Hot Nerd Girl

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  • Hungry for some Hunger Games

    I read a lot.  I mean, A LOT.  As in, I’m pretty much exhausted every day because I’ll stay up until 1am (or 5am) reading when I should be sleeping because I don’t have any time during the day to satisfy my craving for the written word.

    I also read VERY quickly, a gene I picked up from my Dad.

    Therefore, I’m constantly on the lookout for new books of all types to read.  I mostly read sci-fi and fantasy but I’ll crack open pretty much anything.  I don’t mind YA novels, they CAN be pretty good.  Usually there’s not enough sex, but whatever, I can deal with that if there’s enough violence or something else to get me interested.  A friend recently recommended that I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I consulted with other friends via facebook and discovered that many people whose opinion I respect were equally as enthusiastic about the sci-fi series.  Kick. Ass.  Amazon, here I come.

    The trilogy arrived and I devoured them in 3 days.  Yes, 3 days.

    Here’s why (without giving too much away):

    I love fictional (not real, mind you) gratuitous violence.

    Yep, like that.

    I don’t know why but it makes me soooo happy.  Maybe it’s a generational thing and I grew up with too many violent movies and video games but the more blood and gore, the better.  I had a thing for horror movies as a kid and would gleefully watch as some dumb teenager got hacked apart.  Haha…I swear I’m not disturbed!  Anyhooters, The Hunger Games trilogy is full of violence.  Kids killing other kids for sport, traps designed to incite more violence, a civil war in which giant mutant human-lizard hybrids are dispatched to tear people limb from limb.  And the author isn’t afraid to kill off main characters.  It’s pretty awesome.

    I love strong women.

    Uhhh…not like that.

    The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, would certainly be the most obvious example of this.  She risks her life daily by hunting illegally, doesn’t take shit from anyone, and runs into battle when she’s told to go and hide.  She rocks with a bow and arrow.  She also freaks out and shuts down on occasion, but wouldn’t you if you were 16 and forced to kill other kids?  She’s not the only example either; the series is full of bad ass ladies.

    I love love triangles.

    Is bigamy really so bad?

    They’re so juicy!  I’ve never watched a soap opera in my life but I can certainly appreciate a good love triangle.  I strive to live a drama-free life (cause I don’t need any of that bullshit) so it’s always fun to live vicariously via manufactured drama.  I’ve sort of been in the middle of love triangles myself and they sucked major monkey balls but when it’s all fake, it’s all good.  It’s agonizingly awesome when you want both guys to get the girl.  And I REALLY wanted both of these guys to get the girl.

    I love when advanced technology meets post war/apocalyptic/rudimentary conditions.

    I think yer gonna need some bigger torches

    Like in Terminator, District 9 or Cowboys & Aliens, there’s just something kind of awesome about conflicting genres joining together to create a whole new brand of bad ass.  In The Hunger Games, the Capitol utilizes cloaking hover crafts and high-tech showers (Uhmm, hello?  Can we please invent these already??) while forcing the Districts to live in poverty and squalor.

    I love when books make me cry.

    Not to sound like a pussy or anything, but I cried twice in the first 50 pages.  Yeah, I’m pretty embarrassed to admit that, but what the fuck, I admit all kinds of shit on this blog, right?  I kind of dig it when books make me cry, it means that they are that good and they touched a nerve.  There were parts of this series that devastated me.  For real.  I see a lot of myself in Katniss….uh…except for the whole killing people part…

    At any rate, I haven’t really done any book reviews, but even though I’ve read two books since finishing this series about a week ago, I’m still pretty obsessed with it so I figured I’d get it out of my system.  At least until the movie comes out in March, which I’m uber excited about.  My boss’s kid is friends with a girl who plays one of the Tributes and I’m being told good things about the film.

    “Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!”

  • 50th HNG POST – A Tribute to my Mama

    I wanted to do something special for my 50th blog post but I couldn’t think of what would be worthy.  Then it came to me.  The reason I’m here, literally and nerdally (I think I just coined a new word?) is because of my Mom.  She’s the coolest, most awesome Mom ever.  She’s my best friend and confidant.  She has guided me through everything.  She more than deserves to have a milestone post written about her.

    She's really Team Edward but she took one for the team

    A while back I asked my Mother via text message to give me a nerdy topic to write about.  Here’s how the text convo went:

    HNG: “Give me a nerdy topic”

    Mom: “Computers”

    HNG: “Something else”

    Mom: “Driving”

    HNG: “That’s not nerdy lol”

    Mom: “I am”

    Uhhhh…ok…?

    She then proceeded to go to the Apple Store.

    I don’t think she quite understood the question but it did get me thinking.  I am the nerd I am today because of my Mother.

    Since she introduced me to the original Star Trek as a newborn, I can’t deny that it’s true.

    We fight hostile alien species together

    This is the woman who will brave screaming tweens with me to attend a Twilight event even though she’s never had time to read the books (she likes the movies).  She drove for an hour so that I could meet John de Lancie in High School.  She took me to Vegas for the first time and bought me my first Starfleet uniform back when Star Trek: the Experience was brand new and still carried quality uniforms.  She will always go to opening night of any nerdy movie with me.  She let me paint my room dark blue and then didn’t flinch when I put up enough glow-in-the-dark stars and posters to cover up the new paint job.  She’s a real trooper (though not of the starship variety).

    Oh Q, my love for you is omnipotent

    She is roughly the size of an Ewok (5 feet, 85 lbs) but didn’t hesitate to jump kick my brother (ninja style!) when he talked back to her once as a teenager.  She was one of only a few women in the Idaho Forest Service and could chop down trees and fight forest fires alongside the big burly men.

    In the face of tragedy she shows a strength that any superhero would be in awe of.  My Mother is not only my best friend, she’s my hero and, much as I love Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker, they could never top her in my eyes.

    If you think you have a cooler Mom than me, chances are you’re wrong.

    Meet her and then tell me otherwise.

  • A “Super” Review

    It’s been a while since I’ve done a movie review (Harry Potter/RED) of anything because quite honestly I’m one busy little hot nerd. But, when I saw the trailer for Super I just knew I had to see it.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7g74Imj184]

    Super, as I’m sure you all know because you just watched the trailer, is the latest film by James Gunn, the deviant mind that brought us Slither, about a man who has decided to become a super hero. To give just enough back story, it’s very similar to Kick-Ass but with one major difference; its way more f**ked up. Here are the main points that kind of weirded me out, without giving too much away.

    The beginning is very similar to Kick-Ass in terms of story structure. Frank (Rainn Wilson), seemingly had no real prior exposure to super hero’s before watching an episode of the Holy Avenger (Nathan Fillion) as opposed to Kick Ass whose Mom died of a brain embolism or something something SCIENCE! Suddenly, Frank has a bee in his bonnet to stop crime and does so by dressing as the crimson bolt and beating people with a plumbers wrench. He goes out, posting signs telling “Crime” that he’s coming, much like Kick Ass made a…. what was it?…. *Googles Kick-Ass*…. WTF is MySpace? Whatever…. to advertise their badass-e-ness.

    I would fight crime with him any day of the week!

    Both are obviously out of a need to feel something other than they are feeling, which kind of digs at the heart of a lot of the current super hero trend. Super hero’s become hero’s for a lot of different reasons but the most overwhelming is just to feel something different. At least as far as the movies go, some do it to get away from guilt (Spiderman, Batman, Iron Man) while others do it to make the rest of us look like assholes (Superman, Captain America)

    But those are really where the similarities end. While both movies are very, very violent, Super is more visceral in its violence. There are no sweeping ballets of Big Daddy or Hit Girl taking out numerous thugs. It’s mostly just Rainn Wilson beating people with a wrench until the very end where guns finally come into play.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHwsrYlDHE]

    Now Libby (Ellen Page) is where Frank gets all his super hero knowledge. She’s basically like me, filled with nerdy knowledge about comic books and stuff but in a much more demented package. Kind of like a shitzu on steroids this girl does some crazy stuff. And I mean just… weird. She eventually figures out that Frank is the Crimson Bolt and forces him to accept her as his sidekick Boltie. This is the point where the movie moves from kind of violent to blood everywhere.

    Shortly, before the cat fight….

    It’s also the point not where the movie lost me, but kind of overwhelmed me. It kind of turned from watching a super hero movie into watching something more akin to Full Metal Jacket. Everyone kind of starts to lose it and by the end I felt a little…. violated. Not in a good way, but not necessarily in a bad way. Most superhero movies leave you wanting to be like the hero, saving the day and doing some good. But this ending leaves me feeling like even attempting to be a superhero would be a bad idea.

    It’s a very honest ending, that I won’t ruin, that totally falls in line with the spirit of the movie. It’s just that this movie makes me just happy to have what I have and not have to go through what Frank went through; some very serious catharsis.

    Three and a half out of Five sci-fives

     

  • Evolution of a Hero, Vol. 1

    What? He’s a monster. Shut up. SAVE ME WES!

    If you’ve read my earlier post about Malcom Reynolds and Han Solo, you know that I have a spot in my heart for bad boys. Seriously, what girl doesn’t? But the thing is, with those characters you never get the full story of how they became such kings of badassery. OK, you get a little bit with Mal in “Serenity” (the episode, not the movie) and “that one episode with the ice planet friend that dies” but they really don’t tell you much about his journey to becoming a hero.

    Lucky for us though, Joss “Is Boss” Whedon did us a favor with his creation of a mousy little man, scared of his own shadow, trying to prove himself to those around him. But by the time his clock ran out he had proved himself a bigger bad ass than most. I’m talking of course, of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, played to perfection by Alexis Denisof. Let us begin.

    Hi. I'm an ass-hat.

    When he began, he came in as Faith’s (Elisa Dushku) Watcher. A sissier version of Giles, he was very keen to do as he was ordered. His tie was straight, he played by the rules, and the thought of getting his hands dirty made this classic fancy Englishman faint. He was a character of little note, just barely a plot point in my opinion, and at one point, just a side character for Cordelia to keep busy with. That is, of course, until he left for Angel.

    Getting warmer….

    In LA, he became a rogue demon hunter. A sheep in wolf’s clothing, it took a little while before he actually developed deeper levels. For me, it was when he finally got shot while working with Gunn that he seemed to achieve a certain amount of darkness and cool. There’s something to be said for men who get knocked down but keep pressing on because they know that what they are doing is the right thing.

    Well hello handsome…
    Why are all Wes's so hot?

    The point at which the hotness scale tipped for me was when Wolfram and Heart was invaded by robbers, led by Wesley’s father. (SPOILER ALERT) By this time Wesley, who was at one point cookie dough, had been carved out of wood. (Oooo, where did I pull that quote from?) When his Dad threatened to hurt Fred, the love of his life, he didn’t hesitate to use his weapon and drop his father. That’s just hot. He knew he was right, his Dad was wrong, and just shot. No begging, no pleading, his father had crossed a line and Wes just went for it.

    There is, of course, more to Wesley’s story, but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone that hasn’t watched Angel yet. Great hero’s are not born, they are made through fire and sacrifice. And Wesley, most definitely, is a hero.  At least in the television sense.

    Guys take note: this is what you should be. Ladies, take note: Wesley Wyndham-Price is the guy you want.

    Ok, so maybe not ALL Wes's are hot…

  • No caffeine makes Hot Nerd a dull Girl

    My cat and I say EFF YOU CAFFEINE!! OkIgobubyenow

    I’m giving up caffeine.

    I’ve decided that I’m far too dependent on it and I will be controlled by no one and no thing.

    So how’s that working out for me?

    Well….today is the first day and I have decided that I’m going to figure out a way to pull my brain out of my head through my left eye socket and toss it in a blender because anything has got to feel better than the agony I’m in right now.

    To be perfectly honest, I’m a little surprised I can form complete sentences at the moment.

    Oh, Dr. Crusher, I need you and your magical little hypospray.  A quick little scan with your medical tricorder and all would be well in the universe.

    No seriously, shoot me up with something Beverly.  I don’t care what it is as long as my head stops throbbing.

    Captain Janeway feels my pain:

    Captain Janeway: Coffee. Black.
    Neelix: Uh, sorry Captain but we’ve lost two more replicators this morni—
    Janeway: Listen to me carefully, Neelix, because I’m only going to say this once. Coffee. Black.

    I’ll admit, coffee isn’t my thing.  I like the smell but can’t stand the taste.  My vice is brown pop.  Coke, Pepsi, RC cola, whatever, I don’t care as long as it’s not diet and it can be pumped directly into my veins.  I drink it every morning without fail.  Red Bull and Rockstar got me through college.  “What Professor, you need a 20 page paper about the burial practices of the Xinguanos tribe by Friday?  Excuse me while I whip out my 40oz. can of Monster and I’ll be right on that.”

    Captain Picard goes for Earl Grey tea (hot, in case you didn’t know).  It’s a black tea and is therefore caffeinated albeit less so than coffee or Coke.  I’ll drink it in a pinch but I gotta say that it tastes like ass (sorry Brits).  I’ve gagged down two mugs of the stuff today in an attempt to lesson the effects of my caffeine hangover and so far it hasn’t helped a whole lot.

    The irony here?  I’ve never had an actual hangover.  It’s true.  It’s my Super Power.  I can get liquored up to my hearts content and feel fit as a fiddle come morning.  But a day without caffeine and I want to shoot myself in the face.

    Go figure.

    So yeah, with the exception of a few Star Trek references, this isn’t exactly a nerdy post semicolon however coma it’s pretty much all I can think about at the moment so I’m going with it.  I’ll let you know if I succeed or fail in my anti-caffeine mission.

    FML.

    Remmick, I know exactly how you feel

  • The Linda Hamilton Chronicles

    So, it turns out that a lot of people dig Linda Hamilton.  Either that or they just search for her a lot.  Ms. Hamilton has consistently been one of the top searched for people on the Hot Nerd Girl Blog.

    I’m not gonna lie, this perplexes me just a little.

    Not because I don’t think she’s awesome, obviously I do as previously stated in my 10 Hottest Babes of Sci-Fi post.  It’s just that it’s been a little while since she was a headlining actress in a major motion picture.

    Our relationship is fine! We swear!

    Maybe it’s because her ex-husband, James “Jimbo” Cameron has been in the news thanks to Avatar?  He was competing with ex-wife #2, Kathryn Bigalow, during all of the awards ceremonies….so why shouldn’t ex-wife #3 Linda Hamilton come up?

    However, I lean towards the notion that it’s because there’s more to this tough girl than meets the eye.

    For example, did you know that Linda Hamilton auditioned for the role of Kathryn Janeway?  Genevieve Bujold got the role and then infamously quit after one day of filming, handing over the part to Kate Mulgrew.  Hamilton was also considered for the role of Dr. Chase Meridian in Batman Forever, a role that ended up going to a not-quite-uber-famous-yet Nicole Kidman.

    Linda is somewhat of a sci-fi goddess and has been since the start of her acting career.  In quick succession she went from Children of the Corn to The Terminator.  James Cameron loved her so much that he changed Sarah Connor’s scripted age from 19 to 27 just for Linda.  Her most famous TV role was opposite Ron Perlman (Can I just say how much I LOVE him??) in Beauty and the Beast.  I totally remember watching that show as a kid and thinking she was the prettiest lady alive.

     

    Mmmmmm…..codpieces…..

    Of course, she then became the most bad ass lady alive when she went crazy training for Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the movie she is most famous for and arguably one of the greatest movies of all time.

    So what is Linda up to these days?  Besides lamenting her marriage to Cameron and discussing her bipolar disorder, that is.

    She’s back in action as the mother of Chuck. A neglectful mother and CIA agent who is still kicking ass and taking names.

    Typical Linda Hamilton.

  • Bronze Bikini Fund is now closed!

  • Unicorn (the comic book villain, not the horse)

    I was sitting at my desk today and for some reason I started contemplating the Cold War and where we stand in our relationship with various foreign entities. Naturally, that made me think of Unicorn.

    WHHHYYYYY??? Why must I be named after something so girly??

    Oh, Cold War, along with threat of nuclear attack you brought along a vast array of Superheroes and Supervillains designed to both inspire people and feed on their fears.  And what better way to do that than by making the Soviet bad guy a Unicorn.

    Oh Stan, you wiley little devil

    That’s right, let’s demasculate the Ruskies by naming him after a fantasy horse beloved by little girls.

    Bravo Stan Lee!

    Unicorn is essentially a Cyclops rip-off created to be a pain in Iron Man’s behind.  He started out with no natural super powers and relied solely on his training by the KGB and a helmet with a laser pointer.  Later on he received some experimental medicinal aid in the form of tougher skin and increased strength, but even those came back to bite him in the butt when he developed accelerated cellular deterioration.  Oops.  But wait!  Yellowjacket has a cure!  Oh, insanity is the side effect?  Damn.  Note to villains, never trust an Avenger to cure you.

    Over the years Milos Masaryk and Tony Stark became comic book frenemies.  Milos attacks Tony, Tony defeats Milos (everytime).  Milos is apparently dim-witted and trusts other Super villains, allowing himself to be manipulated into their plots against Tony.  Then he realizes he was manipulated and helps Tony escape.  Tony tries to cure Milos but he ends up insane so Tony does the next best thing and puts Milos in stasis until a cure for insanity is found (how about some therapy, hrmmmm?)  When Milos wakes up Tony saves him from his own robot and then hides him away again.  Milos wakes up again when a fire breaks out at Stark Enterprises and insists that he must walk back to the USSR.  As in, walk across the ocean.  Tony watches Milos walk into the Atlantic Ocean where he drowns.

    Aquaman sad 🙁

    Aquaman belongs to the DC Universe and is, therefore, powerless to help.

    So the Russian guy is dumb, insane and willing to let pretty much anyone experiment on him.  I wonder what kind of propaganda we were trying to accomplish with this guy?  Of course, Colossus and Epsilon Red were also products of the Cold War and they both turned out all right.  Survive in space??  Yes please!

    I could get used to this

    Personally, I think that Unicorn is a little under-appreciated in the comic world.  He was excellent at hand-to-hand combat and could shoot a gun like nobody’s business.  Iron Man obviously felt he was a bit of a kindred spirit.

    As does Manicorn. (BTW Marvel has it’s own wiki. Check it out!)

  • I met Dan Aykroyd on Saturday

    Ray, Tray, and Hay

    This is cool for many reasons.

    1. It’s Dan Aykroyd
    2. Ghostbusters 3 is really starting to make headway
    3. My friend and fellow nerd, Hayden, is probably the biggest Ghostbusters geek in California, if not the country
    4. Ghostbusters 3 is really starting to make headway
    5. There’s a chance he’s going to put Hayden to work
    6. His vodka, Crystal Head, is based on the Legend of the 13 Crystal Skulls (which, sadly, George Lucas managed to make ridiculous in Indy 4)
    7. Ghostbusters 3 is really starting to make headway
    H-Dogg was a little starstruck

    First off, let me just say that Dan was super nice (that’s right, we’re on a first name basis now).  Hayden and I hiked over to Costco (!!!) to meet him and get some stuff signed (he was there to sign bottles of the vodka).  He really dug Hayden’s kickass custom made GB hockey jersey (he’s Canadian, it would be illegal for him to NOT like hockey) and Hayden just about passed out when Dan asked him for his business card.  We were the only people he stood up to take a picture with.  Probably because we were the only ones who didn’t try to kiss him on the lips (!!!)  I almost wore Hayden’s GB uniform (complete with a utility belt featuring blinking lights) but, alas, it was just too big to be comfortable so I opted for a t-shirt in Slimer green.  I would not have been the lone person in uniform (there were many); however, I would have been the only girl which would have almost been worth it.

    Those ghosts won't know what hit 'em!

    One of the perks of meeting famous people at Costco is the type of people you end up in line with.  The family in front of us were there shopping, oblivious to the fact that Dan would be there and the husband just happened to wear his GB shirt that day.  He was both excited to get it signed and bummed because he wouldn’t be able to wash or wear it again (although I’m skeptical about the last time it had been washed anyway).  The child, a boy around 3 or 4 years old was so excited to be The Incredible Hulk for Halloween that he told us about it.  Repeatedly.  As in, every 30 seconds or so.  Which would have been great if he had actually known anything about The Incredible Hulk.  But he didn’t.  Hayden and I taught much to this young padawan.  He was also very fond of death-defying shopping cart stunts and pulling electronics off of shelves.  I kept about 5 feet behind him at one point for fear I would end up with pink lemonade all over me.

    Oh Dan, you couldn’t have done this at Whole Foods or something? BevMo would have been good!

    Venkman's back

    You may have seen Bill Murray decked out in GB gear at the 2010 Scream Awards.  He was the last piece in a puzzle that Aykroyd has been working on for over 20 years.  When asked, Dan brightened up and was visibly excited about the GB3 wheels being set into motion.  It is his baby after all.  Supposedly the script is written and the 2nd draft of it is being worked on which means that the soonest it will be released is sometime in 2012.  It will be interesting to see how they incorporate the advances in special effects and whether or not Hi-C will bring back Slimer Juice (aka Ecto-Cooler), which was quite possibly my favorite beverage as a kid.

    $40 and change later I went home with a glass skull full of mediocre liquor and Dan Aykroyd’s signature plastered across the forehead.  I haven’t decided if I’ll crack it open or if it will make friends with the not-to-be-opened-for-fear-of-death-and-dismemberment Romulan Ale and Klingon Blood Wine.  I guess it depends on how long my bottle of Grey Goose lasts.  But if and when I do open it, I will certainly say a toast for Dan and his contribution to nerdom.

    That's some nice head you got there

  • Halloween Conundrum

    With Halloween fast approaching and me not able to decide just what super nerdy character I should dress up as this year I thought to myself, “Hey! You have a blog! Let’s crowd source this sucker and get some help!” (And yes, in my head I’m yelling at myself….!!!!!)

    Here are a few of the outfits I’ve been toying around with for this year. I’ve only got a week so I’m in serious need of feedback. I also don’t have a ton of cash, so I used my super amazing Photoshop skills to give you a rough idea of what I’d look like in each of the costumes.

    Here are my top four choices right now, but if you have a suggestion just leave a comment on the blog of the FB page.

    #1: Princess Lea

    I know what you’re thinking; why not the gold bikini? Everyone does the gold bikini guys. Plus, how will I ever beat these two chicks when it comes to the gold bikini?

    #2: Star Trek

    No other Star Trek series has been able to match The Original Series in the sexy uniform department.  Hence why I’m debating this tight little number from the new/old Star Trek.

    #3: Boba Fett

    Seriously. It’s Boba Fett. Who doesn’t want to be Boba Fett?

    #4: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

    Not sure if it’s the sai or the brasier, but I like this one. Ok, why lie, I love the boots!

    I might have a few more tomorrow. If you have any suggestions I’m open to them!