Hot Nerd Girl

Category: Event

  • Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog – Live!

    HNG with cast members Nathan Turner, Michael Minto, Zack Wolfe and Jane Lui

    First off, a disclosure.  I have never seen the original online Dr. Horrible starring my beloved Neil Patrick Harris (NPH), Nathan Fillion (NF) and Felicia Day (FD).  It’s true.  As much as I heart Joss Whedon, I have never been big on watching TV online and, to be honest, I’m lucky to have time to watch good ol’ fashioned television TV.  I thought about watching it before driving down to San Diego but two things held me back.  One, this move from LA to SD is killing me and every spare moment is going into packing and prepping.  Two, I kind of wanted to see the show on its own merit so that I wouldn’t be tempted to compare it to the Whedon’s Writer’s Strike pet project.

    HNG age 12. Admit this is an EPIC win.

    Another disclosure, I’m a huge theatre nerd.  I come from a theatrical background and have been performing most of my life.  I have a deep appreciation for the time and effort that goes into putting together a production.  Needless to say, I was very, very excited to see this show.

    The evening started off with Gam3rs: The Play, a one-man show about an extreme gamer and his attempt to wage an epic RPG battle in the middle of a work day.  The premise was clever and the actor/co-writer, Brian Bielawski, was great as the spastic and obsessive Mountain Dew drinker “Steve.”  I dug the myriad of obscure nerd references and character voices he whipped out.  Nary a line was said that wasn’t culturally significant in the geek lexicon.  Having done one-(wo)man shows myself, I know how challenging it can be to pull off and I think he did an admirable job.  I guessed the ending the very first time the boss came out but I chalk that up to my superhuman ability to guess the ending of virtually everything I watch.  Seriously, it’s bizarre.  That said, I smiled and laughed throughout the whole show and truly enjoyed watching it.  If you’re into WoW, D&D, FF, Diablo, DQ or any of the other fantasy-based RPG’s, you will appreciate this show.  Part of my press packet included a “made of awesome” pin which, I must admit, is pretty awesome.

    Onto the main event!

    Like I said, I’ve never seen the original Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog so I really didn’t know what to expect from the Live! version.  I figured, if it’s created by Joss Whedon then it’s got to be good!  Andy Lowe and Co. did not disappoint.  There was great deal of creativity that went into this in the form of shadow play. My friend (who has seen the original) wasn’t sure how they were going to pull off certain scenes and the shadows seemed to fill in those blanks for him.  As a Dr. H virgin, it made perfect sense to me to use them as a storytelling tool.  One thing we were both shocked and impressed by was when they brought out an actual van that had been cut in half and attached to a flat for Captain Hammer’s introduction.  Rarely do you see such a feat on a large stage let alone one that is relatively small like 10th Avenue Theatre’s.

    Fun with shadows! (photo by Christina Rogers)

    There were some seriously amazing voices on that stage.  Nathan Turner (Dr. Horrible) was utterly charming whether he was in “aspiring evil genius” mode or “awkward nerd likes pretty girl” mode.  You can tell that he’s a stage veteran and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment that he was performing.  I was surprised to read in the program that this is Jane Lui’s (Penny) first time acting.  Very impressive.  Both her voice and her demeanor are very sweet and she’s completely adorable.  Seriously, I wish I could pull off her awesome hairstyle.  Check out her music, it’s lovely.  Michael Minto (Captain Hammer) is delightfully cocky and obviously having a lot of fun playing a character with such bravado.  I can totally picture Nathan Fillion (*sigh*) playing this role.  The rest of the ensemble cast has some wonderful moments but one in particular was my favorite actor in the whole show.  Zack Wolfe does double duty as Moist and an extremely flamboyant Captain Hammer fan.  Even before he made his first appearance as Moist he was catching my eye as a background singer/dancer in the first laundromat scene and from then on I kept finding my attention wandering in his direction.  I can’t even count the number of times he made me LOL.  When I met him at the after party I think all I could blurt out was “seriously dude, hilarious.”

    Dr. Horrible and Moist (photo by Christina Rogers)

    Speaking of the after party…it was great to finally meet Andy Lowe, the Director and champion of this noble effort, after corresponding via email.  I found him to be warm and engaging and genuinely passionate about this project.  The cast members were awesome and friendly.  It seems like a kick ass group to work with.  The rooftop space is the home of other parties related to Gam3rCon and if you get a chance, you should definitely check it out.  You will be rewarded with lots of string lights and some seriously gorgeous views of downtown San Diego.

    With Director Andy Lowe and fellow HNG Joy

    The after party also marked the first time ever that I’ve been recognized in person.  Like many nerds, I tend to be shy and a bit socially awkward (hopefully it wasn’t too obvious) so having someone say “Hey, you’re Hot Nerd Girl!” was kind of trippy and kind of awesome all rolled up into one big burrito of weird.  I’m not really sure what that means but I’m rolling with it.

    In conclusion , if you are heading to San Diego for Comic-Con, you should really swing by Gam3rCon and check out the tournaments and plays.  You can get more information about all of the festivities at www.gam3rcon.com. And hit www.iwanttosingalong.com for more on Dr. Horrible Live!

    Go.  Now.  Don’t make me shoot you with my Freeze Ray.

    Don't be fooled by my innocent looking exterior, Bad Horse has nothing on HNG

  • Costume Contest Winner and Dr. Horrible Live!

    Costume Contest (FINALLY)

    About 2 months ago (holy crap time flies!) I decided it was high time for another HNG photo shoot.  As a bit of a change up I focused on fantasy-related costumes and threw out these options.  Since then I’ve been insanely busy but I finally got around to tallying the votes and Xena was the overwhelming winner.  Sooo, just like with the Slave Leia costume, I’ll wear it and be photographed in it provided that enough donations come in to buy the $50 costume.

    That said, a lot of you wanted Xena but didn’t like the costume I found.  So if you know of a better one, let me know.  I’m open to suggestions.  And sorry, but I don’t have the time or talent to make and sew a leather costume.  I am gifted in many areas, sewing together strips of leather is not one of them.

    So donate today! 😀

    Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog – Live!

    Nathan Turner, Jane Lui and Michael Minto

    I’m still amazed that anyone gives a hoot about what I think so imagine my surprise when I was invited to attend the premier of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog – Live in San Diego this weekend.  It sounded like fun (and I’m a huge theatre nerd) so I’m heading down (and braving Carmaggedon I might add) to check it out.  You should too.  If you go on Sunday the 17th I will be there geeking out.  You can find more information about it here and here.

    HNG is relocating!

    Live Long and Prosper Los Angeles!

    Speaking of sunny San Diego…I’m moving there at the end of July. Los Angeles certainly has its perks but I’m over it so I’m leaving.  The good news is that a relatively quick drive up the freeway will take me right back to Hollyweird so I can still take advantage of those perks without having to inhale smog and deal with hellacious traffic all day every day.  It’s a good thing.  I mention this because I’ll be packing, moving and unpacking over the course of the next few weeks and my posts may be a bit sporadic and all over the place.  I apologize for this ahead of time.  I may even have a couple of guest bloggers come in to pick up the slack a bit.  We’ll see how it goes.

  • Star Trek: The Exhibition

    Epic adorableness

    It is universally known that I have the most adorable nephew on the planet.  If you were not aware of this, then you need only meet him to realize that I am absolutely correct when I make this declaration.

    Now that we’ve established his awesomeness, you can see why I would try to hang out with this little bundle of rad every opportunity I get.

    So when my brother discovered that his local museum was doing a Star Trek “where science meets science fiction” exhibition, he immediately texted me and said that we had to go.  I had a wedding and its various festivities on Friday night and Saturday so that left us with Sunday.

    Brother + nephew + Star Trek = ftw!

    Having been to The Experience in Las Vegas many, many, many times and The Tour that made its way around the country a couple years ago, I had high hopes for The Exhibition. 

    Meh.  It was ok. 

    It turned out to be a small collection of stuff that I’ve already seen only this time it was poorly displayed and poorly labeled (poor Troi and Riker, their wedding picture was toppled over inside a plastic dome and no one could be bothered to fix it).  The big draw was supposed to be never before seen items from the latest movie…of which I saw exactly 2 items.  What made it fun was seeing Zeke react to it.  Turns out the kid has a thing for phasers and women that take pictures of you surrounded by Tribbles.  He shows true nerd potential and if I have anything to say about it he will grow up to be a nerd to be reckoned with.

    I have no idea why the Enterprise is flying across the bridge

    The major bummer?  All photographs were banned except for the craptastic ones you had to pay $10 a pop for (see above).  Whatever.  I’m a rebel.  I took some pictures with my iPhone on the sly.  My brother; however, is the perfect Marine and refused to take pictures of me.  Rules shmules Michael!

    We got through the whole thing in about an hour and a half (and that’s with my brother reading every single caption).

    If you’re in the Riverside area, this weekend is your last chance to see Star Trek: The Exhibition. A guy that had worked some kind of effects on Star Trek: TNG was there and said he was hoping to get some of the background actors to show up on Saturday.  He didn’t seem too enthusiastic that any of them would actually show up though.

    I say we all pool our money and get The Experience back open. 

    I’ve got a major hankering for a Klingon Encounter.

    Q'apla bitches!

  • Ghostbusters: my date with Peck and Slimer

    Who ya gonna call? Hot Nerd Girl!!

    So my friend Hayden is slightly (and when I say slightly I mean majorly) obsessed with Ghostbusters. 

    Ecto-1 ftw!

    We once drove all the way downtown to a tech convention just to see Ecto-1 parked outside.  We stayed just long enough to take pictures and chat with the owner and then left. 

    Then we got up early and headed to Costco to meet Dan Aykroyd and buy bottles of his Crystal Head vodka a while back.

    So when Hayden found out that there would be a special showing of the film at Arclight Theatre with Ernie Hudson and William Atherton showing up for a Q&A session, it was pretty much mandatory that we attend.  Events like this are one of the few perks of living in Los Angeles.  You’d think there would be more perks, but nope, this town pretty much sucks.

    It also happens to be Hayden’s birthday so it was a total score for me since it’s quite possibly the easiest birthday present ever.   

    Hayden and HNG at it again

    I showed up before Hayden did and just happened to run into William Atherton in the Arclight gift shop.  This was not my first time meeting Bill (we’re on a first name basis now).  I had met him once before in 2005 at the Whole Foods Market in Woodland Hills.  We were both grocery shopping and our eyes met.  We introduced ourselves, chatted for minute and then parted ways.  It was a moment, surrounded by organic, cage-free brown eggs, that I will never forget.  Hayden showed up a minute later and we took pictures with him and scored autographs.  I had Bill sign my crystal skull which he found highly amusing.  Amusing enough to write his note to Dan Aykroyd instead of to me.  A note that Danny (we’re on a first name basis now) will probably never, ever see.  But whatever.  Bill’s an awesome guy and not nearly as dickless as Venkman would have you think.

    A girl and two pecks

    Watching the movie on the big screen was epic.  Let’s just say that I was not old enough to watch it when it was originally on the big screen *ahem* so this was a real, if slightly fuzzy, treat.

    Then came the moment we were all waiting for: the Q&A with Ernie Hudson (Winston), William Atherton (Peck), Joe Medjuck (Producer), Steve Johnson (Slimer, Visual Effects Artist), and Billy Bryan (Stay Puft Marshmallow Man).  Oh, but wait, Ernie Hudson decided not to show.  Or even call to say that he wasn’t going to show.

    WTF ERNIE HUDSON???  

    Ernie, you are dead to me

    I know you’re so busy with your thriving acting career and all but really?  You didn’t even have the manners to call and say that you were so sorry that you couldn’t grace us with your presence?

    Ugh.  Whatever.  My crystal skull didn’t want your signature on it anyways. 

    The Q&A sans Ernie went smashingly with one exception: the host decided that his questions were far more important than fan questions and only left enough time for TWO questions from the audience.  Douche.  As my friend Kate would say “That’s soooooooooooo LA…”

    All in all it was a great night. And although the kid next to me made a strange clicking noise when he yawned EVERY 30 SECONDS, I had a great time hanging out with the people behind the magic.  If they ever do one of these for Star Trek I might just have a joygasm.  

    I'm a nerd…in case you didn't know

     Some fun facts learned:

    • Exploded Stay Puft was actually shaving cream.  Bill found out they were planning on dumping 100 lbs of the stuff on him and insisted they do a test run.  The test run knocked the stunt guy flat.  Oh, and they accidentally used mentholated shaving cream instead of regular.  Ouch.  Needless to say, all was rectified for Bill’s shot.
    • They filmed at all hours of the night and really pissed off the New Yorkers living in the neighborhood.  At one point Isaac Asimov came running out.  Dan Aykroyd got all excited and ran up to him and started telling him how huge a fan he was.  Asimov just stared and him and yelled “Are you the one responsible for all this???”
    • Francis Ford Coppola was filming The Cotton Club around the same time so when people got upset about the lights and noise the Ghostbusters crew started blaming it on Coppola.
    • They sometimes filmed without permits.  In the montage where they are running around New York catching ghosts, they are, at one point, really running away from a pissed off security guard.
    • The part of Venkman was originally written for John Belushi.  When John Belushi Graduated they brought in Bill Murray to replace him.  They had already created Slimer but completely revamped him as an homage to Belushi in Animal House.
    • Stay Puft is missing his tie in the scene where he explodes. Billy Bryan realized this in the middle of the night after shooting and woke up in a panic.  Since no one in the screenings ever noticed, they left it as is.
    • Stay Puft is the only aspect of the original script that survived.
    No iron-on is a match for the 34DD's

  • Help a Soldier out

    Part of being a socially responsible nerd is giving back to the community.  I’m big on helping people, whether it’s defending someone who’s being picked on or giving food to the less fortunate.  This is, of course, a recurring theme in my favorite sci-fi franchise, Star Trek…working towards the betterment of mankind.

    While we’re not to the point of getting rid of currency quite yet, there are many ways that we can help out our fellow homo sapiens.

    I’ve mentioned in the past that I come from a long line of military personnel, dating all the way back to the Civil War.  I’m extremely proud of this.  My brother and cousin are currently active in the US military and have both been deployed overseas. Looking for ways to do my part, about 4 years ago I became involved in an amazing organization called Operation Gratitude. We pack care packages and mail them around the world to those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marine’s that are in harm’s way.  It’s a small but powerful way to say Thank You for risking your lives to protect ours.  For many of these men and women it will be the only package or piece of mail they receive.  The thank you letters we get back from them will break your heart.

    With founder Carolyn after packing # 350,000
    Collecting and donating old electronics

    A few years ago I was lucky enough to pack the 350,000th package.  This past weekend we packed our 600,000th.  That is no small feat my fellow nerds and nerdettes.  Every single item in every package is donated and every volunteer works for free so every single penny raised goes towards shipping costs.  When I started volunteering the cost to ship a package was $10, today it costs $15.

    600,000th care package!

    So, in the spirit of the holiday season, I’m opening the donation page back up for anyone who would like to donate to Operation Gratitude.  It will stay up at the top of the blog indefinitely.  All of it will go directly to the organization.  If you don’t have money but you still want to help, there are many ways to do so.  I also crochet scarves that go into every package.  Collecting those old beanie babies everyone had but no longer wants is great too.  Hand written letters are always needed.  Or you could come and stare at my boobs the whole time like the guy in the Marvel Comics t-shirt did.  Veteran’s need love too, so there are various ways to help them out as well.  Go to the “Get Involved” section of the Operation Gratitude website for a ton of great ideas.

    You can also buy products from those who donate a percentage of their profits to Operation Gratitude.  There is a list of them here.

    My favorite of which is my friend Hayden’s company, Active Country (you’ve seen Hayden on here a few times, he’s kick ass).  He donates 5% of all his profits to Operation Gratitude and presented them with a check this past Saturday.  You can find his company here.

    Hot Nerd Girl with Hayden and his Grandma

    If Operation Gratitude isn’t your thing, find some other way to give back.  Something you feel passionate about.  Pay it forward!

    Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now 🙂

    Here are some pictures from this past Saturday:

    I don't let gimpy-ness get in the way of do-gooding
    H-Dogg packing heating pads
    The assembly line. I packed toe warmers and chapstick.
    Over 2000 volunteers showed up, a new record!
    Superheroes were on hand to help
    Tall people come in handy
    Grandma getting serenaded by Jack
    Setting up with Christian