Brief Musings on Skyfall

This past weekend I saw the newest Bond movie, Skyfall, and overall I was really impressed the film.  The opening credit sequence was beautifully filmed and the song performed by Adele was perfect.  The movie was about 2 and half hours long but it was so exciting that it held my attention throughout.  I didn't even look at my phone to see what time it was until the two hour mark, and even then I couldn't believe that much time had passed.  

Javier Bardem was a superb villain.  I hated him during the film.  Just the sight of him and hearing his awful laughter would get me to tense up.  His backstory and his master plan were well thought out and believable.  As for Bond, I also think Daniel Craig did a great job.  Growing up, Pierce Brosnan was always my Bond, so although I'm used to a classier, more refined 007, I still enjoyed Craig's performance.  (Although, Bond only drank one martini in the film, opting for scotch as drink of choice.)  Judi Dench played M, and Ralph Fiennes antagonized her as Gareth Mallory, the man who would transition into her role after her forced retirement.  Dench was faced with many difficult decisions and shouldered a lot of the blame for the course of events in the film, but she played her part with dignity, a strong sense of pride, and a deeply rooted love for her country.  Ben Whishaw, who played Q was adorable.  I particularly enjoyed the conversation he and Bond had upon first meeting each other.

Why Spider-Man is Amazing & Why You Should Have Faith in Dan Slott

If you follow me on any form of social media or have known me since high school, it's no secret that Spider-Man is by far my favorite superhero (Marvel, DC or otherwise).  Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man comic series is coming to an end this December with issue #700 which is written not only by one of my favorite Spidey authors, but also one of my close friends, Dan Slott (@DanSlott).  A lot of people have been giving Dan grief online about his new series, Superior Spider-Man, that debuts in January of 2013 and as a longtime reader of his work, it's been driving me nuts.  Personally, I think it's just silly to be questioning Dan's storytelling skills after everything he's written for us so far, so I've decided to compile a list of my favorite issues from his Amazing Spider-Man run as a reminder why you should be looking forward to whatever he has planned for us all!  Don't worry, I haven't included any spoilers, so if you're looking to begin reading Spider-Man, below is a great place for suggestions on where to start!  If you've read #697, the last page should've gotten you PUMPED for the final three issues.  So in conclusion, don't be mean to Dan, or you'll have to face me (and I have a black belt in karate)!

On Fake Geeks And Why Everyone Should Just Leave This Topic Alone

I've never written a post about my opinion on the "fake" geek before so I felt like today was an appropriate time given the earlier controversy.  Not that this isn't a reoccurring topic (sadly).  Every time an article or an ignorant comment surfaces online I feel like pulling out my hair and screaming "WHY?!"  Do the people who say these outlandish things really have enough spare time to be concerned with what others are doing?  If they do, I can't say I envy them.  They may argue that they're trying to protect what they love from being ruined by outsiders, but wouldn't someone who claims to love something be excited to share it with a new audience?  I mean logically speaking, the more people that spend their money in our industry (no matter what their motivation might be), means more money gets invested in our industry.  I like to see my favorite authors and artists become popular and receive the praise and royalties they deserve for their creations.  I'm completely ignoring the gender issue that usually arises in conjunction with said ridiculousness because quite honestly, it's completely irrelevant and disgusting that it could even be a factor in any argument.  Last time I checked we hadn't taken a TARDIS to the past when gender discrimination was tolerated.  Guess what, plenty of women are "geeks," and so are plenty of men.  Which bring me to my next topic.  Some people get very upset over the prospect of "booth babes," but I do not understand that concept either.  So what if a woman chooses to be employed as such?  Did Chris Evans playing Captain America ruin The Avengers for you since Chris isn't a geek in real life?  How is an actor getting payed to play a part in a film any different than a woman getting paid to help promote a booth?  Many of the girls that do cosplay and work at cons actually love what they're doing, not that should have to explain themselves either way.  Should they be made to feel alienated because they decide to wear a revealing costume?  I don't think so.  Why wouldn't you flaunt what you have?  I know girls who spend months working out and dieting before conventions just so they can feel confident in their cosplay.  Are they to be punished for putting effort into their appearance?  What gives anyone the right to judge anyone else?  There is always going to be someone who knows more about a certain topic than you do and that's okay!  In fact, it's kind of exciting.  It makes for great conversation, it allows us to connect with one another, and it means that there's always something new for us to discover.  There are so many areas of fandom to explore and years of content to memorize that the prospect of being an absolute geek god in any number of topics is improbable (unless you're my good friend Alan Kistler [@SizzlerKistler] but that guy is just exceptional ^.^).  And isn't geekdom all about enthusiasm anyway?  Why turn something that was created to be an outlet for entertainment and enjoyment into a contest?  Being a geek is not like being a member of some elitist club.  One of the reasons I've always loved the geek community is because overall, it's a very accepting and loving group of people.  If anyone is making a conscious effort or showing an interest in one of my passions, I'm the first one to offer up recommendations.  I find it satisfying to get new people involved.  In fact, I get so excited about reading comics that I often force other people (namely my brother) to read them too.   Then I get to talk about how awesome whatever it was had been! It's a win-win situation.  I can't think of one negative result of engaging more people in reading.  Call me crazy for being so inviting, but a world with a little more superhero and a little less Jersey Shore can only be a good thing.  Plus, everyone has to start somewhere!  So instead of wasting our time defending ourselves why don't we move on, continue to have fun, and deny the haters the one thing they crave most; attention.

I'm Happy Just Because

Do you ever just wake up and find yourself in a crazy random (awesome) mood?  This happens to me A LOT.  Like a lot, a lot.  It happened today.  I meant to spend my day doing productive things like writing blog posts and tons of other adult-like real people things.  But I didn't.  What I did do was buy a purple wig.  It's from the same company that Melissa (@mechamelissa) and I bought our New York Comic Con wigs from.  It's purpley and magical and will match my galaxy leggings.  I love wigs.  After that I decided to run around my room in a hot pink wig that I already own and pretend to be an airplane while straightening my room.  Why?  I have no idea.  And that's right.  I spent much of Hurricane Sandy and the snowstorm cleaning and organizing my room and it's already a little messy again.  What a failure!  I've also spent much of my day scouring the internet for a pink handbag that has a giant bow on it.  Sadly after looking through 20 pages of products on ebay, I was devastated to find that most pink bow handbags are actually made for Barbie dolls.  Wtf?  Anyway, my next order of business was finding a gif maker online.  I thought it would be entertaining to make a gif set of myself from the video I used to audition for a reality show this one time.   I actually got picked to be on it but they keep having production setbacks so I'm still not sure if it will actually happen.  Either way, I'll be happy<3  Oh wait come to think of it, I already was on one reality show.  It was on TLC and it was called Geek Love.  This one (if it gets made) will also be geek-centric, but I digress.  The next unproductive topic I tackled was to sit at my laptop and think about how unfair it is that Sailor Moon and Sabrina the Teenage Witch have talking cats and I do not.  At least I had a gingerbread latte while I contemplated what my cat and I would talk about.  Well, that's two blog posts in one day which is probably crazy.  GTG read some Batman comics and listen to Bright Eyes until The Walking Dead starts!  What have you been doing on this unseasonably warm November Sunday? Hope you like my gif.  Byeeeeeee.

Don't You Know That if a Time Warp Was Open, I'd Stay Right in My Place

Several days ago on Twitter, I asked everyone if they could choose a place, real or imagined, and live there, where it would be.  I was met with an overwhelming number of responses that continued throughout the day and I felt so inspired by everyone's differing opinions that I decided to compile a list of my own fictional places I would love to move to.  The truth is that given the opportunity to move, I would choose to stay where I am, but it's still fun to daydream!  I would create a list of real places too, but as New York is the only real place I would like to live in, the list would be quite short.  I'm sure no one will find it surprising that two of the five places I chose are fictional version of New York =^.^=

This is Not a Costume Party

Remember at the end of my last post when I said I had to run because I was picking up Melissa (@mechamelissa) from the train station?  Well, she visited with me this weekend and as usual, the antics we got ourselves into could easily be used as the premise for a sitcom.  On Saturday night, we spent hours applying sugar skull makeup to our faces because we were attending a belated costume party to celebrate my friend Amanda's birthday and Halloween.  We were supposed to arrive around 9pm, but as our makeup was taking longer than usual I texted Amanda to let her know.  She replied "LOL," with no other explanation.  At 11pm when we finally entered the party there were a bunch of folks standing around outside dressed in everyday civilian clothing.  Mel and I glanced at each other but assured ourselves that once we walked inside the room would be decked out to the nines in elaborate costumes.  So as we entered the door, and surveyed the crowd, we burst out into a hysterical laughing fit because it was apparent that we were the only ones in costume.  The bouncer even told us to just go because he wouldn't be able to tell if it was actually us anyway.  Amanda apologized and said she had no idea what I meant when I said our makeup was taking a long time.  She also forgot to text anyone to tell them not to wear costumes, but everyone else (besides Me & Melissa) had decided of their own accord and laziness to come without getting dressed up.  Luckily for us, we both love dressing up and since we both don't care what other people think, we had a great time.  No one had any idea what we were, but that's a whole other story.  Anyone who is unfamiliar with Long Island, may not know that most of the people here are not the most, er, accepting of people.  I dislike making generalizations about large groups of people because there are always exceptions but for the majority of my life I knew that I  was meant for Manhattan and not this island.  Anyway, we were receiving weird looks all night from strangers, and accidentally scaring people whenever we turned around.  But obviously, this was not an issue for us, because look how totally AWESOME our makeup turned out!

How I Spent Hurricane Sandy

Since Hurricane Sandy has struck, there has been little to no transportation available around New York, plus most establishments were out of power, and some still are.  Never in all of my years have I seen the school district close down for six consecutive days and counting.  I am so thankful that everyone in my family and all of my friends made it through the storm okay with only minor damage and power loss in some instances.  One thing Hurricane Sandy has forced me to do is spend a lot of time inside my house.  Work was closed for two days last week (we were nowhere near as lucky as the schools!), and I used that time to finish reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, reorganize my book and graphic novels shelves, reorganize and minimize my DVD collection, straighten up some of the cluttered areas in my room (all while watching The X-Files), and spend a lot of time watching classic movies with the rest of my family.  It feels like I've been on the go since last March so it was really nice to enjoy a relaxing week at home for a change.  Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy curling up in my bed with a good book and a hot cup of tea, or lounging on my downstairs couch for family movie nights.  It's always lovely to reconnect at home and spend some time selfishly indulging in the things that make you happy.  But now that it has been a few days, I'm ready to run out to Manhattan for more adventures.  I have plenty of exciting things coming up this holiday season, which I'll be sure to share with everyone :o)

On Meeting R.L. Stine at Spooky Empire

This past weekend was Florida's annual horror convention, Spooky Empire, and I just so happen to be visiting my best friend/blog partner Kristin (@KristinLFowler) during that time.  I didn't really know anything about the convention or what to expect while were heading there but I did notice that R.L. Stine was giving a Q&A Panel which was an event that I immediately knew I could not miss.  I credit R.L. Stine with being the man who changed my childhood and made me love reading.  When I was younger, there was nothing more exciting to me than acquiring a new Goosebumps book.  My grandmother lived within walking distance of an independent bookstore called The Oaktree Bookstore (sadly, it's no longer there), and every time I would visit her, we would walk there together and she would buy me a new Goosebumps book.  I'll never forget how overcome with happiness I had felt in those pre-internet days when I would walk into Oaktree, hurry over to the Goosebumps section and see that a new book had been released and added to R.L.'s shelf.  After carefully choosing my next read, my Grandma and I would also buy candy from the card store, and then run back to her house where I would immediately begin my next horrific adventure.  Whether it was a Halloween mask that adhered to it's wearer, a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy who plays ill hearted pranks on his owners, a hamster named Cuddles who ingests Monster Blood, or a pair of lawn gnomes who wreak havoc while everyone sleeps, I could not get enough of Goosebumps.  I owned and read all 62 of the original Goosebumps books in the series multiple times, took out all of the television adaptation VHS tapes from the library for multiple viewings, and collected every last Goosebumps trading card available.  It's been a long time since I was a child and experienced Goosebumps, but in that moment, at Spooky Empire, everything came flooding back to me as I shoved Kristin and yelled to her that R.L. Stine had just strolled past us on the show floor!