me!

Brewfest 2010 is in its 2nd year. My friendly local game shop guy recounted me with some tales of last year's event when I picked up my comic books. Apparently the location is lovely and they have a dumbwaiter that delivers beer and food to the second floor. It's a local brewery and it sounds awesome. I'm not sure with the gluten issues if I'll be able to sample the beer, but the games that are going on sound like fun! I am looking forward to a day or two of table-top RPG's and checking out the Warhammer Tournaments. I don't have enough figures yet to play myself, but I will at some point!

If you live in the area registration ends Oct.1.

Clash of the Gamers!

2010-09-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

Invariably when I get together with other table-top gamers we end up discussing problems that have arisen during the course of our time gaming. Everyone loves to share the funny stories of what happened when PC Blank ran into a wall and tried to fight it or when PC Anonymous tried to talk to a monster instead of fighting it. If you've been gaming for a bit then you know what I'm talking about.

We have all been PC Blank or the friend PC Anonymous at sometime. Even seasoned gamers end up setting off mishaps.

When that problem stays in the game then it's just a funny story. When misadventures in a game are being caused by events away from the table or due to a clash of personalities that's when funny stories turn dark and transform into unpleasant moments that can linger and haunt a group or player.

Rather than spend this post talking about what to do with other players that are disrupting the game I want to talk about how to recognize when you are causing or contributing to the problem.

A good starting point, even if no problems have come up yet, is to consider your style of play and compare it to others. Remember this is a game we are talking about. There is no style of play that is superior to any other. What there is, however, is ways of looking at the game that may not mesh together. If your group is having fun then you have people with ways of playing that mesh together.

The style you play in may not be static either. Some people will not change how they play, but others will grow and change. I would like people to at least consider adapting their behavior according to the system being played in and according to who the DM is and how he or she runs the game.

How do you know if you are a part of the problem? This is trickier. If you feel like others are being unfair it may be even harder to recognize. It could be the only part you are playing is not effectively communicating. For example if Player A is picking on Player B during the game and your group is not dealing with it then you, Player C, are part of that issue. One way to handle it is to weigh out how to approach the DM and potentially the entire group with the issue. Do this when you are not gaming. Preferably, don't do it over e-mail because that leads to misunderstandings.

If your issue is that people are not playing the game the way you want/think/"know" that they should be playing it then you are potentially creating your own private Hell that could spill into the game experience. Your style probably does not mesh with these players and you may want to consider leaving the group or forming a new group with those players that you do work with.

I think the group I was playing with this weekend summed it up best, when our DM pointed out that the players should be having fun. She's right. It is the most basic component.

Geeky Bridesmaid....Librarian Style?

2010-09-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's Fishnet Friday and today I am featuring my bridesmaid ensemble from last weekend! The wedding was a lot of fun.

I will do another post featuring some of the fun elements of the wedding, such as the favors. You guys will love them!

So I am wearing green fishnets, sweet lolita shoes from Bodyline Japan, and a Time Turner necklace as one of my accessories.

Yes, a time turner. The bride and I both really love Harry Potter and I don't own very much gold or brass colored jewelry, so I went for it.

After I got everything put together I realized that I looked, in my mind, like a librarian bridesmaid!

Dr. Who meet Dr. House....

2010-09-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

What would you get if you combined Dr. Who with some of the many other illustrious and not so illustrious TV doctors? Mash-ups are the weirder part of pop-culture. Do anything a bit off and I will tend to like it. So, the other night after watching an episode of House on Amazon I suddenly began to wonder what a Dr. Whouse would be like.

I originally began watching House on Amazon a month ago after mulling it over for quite some time. Hugh Laurie was so funny on Black Adder in his younger years and I finally decided to give his American persona a try. Since then I've noticed like several popular TV shows I like that there are some fun references that pop up now and again. As for what triggered the Dr. Who and Dr. House combo I will never know.

Dr. Who will always be the fourth doctor for me, as played by Tom Baker. So, I've decided to match up Laurie and Baker. I went on a search and I discovered that they both appear in Black Adder II, but not on the same episodes! In an interesting TV medical doctor connection Tom Baker played Prof. Hoyt a surgeon at a teaching hospital on a show called Medics. Hmm.

Dr. Whouse is a Time Lord who travels through time popping Vicodin (not Jelly Belly candies) and alternates between screwing with people for his own amusement, changing and then changing back people's lives, sleeping with women, and solving the mysteries of the ages. His inner nature is a struggle between a desire to do good because he has seen his people destroyed and a desire to mess things up for his own superior pleasures.

Dr. Whouse has as his companion another Time Lord, the lovely Wilsona.

While Dr. Whouse could presumably have his pick of infamous men or women to be his companion only a troubled soul like Wilsona will do. Wilsona has the keen advantage of also being a Time Lord. Certainly Dr. Whouse has other companions, but Wilsona stands out as the best able to temper his wilder impulses.

Well, I could go on, but I won't. The two graphics I made very quickly on a break today when I had access to Photoshop. The second one I had to finish in Paint. Sigh.

Frodo and Bilbo's Birthday

2010-09-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to the illustrious Baggins duo!

Today is the date that set in motion the events at the beginning of the LOTR (well more less).

Geek With Curves has an awesome post up about today that you can find here.

I want to add to the suggestions on her site that if you have time you should check out LOTR online and make a hobbit to celebrate!

IT Crowd v1.5

2010-09-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Last week marked my first full month in the IT program. For some of the stuff I've been doing it's been years since I last had exposure to it and some stuff has changed, while some hasn't.

In the very early BRUTAL morning I work on computer repair and problem-solving. We either take specific pieces out and/or have to troubleshoot what is wrong with the system. Our instructor messes with various things before the class.

I got some help from Cthulhu. Actually his static filled little body is pretty dangerous near most parts inside the box. However, he couldn't resist jumping up on the workbench and taking a look.

After what is sometimes an epic repair session I get ready for my Java programming class. Our end project will be a game and our final will consist of the professor and any invited friends playing the game and rating it. That's pretty cool. I really enjoy programming languages. Aside from that I also have a night class working in systems design. It has a really great format.

My networking course and lab comes last and consists of going through prep to take the network certification. We've gotten to play with some fun gadgets in there such as this meter that emits infrared.

I also had a lot of fun in there making a CAT-5 cable which is now hooking up the laptop I use to stream web shows on my TV to the router.

I am really pleased with my decision to pursue an IT degree even though I'm nearing 30 and had a completely different career path in my past. It's worth it and I really encourage others, especially other girls to consider this degree. At least take some classes if you are in school or thinking about going back. It's never too late!

Geeks at a Wedding

2010-09-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight's beautiful wedding location!

This weekend I'm busy helping out with a friend's wedding. Most of the bridal party consists of people that the bride and groom have been table-top gaming with and we are all huge video game fans.

Last night at the rehearsal one of the other bridesmaids was wearing an NES cartridge shirt that said "Blow Me" while most of the rest of the bridal party sports very cool game, comic, and anime related tattoos.

At the rehearsal dinner last night our table discussed important matters such as the new Metroid, Limbo, old school gaming, and of course 80's cartoons.

Today I'm off to help out and then be a bridesmaid for the first time.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on the last entry about invisible illness. I really appreciate it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Invisible Illness Awareness & Being Geeky

2010-09-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

This week is Invisible Illness Awareness Week. Invisible illnesses include a wide variety of disorders that most people probably do not sense that others have. If you can't tell someone is sick then your actions towards that person will assume that they are an able-bodied individual As you can imagine this could create a host of complications from thinking a person who is fatigued is "just as tired as everyone else" not knowing that the person is medically exhausted to not realizing that someone you see on a daily basis is constantly in pain.

What does this have to do with being geeky? Well, in my opinion the traditional geek hobbies of electronic gaming, table-top gaming, computing, and the many other awesome things geeks are involved in are the perfect outlet for those who have an invisible illness. Chances are you know or game with someone who is disabled openly and others that have a chronic disorder that you cannot sense like Arthritis, Lupus, Firbromyalgia, CFIDS, MS, Depression, Anxiety, and any of the other many disorders that can hide in plain sight.

Geeky hobbies, jobs, and entertainment are great opportunities for those who are limited in some way because by nature geeky stuff is adaptable. For example if a person suffered from too much pain or fatigue to play a console/computer game then he or she could always try a game of DnD played in a place with a couch and an understanding gaming group. In general technology is a natural connection to any type of illness because it can make more options possible for the person affected.

Finally, I would argue that if a person finds something that he or she really enjoys then there is the benefit of being distracted for a moment from what is going on in life. Some people might disagree with me and argue that "resorting to fantasy" is bad for a person who is suffering. I completely disagree. There is nothing that makes hobbies and entertainment any less real than whatever people think 'real' life is when they throw the term around. What we care about is always a part of our life, even if it isn't making us money or doing something that is typically considered 'practical'. Anything that adds to our life in a pleasant way is 'practical' .

What do you think? What other types of geeky activities do you think could help someone with a chronic illness?

Riff Trax Live

2010-09-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

Do you enjoy making fun of movies? Are you an original or new fan to MST3K or its current offshoots Cinematic Titanic and Riff Trax?

Then mark your calendars for this October because something amazing is coming to a theater near you!

I can remember first watching MST3K with Joel and the Bots in the early to mid 1990's. A high school friend had some VHS tapes and an obsession was born! Soon I was spouting off lines, singing songs, and getting the newsletter, ordering merchandise and wearing a Dr. Forrester t-shirt. Eventually Joel went on to other things and Mike was shot up into the S.O.L. We won't get into that here....

Today you can still enjoy both hosts brand of comedy through Joel's Cinematic Titanic touring group and Mike's Riff Trax.

I attended the first Riff Trax Live last year which was simulcast to theatres across the country from a single live event. Mike, Kevin and Bill were joined by talented guests during the live event and it was fun seeing the audience at certain points. They did some shorts and then played Plan 9 while they riffed on it live. It was hilarious and it was awesome being in a full theatre of people having a wonderful time.

Plan 9 was presented in color, which I have some positive and negative criticisms of. I will always prefer to see a movie shot in B&W presented in its original form, but I realize a lot of contemporary audiences do not like B&W. I grew up watching mostly classic films from the 1930's and 1940's and with a few exceptions those films were shot in B&W. The colorization of Plan 9 was done very well, but if I were just going to see it and not Riff Trax I would want it in the original form.
Last month I went to see Riff Trax Live do Reefer Madness. It was also colorized and the effect was hilarious. The smoke rings were changed to different colors which turned out nicely.

Just like the last live event you got free digital goodies, i.e. the right to download shorts from the site that you would otherwise have to pay for.

It was another great experience with the reactions of the audience in my theatre heightening the commentary going on between the Riff Trax crew.

During the 30 minutes leading up to the film it showed a fake "Did You Know" slide program that parodied those stupid slides that so many theatres play before the feature.

Here's an example of one:
Thanks to a Facebook campaign Betty White will assume the Megan Fox role in Transformers 3.

Why I am blogging about this now? Well in two weeks tickets will go on sale for the next Riff Trax live.

I adore Vincent Price and I love this movie! It will almost be painful to see it subjected to Riff Trax, but the movie does have a camp quality to it that will translate well. I can just almost hear some of the jokes that will come out of this one....

New Twitter

2010-09-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

Over at my other major internet haunt, Twitter, the folks in charge are rolling out some huge changes to the site.

I happened to pause the new promo video at just the right moment to find out what the new twitter is all about:

What does this mean? The necroNOMNOMNOMicon foretells of a such a foodstuffs that would fool the masses with its sweet delights....

T-Shirt Tuesday: GaMeRS

2010-09-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

After a long weekend of travel and starting a new IT job I am happy to be back on campus working on projects. Sometime soon I have a new Pathfinder game that I'll be in as a swashbuckler and this weekend I will be in a very beautiful piratey/steampunky type wedding as a bridesmaid!

As for today I am sporting a shirt for the Game Mechanics Research Studio, a group that I will now represent as treasurer. Tomorrow we have a meeting about MMO's at 1 pm.

I like to kick it by the pinball machines in our small campus arcade on breaks. If you would like to check out our logo and help us raise funds to travel to game studios then check out our store. As treasurer this request is my first official act. Hehe.

Stay tuned for more! I hope to have a contest up and running next week.

Fishnet Friday: Dragon Con

2010-09-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

The fantastic Valerie brought back some amazing photos from Dragon Con which include some lovely costumes with fishnets!

Several versions of Black Canary!
Zatanna and Dr. Occult

While there are no fishnets....Valerie looked amazingly perfect as Daisy from Being Human.

T-Shirt Tuesday

2010-09-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

Warlock shirt...... AND...... I come from the future!

IT Crowd v. 1.2

2010-09-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Java programming is my new best friend. I remember really enjoying the basic programming that I used to do and now that I am taking courses in IT the thrill has returned.

This past week I took apart a computer in the repairs class, did some basic network stuff, discussed systems analysis, and of course spilled plenty of code across the screen.

The work is not without its physical limitations. For one thing I'm a very petite person. In most of the labs the bench with the computer and, or monitor is pretty high and forgot about the shelf that holds the router. Much like a lot of things in this world the setting is optimized for someone at least 5' 8" or taller. I'm not worried about this though. It means I have reduced leverage, but I am going to track down a stool. This reality is part of the reason why I'm glad I'm not going into EST or hardware repair. I can imagine having difficulties at some places because of my hobbity size. Of course, I'm partially joking, but you never know...

Aside from this 'small' issue the work is a perfect fit. Here's part of the old computer that I will be repairing as the semester progresses and our professor plays tricks on us:

Still, a vast improvement over the computer I built in 1996 with a friend. We ran out of screws and tied the hard drive in with a shoelace. Yes, it ran fine.

Nerdifacts Returns

2010-09-05T22:13:00.001-07:00

From the vault of random nerdy artifacts from my past I bring you.....

This is a much more recent photo as you might be able to tell by the LOTR banner. This is me in 2003 on my way to some sort of Rainbow Masquerade party after I tried dying my blonde hair red. That LOTR banner went up anywhere I lived with high enough ceilings and was a gift from a female friend who managed a movie theatre. Yes, I love the writing of Tolkien. A few months later I would go on to write my B.A. thesis on the problematics in analyzing LOTR as a novel using Bakhtin.

In the back you can also see my iBook sucking power from the wall. That was my living room. Pretty minimal, eh? As far as I can remember that picture was taken around this time those seven years ago.

Oh, by the way, the party was awesome. Thanks for asking.

Zombie Dice

2010-09-04T16:11:00.001-07:00

Do you even dare to reach your hand in a canister such as this? Zombie Dice is a putrid party game that you play with decaying dice. The dice comes loaded with fangs and wants to eat your brains or your fingers or whatever it can sink its rotting teeth into!

So now that you don't want to play this game let me tell you what it's really like.

Zombie Dice is by Steve Jackson Games and it if we want to be alliterative, a better description is that it's a portable party game. All the pieces you need are the dice and the canister (which has a very solid lid that makes storage easy).

Playing the game is simple. You draw out 3 dice at a time, throw them to get your result and depending on what you get either earn points or lose your turn .

You are trying to roll for brains. Each color of dice including green, red and yellow has a different ratio of brains to shotgun blasts to footsteps.

If you get three footsteps on the first throw you lose your turn because your victims got away. If at any time you reach three shotgun blasts you don't get any points and your turn ends. So you must be savvy about the number of brains that will satiate your zombie lust. If you don't keep your points at the right time and your next roll is a shotgun blast that takes you up to 3 hits then you don't get any of your brain points.

The more delicious brains you get the better! You are trying to be the first person to reach 13 points by "eating" 13 brains.

This is another game that can have added layers to it if you tell little stories about what's happening, but it's not necessary to do anything more than roll the dice to have a fun time.

I wonder if you could do a variation of the rules to try to kill zombies by getting shotgun blasts instead of brains? Or footsteps? In any case I think this game would be great to play with people who don't normally indulge in gaming.

Fishnet Friday : Dragon Con

2010-09-03T09:42:00.001-07:00

This is not my year for Dragon Con, but hopefully my schedule will work for next year.

I did a quick search of images from the 2009 Dragon Con and who did I find? These lovely ladies portraying Daleks and one in fishnets!

I have a mixture of amazement and fear. Amazement because these Dalek dresses are really cool and illustrate how creative fans can be. Why the fear? Well, they are DALEKS! They want to exterminate us! It seems that the photographer survived.

Just watch out in case the Dalek lovelies show up at Dragon Con this year. You have been warned!

Game Development

2010-09-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today I attended the first meeting of a new professional development group on my campus dedicated to helping potential game developers learn and discuss many different aspects of the gaming industry.

We listened to a great presentation by Rob Craig who writes for Game Room Magazine, and restores and builds arcade cabinets.

He brought in this machine:

This mini-pin is a machine that runs pinball emulators. Rob took us through the history of arcade machines and the evolution of their boards, hacks, and emulation. Those of us in attendance discussed some of the games that we've played and Rob talked about what went into making them.

The mini-pin was set up at the side of the room and we all got to see it in action. It's pretty impressive. Something that I have not written about on this blog yet is that I'm actually a huge fan of pinball. I play it whenever I can, but I do not play it on the computer. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a purist, but pretty close to it.

That said Rob's machine was a joy to play. You got the benefit of arcade style sound, buttons, and the machine having a tilt feature (which personally won me over) and the fact that you can play such a wide variety of machines on this single device.
Here's a shot of the mini-pin in action. It's a neat marriage of traditional pinball and electronic gaming that proved to be very innovative and fun. Both the top screen and the bottom screen change according to the game that you load up.

There's a lot more cool stuff to come with this group. Rob invited those of us who want to help restore an old arcade machine to join him and I certainly want to do it. If I had more room in my apartment I would have already bought a beat-up, old cabinet and be working on it as one of my many projects.

T-Shirt Tuesday

2010-08-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

Just strolling around the campus enjoying the new sushi station that's opened up and having a Pumpkin Spice latte this morning.

Today I'm sporting my new shirt from Luxury Lane Soap. I certainly got some weird looks from an IT professor (not one of mine). The shirt came last week along with some of the solid perfumes which are fantastic! I got amber and sandalwood. Very nice.

Do Boba and I look similar? I'm being showered with shade...

Joining the IT Crowd

2010-08-30T21:09:00.001-07:00

Well this title clearly does not refer to me becoming an actor on one of my favorite television shows (too bad, Moss needs an arch-nemesis!). No, what this title means is that as of last week I became a student in an Information Science program.

"But, CG didn't you just finish a Master's Degree in Literature!?", you may not be asking. "Yes" I answer, despite your clear lack of having actually ever asked the question in the first place.

Whew. (Oh and this graphic is my interpretation of the fear other people have of their systems. I hate it when people tell me how much they despise computers. Ergh.)

When I originally graduated with my Bachelor's I initially worked in the IT department of a global corporation located out in the Wild West. I loved the job. I was part of a very small team within the larger IT department. Our team was responsible for setting security access levels on the dozens of programs that the corporation needed employees to use. When someone quit or was fired we had to respond immediately and for new hires or for those who were promoted it was the same case. In one month I completed thousands of such tickets, which tells you how big the company was and still is.

That's not the only computer related job I've held, but it was the one that I remember the most fondly. On Halloween we spent all day working in the dark while a marathon of horror movies played at the front of the room. In the break room the channel was always turned to G4.

So why go back to IT; why now?

I grew up and watched the advancement of computers from the first Apple machines I used in 1986 to the first PC I helped a friend build in 1996. I've been a computer junkie for a long time.
While I was teaching college English courses what I loved the most was using technology to reach the students and creating web-based assignments.

So here I am. I have a lot of reasons for going back to IT, but I don't want to make this post any longer. Instead, I hope to write-up occasional reports from the trenches of IT study.

As usual these reports will have a mix of enthusiastic critique and negative critique. If you've been reading my blog for very long you will notice that I tend to look on the positive side of life. There is a deep set reason for that involving some very bad things life has dished out at me. I tend to be enthusiastic about things that most others might find neutral or inconsequential because I need to latch on to the positive after what I've been through and to enjoy the small things whenever I can because the big things have often been very hard on me.

That said I will close with this. IT ROCKS!
(see what I did there)

<3

Read Comics in Public Day

2010-08-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

Today is International Read Comics in Public Day. Some people continue to perpetuate stereotypes about comic book readers and some of us comic book fans have internalized that fear of being bullied. You can read more about the day by going to the site dedicated to it.

There has also been a push to encourage women to read comic books in public. A tumblr has been dedicated to that and can be found here.

I've read a few criticisms of the day which amount to people saying "I read comics in public all the time". While this is true for a lot of us the reason behind days like this is to achieve what I think of as critical mass. People are more likely to notice and be curious if there are large numbers of people doing something in public. Aside from that argument I also just think days like this are fun. You can connect with others in your community and over great distances through the internet thanks to a shared love of something.

I enjoyed hanging out around the downtown of my community sipping some delicious real sugar Mexican coke from my game/comics shop Castle Perilous while reading Green Arrow. My out of town visitor also enjoyed learning about the new Wonder Woman as we ate at the vegetarian coffee shop downtown:

I really felt more in touch with my town as I explored a few downtown stores, bought lunch, and even picked up some dice at Castle P. This day was a wonderful excuse for me to get out and do something fun and it felt a bit more special than a normal walk around downtown would feel.

It's Fishnet Friday!

2010-08-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

Remember the Snowtrooper in a fishnet shirt that I posted back here?

Well some obliging photographer caught these troopers in action!

Awesome! These guys rule.

So a Demon and the Primate Have Dinner Together...

2010-08-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

Do you think that looks bad? Well, this was the setting for the dinner party that my group found ourselves at as the hired entertainment. Last session the Bard and the Barbarian found the scheduled entertainer and dispatched with him once they found him in a large well-appointed suite surrounded by the corpses of children. Lovely.

We were hired by the elves and this group of shape-shifting bird soldiers to go in and kill the city's Primate. He was giving a dinner party and the only way we could sneak in was as the entertainers. This meant that our Barbarian (a group not found this far south except as slaves) had to be a slave. I slapped her in the face at one point when the guards got suspicious. She wasn't being slave-like enough.

The rectangles on the mat represent tables. Most of those figures were actually standing in for dinner guests, but as it turned out at least half of the guests came prepared to fight the Primate. My ranger enjoyed running around on the tables and shooting people once the real festivities began.

So what happened? Did a "demon" really show up to the dinner?

All will be revealed.

It's Fishnet Friday!

2010-08-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Oh no! You don't want to hear anymore about that certain movie with 8-bit game references, awesome music, and a very cool story?

Ok. Ok. Yes, I am going to see it again.

But have you read the graphic novels?

The movie focuses on the story of Scott battling the evil exes, the band trying to hold it together, Wallace and his many boyfriends, the way friendships have changed between characters due to success and relationships, and Cho. I think of all the things the movie tweaked a little bit I liked how they handled the angst of a 17 year old girl who "just found out good music existed".

If you want to find out more check out the graphic novels.

There are fishnets! (And in the movie too!)

Let's Shame some Beholders

2010-08-19T14:40:00.001-07:00

Beholders are a nasty species of monster that over the years have spawned new variants and given many a player a terrifying experience.

Unique to the universe of Dungeons and Dragons, Beholders have stuck in the imaginations of several generations of gamers and show up in some interesting places.

Walking through the doors at Gen Con and being faced with this monstrosity was certainly a fun experience. This Beholder is captured, frozen in time and can't do a thing to the throngs of gamers who pose in front of the trapped beast all day and all night. It's a great punishment!

I scoured the magical land of the internet for other interpretations of this creature and found many cool pieces of art. Here are just a few of the things I found.

CAKE:

Ever wonder what one of these tastes like that? No, me neither. However, the lucky 14 year old Josh the Jouster (sorry strange teenager, I had to) got this super treat for his birthday. That's some cool parents.

You can see more 3D cakes of different varieties at the blog Just Cake.

CROCHET :

This little guy was separated from the Hive Mother and who knows what will happen if he is raised in captivity. Maybe he'll grow up to replace the trapped Gen Con Beholder?

This creature was made by relientKitten.

STEAMPUNK:

Instead of multiple eye-stalks this metal beasty has
some nasty looking implements like clamp claws and what looks like a small spinning saw.

In the right game setting this could make an interesting monster.

To read more about it check out the original article on Boing Boing.

I think we can safely agree that Beholders would hate everything about their images being used in such creative ways. There are even more sculptures out there in other mediums and of course some great artwork as well. Probably my favorite use of a Beholder is in Futurama. If you watch the special features on Bender's Game you can hear the creators of the show talk about that a little more in-depth.

Geek Contests

2010-08-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Cthulhu watches you....

Today the winner of my 3rd contest will receive her hearthstone soap. Yay!

I feel incredibly lucky to be able to give stuff away on my blog. It really feels good to do it and it only takes a handful of extra bucks a month or in the case of the hearthstone soap a generous "grant" from Geek Soap.

The next contest will be next month and will be art themed. I'll announce it here and on twitter.

To check out past contests go here.

Warcrafts!

2010-08-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy with travel, conventions and work that I have not reviewed any comic books or played a minute of Warcraft in the past two weeks. However, I did reserve a copy of Cataclysm at Game Stop. The reason I reserved it there is because I enjoy standing in lines and waiting for new releases. That might sound odd, but it's true. Let me give you an early example: when I was young and Jurassic Park came out I camped out the theatre all afternoon and evening for it. I like the sense of anticipation that waiting in a physical space brings and I enjoy meeting people with similar interests. When Lich King came out I had a lot of fun waiting for midnight to hit.

Speaking of the Lich King I got to assist him in ICC (the aptly abbreviated Indiana Convention Center) against this joker during Gen Con:

I made a very quick costume to go around my Horde pauldron. The bloody hand print is from a dying night elf.

I told these ladies that I played Horde and then felt like a big jerk for saying it. Hehe.

Finally, I checked out the G33kmade booth and was delighted a million times to meet Kylee and Lesley the crafters of Luxury Lane Soap and Geek Soap respectively. It was so awesome meeting them and talking. I wish I could have hung out at their booth longer. As you can see Lesley is wearing a Horde shirt. Yay!

Complete Pathfinder Conversion

2010-08-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

It's happened. I'm completely hooked and won over by the Pathfinder system. Yes, we've been playing our converted DnD to Pathfinder game for half a year now, but the Advanced Player's Guide that I picked up at Gen Con was the tipping point that sent me from admiration to adoration.

On the left you can see some of my recent acquisitions. Red Dragon Inn is not part of Pathfinder, but I included it here because I finally got a copy yesterday. My arch-nemesis Capt. Osmotic and I battled each other into a drunken stupour last night. So it was only in-game drinking... I did have a shot of vodka to celebrate though.

Below Red Dragon Inn you can see my recent Pathfinder buys. I bought the GM screen because Mr. Geek will be running game for me and I'm hoping to run something for a few friends in the future. I haven't GM'ed since Vampire.

Harrow deserves its own post. I will tell you right now that it's a very neat concept. Harrow is a divination deck to be used in campaigns. You can use it to tell fortunes that the GM can incorporate into the story or use it as a gambling deck during game time.

Finally, the Pathfinder Chronicles book focuses on the undead. I couldn't resist getting it. Paizo has some wonderful products coming out later this year and early next year, so stay tuned.

Scott Pilgrim Review

2010-08-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

When we arrived at the theatre we ran into some of the fine folks who were at Gen Con with us. It was like an unofficial and accidental Gen Con one week anniversary party in the parking lot of the mall.

If you've been reading reviews online then you've probably heard many claims about Scott Pilgrim from folks who have not seen the movie. These range from decrying it as hipster, hating Michael Cera, and claiming that no one over 23/24 will like the movie. Well, I'm not a hipster, but I can tell you right now that this movie has nothing in it about being a hipster and misusing irony. Michael Cera is in it and does a great job. Finally, I'm well over the age range for liking this movie and I LOVED it. We were in a group of people that included two of us who had read the graphic novels and loved them and three people who had not read it. We all loved it. We were all over the age range too!

This is one of the few movies that I think completely utilizes and pushes to the extreme the strengths of film. There isn't a second wasted, nor is there a corner of the film that isn't adding visually to the story. Everything works together perfectly in this movie. The sound effects, acting, story, music, special effects, and editing work together in deliriously awesome harmony to produce what I think is one of the best movies ever made.

Go. See it. Repeat.

Happy Friday the 13th!

2010-08-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

I love Friday the 13th's. Why not?

For today's Fishnet Friday I recommend that you check out the song "Goth Girls" by MC Frontalot. This song includes the lyric:

"And her purse in patent leather held in fishnet glove"

You can check the song out on the MP3 part of his website. It's in the first section under singles found here.

"I'm Here to Game"

2010-08-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I attended two seminars about women and gaming at Gen Con. The seminars at Gen Con were really one of the best aspects of being there. I don't often get to sit in with a group of people who know games and discuss issues inherent to the culture and,or process of gaming.

Girls Just Want to Get Their Game On

The panel for this seminar included women with a wide range of gaming experience. There was a panel member who works for Wizards of the Coast, a woman from Game Salute, All Games Considered, Married Gamers, and Geek's Dream Girl. They recorded the panel for Game Salute and handled the session as an open Q&A.

From this panel I learned that there's a trend for librarians to run RP's for kids. That's pretty exciting news for me. We heard stories ranging from playing Magic in the back of chemistry class to women feeling free to be ultra-violent in games to reduce stress in life. One interesting story came from a woman who played a female character back in the early days of D&D. During a session the DM brought out a male NPC who was from a culture that controlled women. From then on while this NPC was present her character was not allowed to look at him. Those are all the details I know, but wow, there is a lot to unpack with a story like that.

One last tidbit. I was excited to hear that the man sitting in front of me had written his dissertation on women, sexism and gaming.

Best Quote of the Seminar: "I'm here to Game".

Women in Gaming

I had to hurry to get to the next panel and was glad to see some friends had arrived as well. This panel again included women with a wide range of gaming experience. There was someone from Gaming Angels present, a PhD student, and several other professionals. My notes on this panel are a little patchier because we got there late enough that we had to sit in the back of a huge room and I couldn't always hear what was going on. (My hearing issue, not the fault of the staff).

This panel covered everything from gender issues in cross-play during LARPS to defining the hard core nature of those who play casual games.

Something that came up again and again was women being demanded to prove themselves both as competent gamers and even as women. Why do women have the burden of having to prove themselves to be as good or better at things? What makes men the default? These gender issues are not unique to games, but are prevalent in American culture.

Many women reported that Geek Culture was more accepting of people who are different than wider American culture. I was delighted to hear one panelist compare it to the Metal community. When I got into the metal scene I found the people to be the nicest people I had ever been around. Geek culture can be the same way.

This panel also discussed the phenomena of industries that look for gamers. One of the panelists had secured her position because of her experience with online gaming. The issues of management and technical skill that gaming takes can translate in the right industry to valuable skills as an employee.

Ultimately we seemed to agree that everyone had stereotypes that they needed to confront. I heard several women critiquing the appearance of other women and wondering how to relate to them. This is a hard issue. Hopefully, the internet and events like Gen Con are helping women connect with others. I argue that the internet is our greatest cultural potential for furthering true equality.

Conclusion

I hope panels like these happen again next year. It was eye-opening to hear from other people and get a variety of experiences and opinions discussed.

Gen Con Highlights Video

2010-08-10T02:08:00.001-07:00

Here's some footage that I shot sort of documentary/news on the street style of Gen Con 2010. Mr. Geek is the camera person in most of the shots with me. Editing several hours of footage into ten minutes really does take some work! I'll be making some highlight videos of The Guild, Wil Wheaton, and The Ennies. There will also be some random clips that I put up that didn't make it into the mini-doc.

Enjoy!

Hearthstone Soap Contest Winner

2010-08-09T21:30:00.001-07:00

Filmed live at Gen Con 2010! Thanks to those who entered. Many thanks to Geek Soap for the hearthstone! I met Lesley of Geek Soap and Kylee of Luxury Lane Soap at Gen Con and let me tell you these are two AWESOME girls. I had a lot of fun talking to them and wish that we could have hung out. My schedule kept me from the Tweet Up which was a shame, but they should know I super HEART them! I can't wait for us all to meet up again, hopefully soon.

The First of Many

2010-08-07T21:33:00.001-07:00

Gen Con has been an eye-opening experience of complete awesomeness.

This coming week will feature write-ups on the various experiences I had at the Convention and what I learned. I want to share what came up in the seminars on Women in Gaming, the awesome round-table that I attended based on the book Things We Think About Games, the charm and hilarity of Wil Wheaton, and the witty banter of The Guild cast-members. There's so much.

It was so incredibly refreshing to go somewhere and just truly belong. I met a nice mix of wise-crackers that I could, err... crack with and friendly, interesting people to talk to about gaming. Naturally, being gamers the two sets often overlapped. The INT stats were maxed out! That was great.

Sunday morning is our last stop at ICC. Yes, our last raid on ICC IRL. I will sorely miss it.

Once I am back home I can upload all the photos and edit videos for everyone to enjoy.

Finally, there's one thing I know for sure. Gen Con has been one of the best experiences of my life and I am hooked. A true believer who will now make this pilgrimage every year possible has been born.

Gen Con: Fishnet Friday

2010-08-06T05:48:00.001-07:00

Good news everyone! The fishnets have been out in force on the lovely men and women of Gen Con. Yes, I said men too and I'm happy to say it.

Here we have two lovely DC ladies, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn posing yesterday for their fans. White fishnets! Thanks girls. I have to give props to all the people in costume who are willing to pose for photographs.

Well, that's all I have time for this morning. More updates to come. I have a full schedule to day including the nerdcore show tonight.

Gen Con: The Reckoning

2010-08-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent many hours on the road traveling to Indianapolis. Our journey was mostly uneventful and spent listening to the Geek Nights podcast. We drove in a caravan of two cars and I referred to the lead car as our Tank. Our Tank was made of win and we got straight to the hotel after many hours.

From there we checked into our hotel, the La Quinta. We had requested a fridge and microwave in the room if possible and they delivered. I'm really grateful for that.

Finally, we reached the Convention Center and got in line for our badges. The line snaked around most of the place and getting to the end of it was fairly epic. Happily, the people running things did an excellent job and we got to our badges very quickly. Well, those of us who had badges that were actually printed out...

We went out for gluten-free pizza at Uno Chicago Grill where our waitress thought we were a band. Well, we were all basically wearing black t-shirts. The two guys in our group have long hair and Beth and I have black and pink/red hair. My husband actually is a metal guitarist...

On the drive back to the hotel we discussed bad gaming experiences and I accidentally coined a horrible new breakfast item "Fap Jacks". We fleshed out (if you will) a menu for our new ultra-x themed adult breakfast palace inspired by the many creepy stores we drove past.

While wandering around the hotel last night Beth and I ran into a guy who asked us if we were there for Gen Con. I think our video game shirts gave us away. In retrospect I wish I would have told him that I made my perception roll and that I knew he was there for the Con too.

Well, that's it for yesterday. I have a full schedule of stuff today. Have a good one!

The Gamers Before the Storm

2010-08-04T00:44:00.000-07:00

In a few hours I will be heading out to Indianapolis on a long and debatably scenic drive. Before I begin to inundate my Twitter and possibly my Youtube and Flickr with as up to the minute as possible updates I thought I would recommend two blogs to you and also introduce my Gen Con group.

There are many, many excellent sites out there in the blogosphere and my link list contains a sampling of them. So check them out. If you are reading this and I haven't stopped by your blog let me know!

Please check out my Arch Nemesis Captain Osmotic Ricardo. He wrote an excellent piece reflecting on character death in games and it contains this brilliant line, "After much suffering (and 16 failed dice rolls)"... Although the Captain and I are arch enemies we find ourselves often matching wits in games, comic book stores, and in the realms of the Xbox Live Game Room. (I will defeat your Millipede score!). In all honesty despite his arching ways and his work for the Guild of Calamitous Intent, Captain Osmotic is incredibly knowledgeable about a lot of games and a lot of tech. He's a real peach.

Now let's talk about the folks attending Gen Con with me.

Check out the blog of Absolute Anne the lovely lady, er, Princess who will be driving us to Gen Con. Her blog is ablaze with sass and such. She also has a great piece up with advice about attending Conventions. Anne is a real doll. She is part of my DnD turned Pathfinder game and is the Junior Goddess of all things anime. You should see her manga collection. I've tried to break in several times to steal it and to do her dishes! (Not a euphemism, thanks). I'm looking forward to our time at Gen Con together.

If they had blogs I would recommend the blogs of my fellow gamer friends Beth and Ryan who will also be with us in Indy. They are very fun, awesome people with some mad table-top and WoW skills. Yes, that's right. All of us, including Anne, are in the same Guild on WoW.

Finally, I would also recommend my husband's blog if he had one. He is a brilliant and funny guy with years of Magic and White Wolf gaming under his belt. He's also in our WoW guild and we spend most of our times in a living paradise of gaming at home, playing metal on our guitars and enjoying our cats. It's really a dream come true.

Here's hoping we all have a great time at the Convention. If any readers are going I hope you also have a fantastic time and if you aren't going then bear with me as I gush on about it.

Cheers!

100th Post: Fought and Won by Gamers

2010-08-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

I spied this on Geekologie.

This is my 100th post on this blog and it celebrates the brave gamers who have had to fight to keep their portables out of the hands of violent thieves. It also goes to show that one should not attack people who have consumed in their lifetimes thousands of gallons of mind-altering caffeine and have good hand/eye coordination.

Pride, Prejudice and Primal Moon Cloth

2010-07-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I moved to a new region and into an apartment building full of tiny studios. One of my first priorities was getting the internet going and after a couple of days the quest was completed. A friendly cable guy came by, enjoyed my Adult Swim posters and I was back on the magical world wide web and of course back on WoW.

Well, that night I went downstairs and saw a curious hand-written note stuck to the announcement board. It was written in a desperate scrawl on torn paper and it said:

Do you play Warcraft?
I do.
My internet won't be hooked up for days And
I need to log on and make PRIMAL Mooncloth for my GUILD.
Call me xxx-xxx-xxxx

Oh how I wish I had a photo of that lonely piece of paper. It was the only thing up on the announcement board. I stared at it and contemplated the consequences of dialing that number. This person really needed my help. That primal mooncloth was not going to make itself. What if the person got kicked from his or her guild? What if I was the only other WoW player and the only one who could help?

I went about the rest of my night and figured the person would get internet faster than the estimate and be okay. However, the next evening the note was still up. It looked even lonelier and accusatory than it had the previous night. I knew that Jesus would want me to let this person use my internet. Yes because Jesus cares about gaming. A lot. And He Saves...

I even considered meeting the person with my lap top at a public place with wifi. At the time the only thing in my apartment was a coffee table, a TV on a bookshelf, and some blankets on the floor. I couldn't imagine Wow Player in there sitting on the floor with me making mooncloth and avoiding talking.

Well that night turned into several days and the note stayed up, but I knew I couldn't dial that number. There were too many variables.

Now that I have you all in the proper mood let's have a CONTEST!

The very awesome Geek Soap was cool enough to send me a Hearthstone Soap to give away! As you can see it actually works. I travel to Dalaran on business at least once a day, but it's not to make mooncloth...

This soap is fantastic. It smells great and is vegan friendly!

To enter leave a comment here about a funny or strange experience you have had while playing an MMORPG. The contest will stay open until Friday August 6th and I will roll the dice at Gen Con to determine the winner!

(If the animated Gif is bothering you hit the ESC key and it will stop cycling ^_^)

It's Fishnet Friday!

2010-07-30T15:05:00.001-07:00

Felicia Day!

Next week I will be at Gen Con where I will hopefully get in to listen to Felicia Day discuss her work on The Guild and maybe even get an autograph.

Felicia Day has to be one of my favorite people on the internet. Her show The Guild proved that web-based television can succeed in the marketplace. Not only does she write a hilarious series about gamers that includes a diverse cast, but Day also wrote prequels to the show in the form of The Guild comic book series. Her blog includes book reviews that she writes and lets her share her creative experiences with her fans.

Day's background is even more interesting to me as a nerdy girl. She studied opera and ballet, then in college double majored in math and violin performance. I mean come on! If the universe was different she probably would have been on my scholastic bowl team!

Felicia Day is exactly the kind of person that Hollywood needs and I'm very grateful for the hard work she does to bring entertainment to life that resonates with those of us who who don't fit in the entertainment industry's narrow molds. She's really an internet pioneer.

Peach

2010-07-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Ms. Chic Geek of Girl Gone Geek did an art trade with me. I made her an 8-bit avatar and she made me this most excellent Princess Peach:

I love her Princess Peach avatars. Check them out her blog. Also... this week is Zombie Week and you will enjoy it!

Gen Con : Tik Tok

2010-07-28T18:17:00.001-07:00

The lyrics to this are hilarious.

The Beast and the Bestiary

2010-07-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

Wow. I think this picture speaks for itself. We will never get this book back. She's activated some type of arcane spell craft. You can tell because her normally blue eyes have gone red.

Ok, crisis averted for now. She is resting with her treasure. Actually this is pretty dangerous. I've lived with many cats over the years and this is the first one who likes to eat paper. She's consumed some IT homework and recently I discovered that she's eaten some chunks out of my Power Girl figure. She's probably bored of her toys and needs a new one. Maybe one of my readers under a shrinking spell??

Who wants to volunteer!

Gen Con : The Fun Coverage

2010-07-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

Going to Gen Con? Well, if you aren't then I hope to deliver some of the experience to you vicariously. I really enjoyed SDCC even though I wasn't there and I hope those not attending Gen Con might feel the same way. Hehe.

Gen Con is four days (and one night since stuff technically starts on the 4th) of gaming held in downtown Indianapolis. You buy a badge to attend and then get tickets to join games from Magic to Settlers of Catan to LARPing and everything else you can imagine. For example, one game that I wasn't in time to get tickets for is being run off of the DC Universe system but the world it is set in is the world of the Venture Brothers. Oh man, I wish I was in that game! I could end up killed by Bowie!

There are some huge name events that I am very excited about that I'll be writing about more in the future (*cough* FELICIA DAY *cough*).

Aside from the chances to game there will also be a zombie walk, costume contest and many opportunities to party.

Over at G33Kmade the folks have put up details about their booth #2732 which will include a wide variety of excellent items. I can't wait to check it out. G33Kmade is also hosting a Tweet Up which sounds like an excellent time.

If anyone has any tips for me about attending this Con let me know.

Building a Warhammer 40k Army

2010-07-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

When I decided to build an army in the Warhammer 40k universe I had some concerns about the cost of the endeavor. However, I decided to go slowly and collect figures as I could and then spend as much time as possible on painting each one.

I've learned some valuable lessons from checking game stores and observing e-bay listings. It is possible to find the books you need at very low prices used and that's one big expense that's nice to get out of the way. You'll need the core rulebook and then the codex for the army that you wish to build. I'm putting together an army from the Witch Hunter's Codex consisting of the all-female Sisters of Battle.

Now when it comes to buying the figures be warned that just because it is on e-bay does not mean you are getting a good deal. I have scored some Sisters Repentia and Sisters of Battle on e-bay for a much better price than the cost new, but I have noticed that many sellers are actually selling their listing for the same price or more than the cost of the figure new from Games Workshop. So beware.

The next cost involved once you have the figures is painting them and adding terrain elements to the base. Once you decide the color scheme you can buy paints accordingly. It's also possible to mix them to create the colors you want and I've been doing that.

I have a long way to go to build up even a 500 pt. army, but I am enjoying the process.

Here are two Sisters Repentia that are ready to die for the Emperor. I consider these figures finished, but I am going to take the extra sand off of the sides of the base. When gluing the sand on I managed to affix a strip of it to my finger. That felt wonderful, let me tell you...

CONS & Sleep: I'm your BIGGEST Fan!

2010-07-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

Following up on Monday's post about low-cost and in-room dining at conventions I wanted to share another post with some advance planning tips.

I am so excited about GEN CON and reading twitter updates for SDCC just amped up the excitement level of waiting for the convention. GEN CON (and another event that I got tickets for that I will talk about later) is part of my gift to myself for completing my Master's Degree in 18th Century Literature. While I would love to take myself to Tokyo, back to Hong Kong, or to Ireland to really celebrate the economy made me look much closer to home. Hey, I'm not complaining.

With that in mind for most of us the reality of attending a convention in an economical fashion includes things like sharing a room and sharing a ride. Luckily riding with a group or taking mass transit to get to a Con is also environmentally friendly.

Even if you aren't sharing a room the first thing you need to think about when staying somewhere long-term is the reality of getting some sleep. At most hotels during convention season you will be dealing with a lot of noise. Double that if you are sharing a room and will have people coming in and out at different times. Hell, during the last Renaissance Faire I stayed at there were men in the next room howling like monkeys at the TV at 1 AM (not Faire-goers by the way).

My best suggestion with trying to sleep in guerrilla conditions is bringing a long a very small fan. If you put this on the nightstand at the hotel and pop in some earplugs you have increased chances of feeling awake enough to pay attention during panels and when meeting your favorite actors, artists, or writers.

I've also read tips from other convention goers who had success downloading free or .99 cent white noise generators for the iPods and people listening to whatever MP3 player they brought along.

You may also be thinking of that other magical way of sleeping through anything: a lot of alcohol. This will work in most situations, but if you party every night at a Con you will at the very least feel like Cthulhu is in your brain and likely begin to resemble him as well.... I suppose the partying theme should be saved for a future post.

What are some things that have worked for you to bring you sweet dreams during conventions?

It's Fishnet Friday!

2010-07-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

The return of Futurama has been most welcome in my circle of friends. I missed the weird mix of pop-culture colliding with that twisted view of the Future. I've also always loved the plethora of references in the show from gaming to sci-fi. Sometimes they've been heavy-handed, but there are always layers of more subtle and even funnier allusions hidden in many episodes.

I caught up to some of the new stories last night including "Proposition Infinity" in which our intrepid crew come to terms with and then try to legalize robosexual marriage. While a clear indictment of Prop 8 in a futuristic setting the writers managed to bring their own special skewering of the situation.

This isn't the first instance of a character in Fishnets in the wonderful world of New New York, but our friend at the Pride Rally pops up quite a few times.

When I started this blog I knew that the one thing I wanted to do for sure was to post a Fishnet Friday segment as often as possible as inspired by a very awesome friend of mine, Etyhl Violet. Fishnets have featured heavily in my wardrobe for many years and I just really like the way they can transform a look and add a touch of rebellion. Little did I know that I would have fishnets appear constantly! I guess they were always there in the dark and geeky things I love.

Ghost and horse marriage is legal!

Finally, I'll end this post with a reference from the episode that aside from the line "Mama said Spock you out" was a fun little nod:

Oh Gamers

2010-07-20T16:32:00.001-07:00

I haven't run a T-shirt Tuesday in a bit and I missed this week, so ....

Here I am off to game te other night with my Dragon Chow bag, a new Wil Wheaton collab t-shirt from Jinx, and my Pathfinder book. Never mind that giant pink lamb in the background. You don't need to know! *snicker*

Our resident funny girl, the gorgeous Beth (in-game the manly cleric) debuted a new gaming tool that may well become essential gaming gear for everyone: The catch phrase board of pointing. Here's the experimental proto-type:

Oh believe me that thing came in so handy while the Barbarian and the Bard went to buy some ropes and chains from ye olde sex shoppe in the town we are stuck in. Yes, that was an RP exchange to remember...

Soap Contest Winner and Quick Video Review

2010-07-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Congrats! We have a winner. I'll be doing another contest very soon thanks to Geek Soap!

Con Dining: Beyond PB&J

2010-07-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

After four days you will be tired of sandwiches....

SDCC is about to hit the west coast while all across the globe the convention schedule for fans of almost anything continues to grow with new events and old favorites.

In the heat of battling for exclusive items, attending seminars, meeting your idols, and taking it all in it's important to remember to eat. How does the savy attendee solve the dilemma of finding easily accessible food and yet also saving funds for that got-to-have collector item?

I have given this a lot of thought as this year some of my gaming BFF's and I will be attending GENCON. I don't want to spend the time and money tracking down restaurants compounded by the fact that I have to find gluten free and vegetarian fare for my dietary needs.

Let me introduce you to some foods that would make either good snacks or great meals for those on a budget. Even if your hotel room doesn't have a microwave almost all hotels have a microwave in the lobby. Your first step is to make sure you stay at a hotel with some kind of free breakfast as that will simplify some of your food needs.

SNACKS:

There are a lot of good meal bars that you could stash in a bag of holding or your Cthulhu waist pouch. Some good options that also happen to be gluten free, healthy, and taste pretty great are Soy Joy, Luna Bars, and Cliff Bars.

Cliff bars lead the pack as they have more calories than the others, a number of added vitamins, and are quite filling. Paired with an apple from your free hotel breakfast this would make a fast and healthy lunch between seminars.

Other good options would include trail mix, microwave popcorn, tortilla chips, and of course cookies (which for the gf person there are many options these days).

DINNER:

Here is the beyond PB&J, beyond ramen, part of the post. If your hotel room does not have a fridge it may seem like you are very limited in your food choices. However, a trip to an International Grocery, larger chain store, or a co-op/natural food store will yield amazing choices that are not perishable. These foods will give you a full complement of nutrition and even veggies.

First up on my recommended list are the meals by Tasty-Bite. They make items in the vegan range, gluten-free range, etc. Can you imagine after a long day coming back to your hotel room and fixing a fast, hot-meal of Indian food?! There are a lot of meals to choose from in this line and they cook in 1.5 minutes.

These meals can be paired with microwave rice such as Anne Chung's Rice Express for a full meal that you can share.

Other brands that make good non-perishable food that comes in gluten-free include Amy's Vegetarian Chili's and Soups (you'll need to bring a can-opener), Thai Kitchen, and A Taste of Thai.

Hell, if you bring a jar of pickled Japanese veggies it's even possible to make a passable and very cheap mountain of sushi to take back up to your hotel room with this kit. All you have to do is microwave the rice for the sushi.
BE EARTH-FRIENDLY:
Conventions, like any large gathering of people, tend to create a lot of waste. Be mindful of this. Ask about recycling at your hotel or at the convention center. If possible stash any plastic, cardboard, paper, or glass in your trunk to recycle when you get home. Bring your own water bottle and refill it and if you are microwaving food at your hotel consider bringing a small bowl from home and a knife/spoon or spork. You can wash it out in the hotel sink and re-use it each day instead of throwing away paper or plastic disposables.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
As you consider the type of convention, the means of travel, and the amenities of your lodgings decide ahead of time how much food you can bring and what type. At the very least bring along snacks and re-usable water bottle.

Let me know any other easy food options that have worked for you in the past or ones that you plan on trying.

Table-top Updates

2010-07-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

Our Call of Cthulhu game has not had a session in quite some time. Ah, scheduling. The other game, our DnD turned Pathfinder game of the past two years, has had two sessions since I last posted about it and we are going to run again tomorrow.

The background on our game is that the original group (my Ranger and the Bard are the only two surviving original members) was hired to kill Orcs. Oh, but it's never as simple as that, is it? In the midst of our questing we, or if I want to be specific THE BARD, unleashed an ancient and not so delicious horror. Ever since then we have been used by various factions to try to fix this. Many terrible and some terribly hilarious things have happened including my Ranger accidentally being owned by the Lord of the Hunt when we traversed into an Other World. Still, she did what she thought was best in the situation and ended up having to make a pact with him to save her party from a fight that we could never win. My Ranger favours women more than men, but hey if it comes down to it maybe being owned by the Lord of the Hunt won't be so bad for her...*dirty*

Well, during our last two sessions we reached the Fell Lands and entered a keep in which all hell broke loose and we discovered that someone (*cough*magic-user*cough*) had been keeping secrets that lead to all manner of awesome events. Our entire party "died" temporarily and we found ourselves in a weird state of suspension in which we met a very powerful and ancient magic-user who presumably told us what was really going on. Of course my character gave up trusting anyone a long time ago. She is so battle-scarred that aside from being happy near any forest she just basically wants to kill until her time is up.

Suffice it to say there is a god on the loose who needs to be bound and the hearts we have been going after are integral to this.

After returning from our trip to the world of the not-quite dead we found ourselves resurrected about as far away from our target as possible within the known geography of the world. Yay! Oh yeah, and we had Resurrection sickness too...hehe. After some willow bark tea at an inn, some business in town, and then a visit from an Elf that was beautifully described by our DM we found ourselves for at least the second time causing an inn-keeper to flee and having to run the place. The Barbarian and the Cleric have been trying to learn instruments and work with the Bard. Meanwhile our Druid has a huge grizzly bear sitting in all his glory inside the inn demanding honey covered fish. Naturally, the whole evening was capped off by the appearance of a whole bunch of undead that were hard as hell to kill.

Oh boy I bet the Knights of Kahn will NEVER figure out where we are after that little scuffle. Yes, we also found out that there has been a wanted poster circulating for some time with our original party members on it.

Tomorrow when we game we just have to figure out how to sneak in and kill someone very important. Yeah, that should be easy.

It's Fishnet Friday!

2010-07-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

On the hunt for items from the past we came across Marvel Triple Action 23 a comic book from 1974 featuring The Avengers, Goliath, Power Man, and Black Widow. Stan Lee, Frank Giacoia, Don Heck and Sam Rosen worked on this.

The existence of this book in the old collection is kind of an anomaly, so it must have been picked up on a whim of some kind. Everything else was from the late 80's up to the mid 90's.

The cover tells you what is going on. Goliath can't change back to normal size and the Black Widow is up to no good. However, the cover version of her outfit is vastly different from what I found inside the book.

Since it's fishnet Friday you can probably guess what she looks like...

Madam Natasha has been brainwashed to destroy the Avengers as we learn from the panels in the image on the right. She goes to see The Swordsman and even though he's at a circus he seems surprised to see "A girl in costume". I think he resembles Lando a little bit in this image and when I did a search for images of Lando I immediately found this:

Kindred spirits divided in by several years, space, and franchises...

But, back to the fishnets.

I think what we see in this comic book is an example of the liberalization of the Comics Code that began in the early 70's. This book is also part of the Bronze Age of comics and you can see the artwork is pretty colorful and sharp.

Sometime in the future I'll scan in some of the ads and do a post about them because they are truly awesome!