Hot Nerd Girl

Category: Event

  • WonderCon 2014 – Part 1 (Panels, Floor, and Shenanigans)

    IMG_0129WonderCon is a trip for me because it’s grown so much since I first started going to it up in Oakland back in 2002. Just in the few years it’s been in Anaheim it’s gotten a lot bigger. It’s a great balance between the little conventions and Juggernaut that Comic Con has become.

    Mama Jedi and I got a 3-Day pass and headed up to WonderCon in Anaheim from San Diego after working a half day on Friday so we were there for the latter half of Friday, all-day Saturday and most of the day on Sunday. Saturday is the day I crossplayed as BBC Sherlock and I got Mama Jedi to Crossplay as Dr. John Watson. It’s the first time Mama Jedi has dressed up for a Convention and no one had any idea who she was dressed as even when she stood right next to me. Unless we told them. Oh well, it IS a pretty subtle costume, I guess.

    We even ran in to a few friends and acquaintances while we were there. Shout outs!

    Top row, left to right: my sister-in-law, Reba’s friend Cat (Mario) ran into us over by John Mulhall’s booth, my High School friend Rich (who did this amazing HNG Delilah art) and I spent 10 minutes trying to find each other near the food court, where I then randomly ran into Paige (red hair) who is the best friend of my friend Cris.

    Bottom row, left to right: Geek Outlaw and I met Daniel at Comic Con in 2012 and seem to run into him at every Con we go to, we met Capt. Seekerman at ConDor last month and have since hung out with him sans amazing Steampunk Costume at the LRH Writer’s of the Future Awards (coverage of that coming soon), and through Capt. Seekerman we met Andrea.

    And these don’t even include what we call our “ConFam” – the writers, artists, and cosplayers we see at most of the conventions we go to and have gradually developed friendships with. You’ll see some of them later. This year, I even ran in to someone who might turn out to be ActualFam. This illustrator and concept artist’s name caught my eye while I was making my way towards my friend Brett’s booth in the Small Press section. I zeroed in on it because I am also a Doering and it’s not a surname you see very often in the US. Matt Doering was incredibly nice (and uber talented) and I think we even kind of look alike (Maybe? A little?). Who knows if we’re actually related but, either way, he’s officially one of my new favorite artists.

    Watch out, there’s two Doering’s in the hizzouse

    Speaking of Brett (the guy who’s booth I was looking for when I ran into long-lost-maybe-family), he’s been a good friend of mine since High School and he was there representing his hilarious online web comic, Orky the Porky Orca. It’s possible we love Orky a little too much.

    Brett also wrote and illustrated a book about 101 Random Conversations with Strangers (most of which are true) that is turning out to be very popular thanks, in part, to it’s extreme hilarity. Mama Jedi bought one and I caught her laughing out loud for real in her hotel room while reading it.

    Artist Mike Hicks is a recent addition to our ConFam. We met him at (I think) Long Beach Comic Con and were immediately drawn (heehee) to his unique style. He creates beautiful drawings using one continuous line that never crosses or touches. (Want to follow the line and see for yourself? Click HERE). The first time we met he offered to do a piece based on one of my Batgirl poses. When Hayden found out, he naturally wanted a Geek Outlaw one as well. We finally met up with Mike again at WonderCon and were able to pick up the originals. Thanks, Mike!

    I was already a fan of Patrick Ballesteros‘ art when he sent me an email about his latest piece a couple of years ago. I was only too happy to share it! Since then we’ve connected at several conventions and he’s one of the friendliest guys you’ll ever meet. See that adorable Firefly picture behind him? I’ve got it hanging on the wall in my office 

    Another member of the ConFam, we met author John Mulhall at a convention a couple of years ago (we had a whole conversation trying to remember exactly which one and couldn’t decide) and started hanging out with him more and more at each subsequent con. Even though I bought it a looooong time ago, I only recently read his book Geddy’s Moon and, to be honest, it’s fantastic. I wish I’d read it sooner. And I’m not just saying that because he’s now my friend. I’ll write up a review of it and fill you in on exactly why you need to read it. Because you do. John also participated in a panel which I’ll get to later.

    Side note: John Mulhall, Blayne Alexander of the band Idiot Stare, Geek Outlaw, and I recently started recording podcasts for a geek round-table idea that John had, the first of which should be coming out any time now. So stay tuned for that!

    Hayden and I met Georges Jeanty when we had our very first booth at the LA Comic Book and Sci-Fi Convention where he broke a piece off of my Mal Reynolds pistol (yes, I forgave him). Georges is one of the cover artists for Dark Horse’s new Serenity comic book series that takes place immediately following the events of the movie. We even found a girl dressed as Illyria from Angel who was really excited to get Georges signature on her costume.

    Geremi Burleigh is another artist we look out for and visit at Conventions. His comics Morningstar and Eye of the Gods are great reads and Geremi is a ridiculously nice guy. He’s starting to do Cons all over the US (I think his next one is in Minnesota) so keep an eye out for him at your local con!

    Mama Jedi and I first ran into this lovely Oregonian couple while we were walking back to our hotel room and got distracted by a giant blue Furrie (REALLY wish I’d gotten a picture of that) and then Guinan speedwalking past us. Together the four of us wandered over to a room labeled “Ten Forward” (this Trekkie could NOT pass up seeing that) which turned out to be the flotsam and jetsam of what I’m sure was once tables teeming with beverages and snacks but was now merely an exhausted volunteer and some leftover cans of pop. Once the disappointment receded, we chatted them up about the pink stuffed critters attached to them. It turns out that John is the brains behind the adorably terrifying and very aptly named, Tentacle Kitty. Why would school girls run away from such a cute little critter?! John has a web comic that includes a ninja kitty, a pirate kitty, and a rat tailed unicorn. I checked it out and it’s delightful! Welcome to the ConFam 

    I love my new posters! Ninja Kitty and Doctor Who crossover ftw

    Hey, Mjolnir! I’ve got one of those too!

    The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D bridge restoration project folks were there but instead of the bridge they had a transporter room on display. We took full advantage of the Transporter Room.

    A – B – C. As easy as 1 – 2 – 3!

    I even took a stab at Chief O’Brien’s old job.

    I would like for Chris Hardwick to become a member of our ConFam but I wasn’t about to wait in the crazy long line just to meet him or his Lego alter-ego. I only wait for Star Trek actors and Stan Lee.

    And rounding out Part 1 of the WonderCon 2014 coverage, we’ve got the Panels! I only made it to four of them this year but they were good ones!

    Falling Skies

    Panelists: Seychelle Gabriel, Moon Bloodgood, Sarah Carter, Doug Jones

    I went to the Falling Skies panel last year and enjoyed it so much that I really wanted to make it again this year and I was definitely not disappointed. They started off with an amazing trailer for Season 4 (which starts Sunday, June 22nd at 10:00pm) before they introduced Seychelle Gabriel (Lourdes), Moon Bloodgood (Anne), Sarah Carter (Maggie), and (YAY!!!) Doug Jones (Cochise). It was worth it for Doug Jones alone.

    They revealed a surprising amount of details about Season 4. I don’t want to give too much away but everyone gets split up after a very intense opening battle scene (which they showed us and which looked REEEEALLY good), we get to see Lexi all grown up, Anne become a badass, Lourdes overcompensating for her Season 3 bug, and Pope meet his match in Mira Sorvino. The general consensus was that the show is really nuts this year. One fun tidbit we learned is that Seychelle and Moon once snuck into an ER and pretended to be medical students in order to see how a real ER looked and felt and had to fend off the teaching Doctors when they were asked to perform tasks like change a catheter.

    Psychology of Cult TV Shows

    Panelists: Dr. Janina Scarlet, Josue Cardona, Dr. Travis Langley, Elizabeth Ann

    We sought out this panel mostly because we’d seen Dr. Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight) on a writing panel at a previous WonderCon and it was one of our favorite panels of all time. They basically said that it was OK to be obsessed with TV hows like Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Firefly as long as it doesn’t prevent you from living a fulfilling “real” life. There was a really long line for this panel so we only caught the last third of it but it was fascinating!

    Afterward we stayed and chatted with Dr. Langley and Alan Sizzler Kistler who was also on that previous writing panel and who had stayed and answered all of our questions last time we saw him. Awesome guys!

    Game On!

    Panelists: David Buckley, Inon Zur, Woody Jackson, Charles Deenen, Gwen Riley
    Moderator: Thomas Mikusz 

    This panel was about the sound and music of video games and started off with a video montage of Video Games, Live! in which a live (no, really, they’re live) orchestra performs the theme songs from your favorite video games while scenes from those games play on giant screens in the background. It actually look really rad. Video game music is tough in that the player is going to be stuck with it for several hours so it better be good. Because of that, the developers now really understand how important the music is. The original World of Warcraft had approximately 2.5 hours of music. The latest one has approximately 52 hours.

    After this panel, Hayden and I had the opportunity to interview Batman: Arkham Knight Composer David Buckley!

    Check out the interview here:

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    Surviving Well

    Panelists: Markorie Liu, Cecil Castellucci, Genese Davis, Gretchen McNeil, John Mulhall
    Moderator: LeAnna Herrera

    We attended this panel because our writer friend and Podthingy co-star John Mulhall was a panelist and I’m glad we did. It was about how saving the world isn’t enough if the world isn’t worth living in after you’ve saved it.

    As the lone male on the panel, John was able to offer a different and unique perspective from the ladies. At one point the conversation veered off into a commentary about what it means to be a “strong female character” and how that term really isn’t very appropriate.

    At this point Hayden lost the hand from his Rick Grimes action figure which we found HILARIOUS.

    Stay tuned for the cosplay pictures tomorrow!

    *****

    Side note: the first run of HNG calendars sold out (yay!) and I need to order some more for an upcoming event. If anyone would like to get one, now’s the time to order! The calendar features all of the nerdy holidays (and the regular ones too) and a convention calendar. Order one today!

  • ConDor 2014

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    First off, my apologies for severely neglecting my blog. I couldn’t believe it when I looked back and realized that my last post was *GASP* January 31st. Almost two months without a fresh post is entirely unacceptable no matter how crazy and hectic my life may be.

    You stay on your side of the booth Geek Outlaw!

    Since January 31st my NerdBFF Hayden aka Geek Outlaw and I had our first booth at a Convention.

    The 2014 LA Comic Book and Sci-Fi Convention ended up being a great place to pop our convention booth cherries.

    He wrote a spectacular post about it that you should read HERE.

     

    Usually I’m the one having to drive back and forth to Los Angeles for Conventions that are closer to Hayden than they are to me but this past weekend Hayden had to drive to my neck of the woods for San Diego’s longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention, ConDor. Despite spending much of my youth A) in San Diego and, B) attending sci-fi conventions (mostly Star Trek), I had never been to ConDor.

    Due to our schedules Hayden and I only attended the convention on Saturday and we mostly stuck to the panels and floor, although I saw rooms where they were playing table top games and it looked REALLY fun. There were also several classes that I wish I’d had time to take and a couple of dances/parties.

    The overall feel of the convention was very steampunk as you can see from the photos taken by the official photographer Jerry Abuan. Check them out HERE. In fact, the floor was comprised almost entirely of steampunk vendors/artists…

    with the exception of a cardboard TARDIS…

    Guess I shouldn’t have taken that pill o.0

    and an art exhibit…

    ConDor is pretty small as far as Conventions go but fantastic in that there is something for everyone. The program was 51 pages thick and we didn’t even get to see a lot of the action.

    Hayden and I attended four panels: Broad Appeal vs. the Personal Touch (a writing panel), The Enduring Popularity of Doctor Who, Alien Invasions and Human Responses, and Big Bang Theory: Love it or Hate it? Many of the panelists were the same people who simply went from one panel to the next. I think most of them are long-time members and friends and are listed in the beginning of the program as “ConDor Veterans.” It was pretty neat in that it was a little round table of four or five geeks geeking it up. I could have sat through another hour of the Doctor Who panel, easy. It was a bit of a bummer in that, with the exception of the writing panel, they really didn’t invite much audience interaction. They were kind of lost in their own little worlds having these great conversations and we may as well have been sitting on the other side of a two-way mirror. They just didn’t take much notice of us and I felt as though I could have contributed some insight on a couple of occasions that would have added to the conversation. Ah well!

    Broad Appeal vs. the Personal Touch (a writing panel)

    Panelists: Kelly Dunn, Stephen Woodworth (Moderator), Dani Kollin, Sherwood Smith

    This was supposed to be a panel about how too much broad appeal can make a story overly generic while too much of a personal touch can make a story impenetrable and irrelevant; however, there was some confusion in the beginning over what exactly “genre fiction” was that took up quite a bit of time. Hayden got in a good question during the Q&A in which he asked the panelists to name one thing that would keep a story from being too generic and one thing that would keep it from being too personal. The advise ranged from writing from a “gods eye view” to basing characters off of people you know in real life. Stephen had the best quote in response to Hayden’s question, he said that “every story is a delicate balance between universality and individuality, it’s the details that make the story unique.” (example: Romeo & Juliet vs. West Side Story)

    The Enduring Popularity of Doctor Who

    Panelists: Ron Oakes (Moderator), Janet Tait, Robert Evans, Lynn Maudlin

    This panel was comprised mostly of Doctor Who superfans, all of whom started watching the show at very different points in their lives, nerding out about the show. This is the panel I could have sat through another hour of, I just wish their had been more audience interaction. More times than I can count I leaned over to whisper something to Hayden (a non-Whovian) only to have one of the panelists say what I just said a moment later. I would have kicked ass on that panel.

    Alien Invasions and Human Responses

    Panelists: Cody Goodfellow (Moderator), Sheila Finch, Vernor Vinge, Lynn Maudlin, Eytan Kollin

    This panel was about how humanity would react to an alien invasion and the different possible types of invasion (physical, viral/bacterial, invasive species, informational, etc.) It kind of turned into a bit of a history lesson about Nazi Germany but that’s mostly because Eytan is a history teacher by day.

    Big Bang Theory: Love it or Hate it?

    Panelists: Chris Weber, James Hay (Moderator), Roberts Evans, David Ross

    This panel was kind of hilarious in that it was an idea James Hay had but then he admitted that he didn’t know anyone personally who hated The Big Bang Theory. He was hoping for a healthy debate about the show but it was mostly a love fest and any criticisms of it were quickly shot down by the panelists who were, I think, a little too defensive of the show. At one point it morphed into a very awkward conversation about sex on TV. Still, it was a fun panel, although my criticism about needing more audience interaction still stands, these guys did a slightly better job of engaging the attendees. And yes, that is a woman knitting in the front row during the panel.

    As I mentioned before, almost all of the costumes were steampunk but they were AMAZING steampunk and a lot of care and craft went into their creation. I wish I’d taken more pictures of the costumes but seriously, if you’re into steampunk fashion, check out the official photos HERE.

    Steampunker Capt. Seekerman is an amazing web designer. Check out his work here.

    I posted this picture on the HNG Facebook page along with the caption “May the Force live long and prosper.” and one clever follower came back with “I’d rather reverse that meme, so that I can ‘live long and be with you’  ” Clever boy.

    Hanging out with the 11th Doctor

    I naturally gravitate towards TARDIS’s.

    I photobombed Hayden’s picture of the Stargate Coverstone.

    A Coat of Arms from Germany in the Exhibit Room.

    Jerry Abuan, the official photographer of the Con spotted Hayden and wanted a picture of him in his Geek Outlaw getup.

    (Please note that full credit goes to Jerry Abuan for the next three photos and I totally nabbed them from his site and don’t have the rights to them)

    Photo credit: Jerry Abuan

    Since it’s my job to keep Hayden humble, I often photobomb his pictures. It’s what friends do for each other.

    Photo credit: Jerry Abuan

    This time I was actually asked to stay for a shot!

    Photo credit: Jerry Abuan

    Too bad for Hayden, I found a new NerdBFF before the end of the Convention.

    A huge thanks to Pearl and the lovely organizers and helpers at ConDor for the press passes and the hospitality. They are good people and I look forward to hanging out with them again next year at ConDor 2015!

  • HNG Podcast – 2013 Comic Con Part 2

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    In Part 2 of our San Diego Comic Con podcast we discuss the Friday, Saturday and Sunday Hall H panels: The Walking Dead; Game of Thrones; The Seventh Son; Godzilla; Warcraft; 300: Rise of an Empire; Gravity; Superman vs. Batman; I, Frankenstein; The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; The Wolverine; X-Men: Days of Future Past, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Supernatural, Breaking Bad, and Doctor Who. We also talked about how I felt when Nathan Fillion was momentarily 2 inches away from me, photo bombing a Doctor Who time crash, getting recognized by some followers, HNG and social media.

    For Part 1 of the Podcast, go HERE.

    Stay tuned for a post with tons of pictures from 2013 San Diego Comic Con!

  • HNG Podcast – 2013 Comic Con Part 1

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    I’ve been recovering from a gnarly Comic Con cold (stoopid germs) all week so I’m running a bit behind on my Comic Con wrap-up posts. Stay tuned for a post that’ll include pictures and more details on the panels, but in the meantime, Darcy and I recorded a podcast where I go through my entire Comic Con experience very, very quickly. Talking about 4 days worth of awesomeness in an hour is apparently too much for the blog to handle so we had to split it up into two posts.

    In Part 1 we discuss meeting Brent Spiner again, Thursday’s Sherlock, X-Files, and Brave New Warriors panels in Ballroom 20, and Friday’s The World’s End, Veronica Mars, and Kick-Ass 2/Riddick panels in Hall H.

    Check out Part 2 of the podcast coming right atcha!

  • San Diego Comic Con 2013 Thursday Shenanigans

    It’s Day One of San Diego Comic Con 2013 and somehow I always manage to forget just HOW insane it is. So. Many. People. It’s always super stressful but it’s also so much fun.

    I decided to dress like Han Solo and my nephew just happened to wear his Jedi costume so we were pretty much perfect together. It’s like we’re not just related but we’re psychically linked as well.

    After sitting into a crapload of traffic (thank God I picked up my badge on Wednesday night), I finally pulled into the hotel that will be my home for the next few days. I got there too late to join Geek Outlaw in the Ballroom 20 line but I managed to get into the Sherlock, X-Files 20th Anniversary, and Brave New Warriors panels. I spent the rest of the morning hanging out with my friend Brett at his booth (L-07) and my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. We also visited artists Lord Mesa and Patrick Ballesteros in row DD of Artists Alley.

    I’ll do a more in-depth wrap-up later but in the meantime, here are some of today’s highlights…

    Demented Dreams (Booth L-07) where you can buy an HNG calendar 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Patrick Ballesteros

     

     

    Sherlock panel

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    X-Files panel

     

     

    Brave New Warriors panel

     

    I’m off to camp out in the Hall H line! Stay tuned for more highlights tomorrow.

  • “The Best of Both Worlds” on the big screen

    Aw yeah, that’s a baby Borg on my t-shirt!

    Aw yeah, that’s a baby Borg on my t-shirt!

    Star Trek is my first nerdy love. Without it, I would not be the nerd I am today. I’ve said before that I literally have no memory of my life without Star Trek. Watching The Original Series with my parents on Saturday nights is one of my earliest memories and, although I was very young when The Next Generation came on the air, I was not so young that I don’t remember watching it for the first time very clearly. In my humble opinion it is, quite simply, the greatest franchise ever created.

    The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Best of Both Worlds” is arguably one of the greatest cliff hangers in the history of television. So, when my friend Mike reminded me that it was going to be playing in movie theatres across the country this past Thursday evening in all its remastered glory, I immediately bought my ticket.

    Me and my friend Mike before the show

    I love seeing stuff from my childhood on the big screen. In a relatively recent phenomenon, they’ve started bringing movies back to the theatres for limited runs.  Movies like Star Wars, Top Gun, Jurassic Park, and The Lion King. It’s so much better than remaking a movie and introduces them to a whole new generation. When I lived in Los Angeles, they would have events where they would play a movie on the big screen for the first time in decades, then have people who worked on the movie do a Q&A panel afterwards. My NerdBFF Geek Outlaw and I went to one of these for Ghostbusters and LOVED it. Events like that are one of the few things I miss about living in LA.

    The lights went down and we were immediately treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “The Best of Both Worlds, part I & II” that included interviews with the people involved and fan reactions to the season three cliffhanger. Some highlights:

    –          Patrick Stewart recalled how a woman pulled up next to him while driving, rolled down her window, and shouted “You ruined our summer!” and a guy walking past him in the NY subway, paused in front of him momentarily and said “You’re keeping it real.”

    –          The late, great Michael Piller wrote the episode thinking he’d be leaving the show and someone else would have to figure out how to get the crew out of this mess. Of course, he ended up sticking around and had to clean up after himself.

    –          For some reason, I never put two and two together that Elizabeth Dennehy (LCDR Shelby) was Brian Dennehy’s daughter. Which is weird because I LOVE Brian Dennehy. Turns out he didn’t really want her to do an episode of Star Trek. Elizabeth didn’t really know anything about the franchise. It was one of her first auditions after moving to Los Angeles and she didn’t know enough about it to be intimidated. She also didn’t realize that it wasn’t like working on a soap opera (where you apparently get several hours to just sit around and learn your lines) and was completely unprepared the first day of shooting. She learned quickly and never made that mistake again.

    –          I’ve never been one to notice hairdos, but once Elizabeth Dennehy pointed out how much hairspray was used in her updo, I couldn’t help but notice how it affected other people’s hair.

    That’s DOES look like it takes way more time than a Commander has in the morning.

    Especially Dr. Crusher’s, whose hair pretty much didn’t move when she turned her head. It was like a gloriously shellacked red waterfall.

    I never understood why one side of her hair was longer than the other

    –          They showed how they achieved many of the special effects and how they remastered them for the Blu-ray. The hardest part was the starship graveyard at Wolf 359, mostly because of their limited budget.

    –          I’m always struck by how the actors have to pretend like they’re being jostled around when the ship is struck by enemy fire. When I was a kid they had an attraction at Universal Studios in which members of the audience were called up to participate in some scenes from Star Trek. We got to see firsthand how they put together an episode, including having to fake being bounced around in your seat. So I‘ve always known that this is how it’s done. But it’s quite funny to see the actors do it over and over again, take after take, with a completely straight face.

    Then it was time for the episodes, which they combined to make a feature length presentation. In case you haven’t seen the episodes, here’s a little summary/background information:

    First seen in the 2nd season episode “Q Who” (thanks to Q playfully tossing the USS Enterprise right in the path of a Cube), the Borg have been on the Federation’s mind for years. None more so than Admiral JP Hanson and Lieutenant Commander Shelby who have been working tirelessly to develop weapons and defenses based on what they know from the Enterprise’s encounter. They assumed it would take the Borg a certain amount of time to reach the Alpha Quadrant but they severely underestimated the Borg’s capabilities and they arrived much sooner than planned. The Borg’s goal is to reach Sector 001 aka Earth. To do this, they need to tap someone’s brain, someone who has the knowledge they need to get around the Federation’s best laid plans. They choose Captain Picard, assimilating him into the Collective, making him their spokesman, giving him a killer mechanical six-pack, and dubbing him “Locutus of Borg.” To my knowledge, Locutus is the only Borg who is ever given a name as opposed to a designation (ie, Seven of Nine). Despite the friction in their relationship, Commander Riker and Lieutenant Commander Shelby must work together to rescue Picard and stop the Borg from reaching Earth.

    Mmmmm…Borg abs….

    When the third season ended abruptly with Picard as Locutus and Riker telling Worf to fire on the Borg Cube, a collective (heehee) uproar went up in the Star Trek community. No one knew what was going to happen or if Patrick Stewart would be coming back to the show, not even the showrunners. Speculation was so great that someone wrote a fake script in which the whole thing was a prank orchestrated by the Q Continuum.

    “The Best of Both Worlds” is critical in Star Trek cannon. It provides a major part of the back story for the TV show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and is the basis for the movie Star Trek: First Contact.

    After the ending credits, we were delighted to watch a blooper reel featuring outtakes from many different episodes. Some of the highlights included stumbles over the technobabble, forgotten lines, Worf blurting out that he never played with little boys, Guinan cursing, and Lieutenant Richard Castillo asking Tasha Yar to call him “Dick.” It was a lot of laughs that were missed by at least half the audience who walked out during the ending credits.

    Speaking of credits, I must say, it was amazing to see the opening credits on the big screen. Every time I ever watched them as a child, it was always on our little 1980’s-era tube television set. As an adult I’ve watched them on my nice flat screen TV but NOTHING compares to seeing it that big and whispering the words along with Patrick Stewart in movie theatre surround sound. They are some of my favorite words in the world and I’ve known them by heart since before I could read:

    “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one as gone before.”

    Thanks to Mike for being my nerdy Star Trek buddy!

    One last note: folks have been asking me to put out a calendar for the last couple of years and I finally got around to doing it with the amazing artistic talents of my sister-in-law, Reba. It’s really an awesome calendar. It’s got every nerdy holiday you can imagine, plus a super handy convention calendar, and some never-before-seen pictures that will never, ever be seen anywhere else. I know it’s almost May but it’s worth it to get the 2013 calendar. Besides, if I don’t sell these, then there probably won’t be one next year so, ya know…buy one 🙂 Since it is almost May, they’re super discounted (I promise you I’m not making a fortune off of them) AND I’ll sign it if you want.

    Buy one here: http://hotnerdgirl.com/shop/

  • WonderCon 2013

    Mama Jedi, HNG, Geek Outlaw

    Mama Jedi, HNG, Geek Outlaw

    Hope y’all had a very happy and nerderific Easter! I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Between working full-time (yes, I have a “real” job!), out of town guests, and just plain old life, I just haven’t much time to blog. But I’ll try to be better.

    So, a lot of cool crap happened this past weekend. There was new Doctor Who, the season premier of Game of Thrones, and the season finale of The Walking Dead. And, of course, WonderCon.

    I mentioned in my wrap-up of last year’s WonderCon that WC was the first comic book convention I ever went to (back when it was in Oakland) and it holds a very special place in my hearts. It’s a nice combination of comic books and TV/movies. San Diego Comic Con is great, but it focuses so much on the Hollywood stuff that the comic books tend to get a little lost. A comic book vendor and I were joking on Saturday about the audacity of the people who actually buy comic books at a comic book convention! Inconceivable!

    After cosplaying as Thor for a day at SDCC last year, I honestly didn’t think I would cosplay in public again for a very long time. I’m quite shy, especially around large groups of strangers, and my instinct is to blend in. Cosplaying is the opposite of blending in. Because of the timing of the day, I didn’t spend much time at SDCC walking around as Thor. But in the brief times that I did, it garnered a lot of attention. Attention that I’m not used to and that made me a bit panicky. I was very uncomfortable and not just because of the corset. I’ve been putting together a Tenth Doctor costume for quite a while now. He’s my favorite of the Doctor incarnations (followed by Eleven, Four, Nine, and Five) and, if I’m being completely honest with myself, I was looking for an excuse to buy a sonic screwdriver. Because of last year’s experience, I almost didn’t wear it, but I’m glad that I did. It was comfortable and fun and was a great ice breaker (that and the flask of liquor I kept in my backpack *ahem*)

    Enough rambling, on to the panels I attended. Sadly, the TV show panel I was most excited about was the Vikings one and I missed it thanks to the traffic around the convention center. I was very, very sad because, as many of you know, I’m very proud of my Viking heritage. But I sat in on a bunch of really cool ones that made up for it.

    Allons-y!

    Geeking Out with the League of Extraordinary Ladies

    Panelists: Autumn Massey, Dina Kampmeyer, Emily Heyer, Geek Girl Diva, Jenn Fujikawa (Just Jenn), Sarah Kuhn, Stephanie Thorpe, Theresa Wollenstein

    These geektacular ladies are very much in line with my favorite motto: “nerd girls of the world unite.” They are a positive group of strong, independent, intelligent women who love to geek out together and support each other. As someone who can’t stand cattiness, these ladies are right up my alley. The first thing I did when I got home was to join their facebook group. I encourage everyone (men are also welcome) to join as well.  Unfortunately, we had to leave their panel early to make it to the next one. What I wouldn’t give for a time-turner so that I could go to multiple panels that are scheduled for the same time.

    Falling Skies

    Panelists: Drew Roy (Hal), Sarah Carter (Maggie), Seychelle Gabriel (Lourdes), Remi Aubuchon (Executive Producer)

    I’ve been a fan of Falling Skies from the get go. As my NerdBFF Geek Outlaw says, “if it’s got aliens in it, I’ll watch it!” And it keeps getting better. We got to see some clips from the first episode premiering June 9th on TNT, including a new baby girl, some more Karen, a badass new punk rock haircut for Matt, promotions for Tom and Lourdes, new alien technology, conflict for Maggie, and some pretty epic looking battle scenes. It definitely got me excited.

    Oddball Comics Live: Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll

    Panelist: Scott Shaw

    I’ve never laughed harder at a panel than I did at this one. Scott Shaw has collected some of the most bizarre comic books imaginable over the course of the last 50 years. It’s filled with crotches, boobs, phallic symbols, crazy concepts, and hidden-in-plain-sight imagery (kind of like the dirty stuff found in every Disney movie made from 1989 to 1992). It’s hard to tell if they were done intentionally or unintentionally.  He’s compiled them into a power point presentation that he complements with witty commentary. It’s hysterical and I highly recommend checking it out if you ever see him on a convention schedule.

    Roddenberry Presents

    Panelists: Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Tory Mell

    As a life-long Trekker, I always enjoy checking out the Roddenberry Presents panel. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Rod and Trevor a few times now and even interviewed Rod at SDCC last year (I’m still perfecting my interviewing skills, mmmkay?) They are super nice and working on some seriously awesome stuff.

    Rod Roddenberry, HNG, Trevor Roth. I have no idea why I look bored in this picture, I SWEAR I wasn’t. I was probably wondering if Mama Jedi knew how to operate my camera.

    Things worth checking out right now: Days Missing, Mission Log podcast, and White Room: 02B3. Things worth checking out in the near future: Worth. We were teased about exciting new things TBA at SDCC this year. One of the highlights of the panel? Winning this awesome “Cool as Kirk” t-shirt for answering one of the trivia questions correctly.

    Geeks Get Published

    Panelists: SG Browne, Katrina Hill, Alan Kistler, Alex Langley, Dr. Travis Langley. Moderated by Jenna Busch.

    This panel was extremely informative. It was a panel full of geek-centric authors offering up free advice on how to get published. The main thing I took away from it was that I’d like to get a literary agent and that I’m doing the right thing by writing what I love. Afterwards, Alan Kistler found me downstairs and wanted a picture (he’s a big Doctor Who fan and is coming out with a Doctor Who book later this year.

    Alan Kistler and HNG

    He graciously stayed and chatted with Geek Outlaw and I for a good 10-15 minutes about writing while his friends wandered off to the bar without him. Thanks again, Alan!

    Here’s some of what happened down on the Floor…

    One of the first booths we noticed was that of Lion Forge Comics. It was a mighty impressive booth.

    Geek Outlaw oohing and ahhing

    They had a healthy line for the slot machine which we were talked into joining. It was manned by this lovely lady armed with a sonic screwdriver.

    Mama Jedi went first and won a giant bag.

    Then it was my turn.

    The machine didn’t seem to be working properly so I fixed it when no one was paying attention and won a bracelet.

    Then Geek Outlaw went and won a bracelet. I totally took a picture of him doing it but he didn’t send it to me so blame him for the empty space here.

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    Based out of St. Louis, MO, Lion Forge has a lot of projects in the works and were some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. We chatted with a number of the people involved, including the Creative Director, the YouTube channel host, one of the primary writers, and even the guy who’s in charge of Licensing who was kind enough to help me get Mama Jedi into the giant bag she’d won.

    It seemed like a good idea at the time

    There was a large “celebrity row” including Boomer aka Herbert Jefferson Jr. from the Classic Battlestar Galactica.

    Star Wars staple Chewbacca aka Peter Mayhew.

    The ghost of Richard Hatch aka OG Apollo and reboot Zarek.

    The Soup Nazi aka Larry Thomas, who’s decision to sign soup ladles convinced Geek Outlaw to buy an autographed one for his parents who LOVE the Soup Nazi.

    And then there was this guy who Mama Jedi made a beeline for. I still have absolutely no idea who he is or what he does besides sitting there shirtless.

    We ran into SDCC buddy Daniel who was holding down the fort at the booth of a friend.

    We also visited a buddy from this past Long Beach Comic Con. Artist Matt Stevens creates metal fan art. Last time I bought Tenth Doctor and Wash. This time I got an Eleventh Doctor and River Song bookmark. They sit right by my desk and I LOVE them. Not only is Matt a fantastic artist but he’s a super cool dude so you should definitely check him out HERE.

    That’s a mighty fine t-shirt you got there, Matt

    One of the ships from Oblivion.

    There was a parade of R2 units lead by a small child.

    Where were those brakes again?

    They got into a fight with a couple of WALL-E‘s.

    There was some spitting and at one point the Black R2 unit totally flipped off one of the WALL-E’s as you can see in this video I took:

    [youtube:http://youtu.be/gfu_uFi_W6E]

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    It wouldn’t be an HNG convention wrap up without the costume pictures!

    One of the very first cosplayers we ran into was Toni Darling, better known to the interwebz as Lady Thor. She’s a friend of Daniel’s and the artist who’s booth he was manning (see the posters and artwork behind him?)

    I have no idea why I’m making that stupid face

    On our way to the Falling Skies panel I time crashed into my future self in the form of a delightful guy with a very convincing British accent named Jack.

    Something’s up with the universe because we ran into each other again at the end of the night while Geek Outlaw and I were chatting with Alan Kistler and took some more pics.

    This is Alan’s friend who took off for the bar while we were deep in conversation about writing and stuff

    Jack even helped us out by taking the picture of our little group in front of the WonderCon sign.

    Time crash number two occurred down on the Floor. This time I ran into my Fourth incarnation.

    Four is my favorite of the Classic Doctors so he gave me a jelly baby which I totally ate, because, heck, it’s a jelly baby from the Doctor! It was delicious.

    It was a little freakier when I saw myself. I’m just going to assume that he’s the Meta-Crisis Doctor 😉

    Mini me. Seriously, this kid was adorable. He was a bit upset with his Mom because she ruined his jacket. It’s not easy being the mother of a Time Lord, mmmkay kiddo?

    There were many, many, many ladies dressed up as the TARDIS. Apparently a Time Lord dropped some TARDIS coral on Earth at some point in the past.  This one was one of my favorites because it was so unique.

    Let’s move away from Gallifrey and check out some of the other costumes, shall we?

    This Lady Thor sat next to us during the Roddenberry panel.

    I ran into this walker at least three times. It freaked me out just as much each time. *shudder* He obviously ran into Haley from Woodbury because there’s no way Daryl would have missed that badly. Twice.

    There are always a few Ghostbusters wandering around conventions. This time they were everywhere. We chatted with a group from Sacramento for quite a while. I like the Ghostbusters groups, they do great things in their communities.

    The Ecto-truck (behind Ecto-1) belongs to one of the guys from the Sacramento group.

    The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was the Dad of the Mini Tenth Doctor (see him down in the right hand corner? He’s totally thinking he has the coolest Dad ever).

    Stay Puft helped me out by posing with Flat Stanley. I was put in charge of Flat Stanley by a friend who’s kid read the book. I honestly have no idea what the heck Flat Stanley is all about but I returned him to his owner yesterday. Apparently I’m getting him back when I go to Wisconsin for my family reunion next month,

    Rad.

    Steam Punk Snow White can kick your ass.

    Disney Princesses + Rainbow Brite = every little girl’s fantasy come true.

    Jon Snow admiring Daenerys’ …uh…eggs. Riiiight…..

    THIS.

    COBRA Command from GI Joe. I’m pulling this entirely from memory here but the group seems to include Serpentor, Destro, The Baroness, and I think Zarana, a BAT and a Night Creeper. Please correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been more than a few years.

    Marvel goodies vs. DC baddies.

    LEGO Darth Maul!

    This fellow HNG was mighty hot for a scruffy looking nerf herder.

    That’s a nice multipass you got there, Leeloo (and a view from the rear for anyone who’s interested).Finally, there’s CMDR William T. Riker as portrayed by a guy who’s name really is William (no joke). He was very nice and we chatted for a few minutes about how much we love Star Trek. It was only after I got home that I realize we’d already met and taken a picture together at Long Beach Comic Con back in November. Kismet!

    And that concludes my wrap up of WonderCon 2013. It was loads of fun and I’m looking forward to next year!

  • Operation Gratitude – 900k and the March to a Million

    There are a few places on this planet where I feel absolutely comfortable. One of them is the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, CA. I don’t know what it is about that wonderful place, but my shyness and social awkwardness don’t seem to exist there. It must be all the love. It’s literally bursting from the seams in there.

    900,000!!

    If you’re a regular on the blog then you know about my love for Operation Gratitude. If you’re a newbie then let me explain what Operation Gratitude is really quick. It’s an organization started by Carolyn Blashek in the wake of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan  When she tried to join the military and was told that she was above the age limit, she couldn’t stand by and do nothing so she started putting together care packages in her home. Those humble beginnings have grown into an Operation that has now sent more than 900,000 care packages to troops deployed around the world. We have officially started our March to a Million.

    Now a little background as to how I got involved. I’m a proud Navy Brat and sister of a Marine and several years back I decided that I wanted to do something to support the military and their families. I collected a ton of unused Christmas cards and got everyone I know to write letters and notes in them. I collected more than a hundred and then realized that I had no idea where to send them. I started calling Army-Navy Recruiting Offices and finally a Soldier answered and told me about Operation Gratitude. I called the phone number he gave me and Carolyn answered. Turns out he had given me her home phone number. Carolyn was so warm and kind and told me where to drop the letters off. I asked her what else I could do and she told me about their upcoming Package Assembly Day. I never looked back. The 2nd time I volunteered I was lucky enough to pack the 350,000th package, a moment that I will never forget for as long as I live. I told my Nerd BFF Geek Outlaw about it and he began joining me about a year after I started. I’ve volunteered many times since then, collected hundreds more Christmas cards, and learned to crochet so that I could make scarves for the Winter Drive. It brings me more joy than I could ever express. Now that I’m in San Diego and my schedule is insane, it’s much harder to get up to Van Nuys but I drove up this past weekend for the last packing day of the year.

    Photo by HNG fan Shaun

    I have a bad wrist so I like to get to the Armory early so that I can get a spot putting the items into the boxes. It also gives me a chance to talk to all of the people who walk around the assembly line and arrange the contents as we fill them. And I get to dance to the music which is not only fun, but makes it easier on my back. After saying hello and giving Carolyn a big hug, I settled into my spot along with Geek Outlaw and his Dad. For the morning shift I was put in charge of the Oxy products and was dubbed the “zit girl.”  For the afternoon shift I was moved to another area of hygiene, toothpaste and dental floss.

    Picture posted on facebook

    Right before we started for the day I posted a picture on the facebook page and invited anyone in the area to join us. Shaun saw that picture and, still reeling from the tragedy in Connecticut and his personal connection to it, decided that volunteering was exactly what he needed. That, and wearing a red shirt under his sweatshirt. He joined Geek Outlaw and I for the afternoon shift. It was awesome to hang out and chat with him, he now knows more about me than any other fan!

    HNG and Shaun

    There are always a few celebrities that show up and this year was no different.  The first one who came by was Michael Reagan, oldest son of President Ronald Reagan, along with his wife and daughter. I didn’t recognize him at first, but Geek Outlaw’s Dad did and when I heard his name I perked right up. I asked him “Michael, do you know Dean Minnerly?” He looked surprised and said “Yes!!” I told him that Dean was my step-dad and he couldn’t believe it. Each time he came around we chatted a little more. As I mentioned in my interview with him, Dean was a Karate instructor prior to becoming a Foley Artist. Michael’s son was one of his students and he used to hang out with the Reagan’s and go out on their boat with them. They haven’t been in contact for a number of years though. So I told Michael I was going to take his picture and text it to Dean. This is that picture.

    Michael Reagan

    Dean was flabbergasted and asked if I could get Michael’s contact info but by the time I got that message we were in the middle of the ceremony and Michael was speaking to the crowd. He left right after and I didn’t see him again. So Michael, if you ever read this, Dean wants to reconnect with you.

    The next celebrity to come by was Erik Estrada of CHiPs fame along with at least ten Playboy Bunnies.

    HNG waiting for Erik and the Bunnies to catch up with the rest of the line

    He was so incredibly nice. You could tell that he really wanted to be there and was genuinely excited to meet and hang out with the Soldiers who were present.

    HNG and Erik Estrada

    Joe Mantegna was there along with at least fifteen other crew and production people from Criminal Minds. Dean works on the Law & Order shows so we exchanged a few joking jabs back and forth each time they made the rounds.

    Geek Outlaw, Joe Mantegna, and HNG

    After lunch, Geek Outlaw, Shaun, and I reclaimed our spots on the Assembly Line.

    “My spot!” says Geek Outlaw

    A few minutes later Carolyn came up with a little boy named Charlie (that’s him behind Geek Outlaw) and asked Geek Outlaw and I to watch him and show him the ropes. We’re responsible adults so we said no problem! After chatting with him for a few minutes (seriously, he was so cute and sweet), Carolyn came back and told me “By the way, he’s Jon Cryer’s son.” You probably know Jon Cryer best from Two and a Half Men. I’ve never seen that show so I know him as Duckie from Pretty in Pink. Jon was a client of my previous boss in LA so I had spoken to his wife before on the phone. The line started back up and the next thing I know, here comes Jon. I said “Hey Jon, we were put in charge of your kid, he’s really cute.” He smiled and said “Well I certainly think so! I think I’ll join you guys.”

    HNG and Jon Cryer

    He took a place on the Line and was put in charge of the 5 Hour Energy’s. Having had that job before, I know how filthy your hands get, so I told him I had a hand wipe with his name on it once we stopped for the day. He was also really nice and even danced with me when “Stayin’ Alive” came on over the speakers. I told him who my old boss was and he got a big smile on his face and told me to tell him that he said hi, which I did. Tada! Two sets of old friends reconnected by me and Operation Gratitude. I was kind of on a roll that day.

    Then, of course, there was Santa (Santa’s a celebrity! 😉 )aka Supervisor Jack, the nicest man you will ever meet and a fantastic singer…

    …and Captain Freedom…

    …but the real celebrity that day was Spc. Samuel M. He was the recipient of the 800,000th care package; recently back from his latest deployment in Afghanistan. The recipients of the milestone care packages always get a few extras. On Saturday Spc. M. was presented with a custom motorcycle made by Torque and Orange County Choppers. I know absolutely nothing about motorcycles but even I knew that it was a special bike. It was really gorgeous.

    Regardless of how you may feel about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the brave men and women of our military are the reason we have the freedoms that we do and they need to be supported by those of us back home who take advantage of those freedoms. You don’t know their names but they are sacrificing and sometimes dying for you. The least we can do is send them a little piece of home. I’m proud to have contributed to that effort in my own very small way.

    Thanks again to Carolyn and the Blue Shirts for all that you do and for making Operation Gratitude feel like a home away from home.

    To learn more and find out how you can help, visit the Operation Gratitude website HERE.

     

  • Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up 2012

    I love Long Beach Comic Con because it’s still small enough that comic books are the main focus. San Diego Comic Con is great, with it’s giant movie and TV show panels but it’s nice to be able to get back to the roots of what comic cons started as…a place to nerd out over your favorite artists and find out what’s next in the genre of, uh, comic books. Plus I got press passes again this year which totally rocks my socks.

    My brother was just as in to X-Men as I was when we were kids. He even stole my Series II trading cards (I still haven’t gotten them back…ahem) but he’s never been to a Comic Book Convention. Neither has my nephew, Zeke (yes, that’s a boy, don’t let his voluptuous locks fool you). So I thought LBCC would be a nice starter convention for them.

    It was a huge learning experience for me as well. For example, I now know that if I want to sit in on some panels, bringing a 4-year-old is probably not the best idea.

    Case in point.

    But that’s okay. I loved taking him around and he was totally blown away by all the “supers” (or “shoopers” in 4-year-old speech). He even convinced his dad to whip out his credit card and buy him a Green Lantern action figure. Of course, then we ran into Superman AND Green Lantern so Zeke needed a picture with them.

    I’m pretty sure he had a nerdgasm over the sheer volume of action figures surrounding him in every direction.

    We tested Zeke’s superhero knowledge often. It’s become apparent that our entire family is on a mission to make sure this child is a geeky as humanly possible.

    If you follow the facebook page, you probably saw my announcement that I managed to convince my brother and sister-in-law to give Doctor Who a try. I’m proud to say that they are officially obsessed.

    There was an artist there named Matt Stevens who creates and makes metal fan art. It’s basically a crapload of little dots engraved in metal. The pictures don’t do them justice, they are really quite stunning.

    If I was a wealthy woman I would have bought the whole lot because they all went together in big montages and he had them for most of my favorite TV shows. Since I am not a wealthy woman, I settled on a small one of the 10th Doctor in all of his sheepishly adorkable glory and a small one of Wash in the midst of a sudden but inevitable betrayal.

    We just happened to walk by Jesse Blaze Snider‘s booth while Zeke was being fussy and he was sweet enough to give The Zekester a free Toy Story comic that he’d written. We ended up chatting with him for a few minutes. He’s got a couple of projects coming up, including one about heavy metal bands featuring some of our favorite Asgardians that I’ll be keeping an eye out for.

    Yes, we started pinning Zeke’s bangs back with a bobby pin. His mother refuses to cut his hair.

    We saw a couple of celebs including Jason Faunt aka Wes Collins aka Red Time Force Power Ranger.

    And a personal favorite of mine, Lance Henriksen. Lance has many, many, many amazing credits to his name but he is best know to the masses as Bishop from the Alien franchise. Lance was extremely nice. He kept calling Zeke “she” and was mortified when I gently informed him that I was holding my nephew, not my niece. Zeke seemed to get a kick out of that 

    They had a whole Star Wars section.

    Including a game where you could shoot various Troopers of the Clone and Storm variety using a vast array of Nerf weaponry.

    They had a Jawa hanging out with them but he got the hell out of Tosche just before the shooting started.

    Around the corner was a laser tag obstacle course. I can only imagine how ridiculous this looked to my brother (he’s a Marine). I should ask him.

    Then this happened.

    Oh, Leatherface…

    On to costumes!

    I don’t know if it’s because I went on Sunday or if there were just fewer cosplayers this year, but the costumed character selection was a bit limited. But here’s the best of the best of what I saw.

    Bane from The Dark Knight Rises.

    The Joker from The Dark Knight.

    Rick and Daryl from The Walking Dead.

    A pair of sexy lady Punisher‘s. I really wanted a picture of Zeke standing between them but he didn’t want to get his picture taken unless me or my brother was holding him. Of course, once I picked him up he was totally stoked to be next to such hotties.

    I felt a happy disturbance in the Schwartz when I saw this guy with his singing and dancing Chestburster from Spaceballs.

    The 11th Doctor. He was facing away from me and I quietly said “Doctor?” and he immediately turned around like he responds to that name all the time. We also crossed paths with a pretty excellent 4th Doctor as we were walking in. Wish I’d gotten a picture of him but alas.

    Keeping with the sci-fi, we ran into this guy pulling a CMDR William Riker.

    Zeke was a little confused by this Jedi. Either that or he was super jealous of his epic lightsaber.

    This is not the child you’re looking for. Move along.

    Barbie Fett?

    But the winner of the “Best Comic Con Costume Ever Award” goes to this chick. Yes, that’s a chick.

    That’s it for costumes. Here’s a look at the fun stuff I accumulated. Iron Man fingerless gloves hand-crocheted by Bobbie Bomber and sold by Geeky Mamas.  A pink-skeleton-Sailer Jack-with bomb t-shirt that was on sale. My previously mentioned metal art. And a stuffed Thor (not included in the picture is the pretty awesome Thor print that came with the stuffed godlet).

    Every convention I go to I seek out my favorite nerdy t-shirt. This time it was won by this one. Hands down.

    And on that note, I hope y’all have a Happy Thor’s Day!

  • Fun times at ye olde Ren Faire

    The crew: HNG, Brett, Hannah, Rob, Jai, Karen, Jason

    It’s no secret that I love a good festival. So when my friend Jason told me that a group of friends were going to meet up at a local Renaissance Faire on Saturday I got really excited.

    I don’t usually dress up for festivals but the group of friends that I went with does so I threw together an outfit that was as close to Renaissance as I could get based on my limited “I hate shopping” wardrobe.  I’ve always been a tomboy so I tend to avoid skirts and dresses as much as possible, therefore my outfit turned out to be a sort of an androgynous-renaissance-pirate-girl-with a giant sword.  Which kind of makes sense because, let’s face it, if I was alive back in ye olde tymes, I probably would have been the chick that ran away and joined a band of pirates. I’m descended from Vikings afterall.

    Speaking of Vikings….we ran into this guy in the food area. When I told him that the Vikings were my people he started talking to me in Norwegian and I had to inform him that I’m lame and don’t speak Norwegian. I did, however, understand that it was Norwegian he was speaking and I understood when he asked me if I was Norwegian, Danish or Swedish and was able to answer him. That seemed to redeem me a little (that, and my Mjolnir necklace) because I got a big smile when he said (in English) that he was also Norwegian and Danish.

    This is The Dread Crew of Oddwood, a pirate heavy mahogany band (get it?) They are a festival favorite. I mentioned them in a blog about last year’s VikingFest.

    This is The Dread Crew of Oddwood’s drummer crashing through the back of the stage and the chaos that ensued.

    Very rock n’ roll of you Mister drummer dude

    I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Festival where so many of the people dressed up.

    Some of the costumes were quite detailed and/or entertaining.

    Which Scottish clan uses giraffe instead of plaid I wonder?

    There was a wide variety of costumes, everything from royals to wenches to gypsies to fairies, and lots and lots of pirates. Then there was this totally random biker ninja…

    Though we questioned his credibility when he showed up on film.

    Hannah found a treasure map on the ground. We got really excited until we realized that there was a list of age-appropriate books about pirates for kids on the back.

    We found a guy who makes handmade jewelry and mini poison bottles (he claims that they aren’t meant for poison, but come on, we know better). He made this necklace.

    Are you my Mummy?

    I kept seeing things that had no real purpose and I started jokingly referring to them as “medieval sex toys.” This is my friend Brett modeling the feather model…

    Then we walked into a shop and I saw this leather gizmo and I asked the vendor what it was used for and she straight up told me that it was best used as a sex toy! I KNEW IT! Brett and I got a good laugh out of that one.

    Brett was in the market for a stein. He didn’t end up finding one that he liked but he was rather intrigued by this one.

    While searching we stumbled on to this old friend. Remember it from this past year’s VikingFest?

    Since Brett was the only one of us not in costume, he tried on some accessories.

    He decided that he preferred my sword and proceeded to test it out on Jason.

    Fearing that I might lose my sword for good, I went looking for alternative weaponry. This pistol was pretty awesome.

    But this skull club was even awesomer!

    It would have matched my skull earrings. Girls have to thing about things like this.

    This guy showed up out of no where and tried to herd us over to a grassy area.

    Brett was like”WTF? Stop poking me!” but we wandered over anyway.

    We ended up in this pirate-themed area with a lovely “harlot” sign.

    Turns out he wanted us to watch his harem of belly dancers.

    Then we ran into another pirate and his pi-rat buddy.

    I love rats and used to own two named Jadzia and Ezri.

    All the pirates inspired us to end the day with a Captain Morgan pose.

    They may or may not have been coerced into this by me

    It turns out that walking around being awesome makes you hungry so we met our friend Justin at The Money Pit for some post-faire grub.

    We felt a little out of place in our corsets and puffy shirts until we saw this lady wearing curlers and a lab coat.

    Hope you enjoyed the Ren Faire coverage. It’s late and I’m headed to Long Beach Comic Con in the morning (or, I guess it would be right now since I’ll be posting this in the morning) so I’m gonna make like Friar Tuck here and get some zzz’s.

    Look for a report from LBCC on Monday or Tuesday!