Hot Nerd Girl

Tag: harry potter

  • Harry Potter Photo Shoot & Contest

    photo

    Today is my birthday (that’s right, I’m a Groundhog baby) and for the past three years I’ve posted a photo shoot to mark the occasion. In 2012 it was Batgirl. In 2013 it was a superhero character I created named Delilah. Last year it was the Dread Pirate Tracy.

    This year I FINALLY got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (thank YOU Professor McGonagall) so I grabbed my robes, my broom and my handmade wand (I totally whittled and painted it myself thankyouverymuch) and snuck into the Forbidden Forest for some practice.

    In case you were wondering, I got sorted into Gryffindor. The socks may have given that away.

    I always have a lot of fun writing the silly little stories that go along with the pictures (yes, I know exactly how silly they are) and folks seem to like them so I’ll just keep doing it 

    What’s that? You want to win a signed copy of one of these pictures? Ok, fine. There’s a contest after the pics. BUT WAIT! This time there’s actually TWO contests!

    My name is Tracy and I just got accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy! 

    I wonder why they chose me, I’m a bit old for a First Year…

    Oh well, don’t care! I love practicing spells with my wand.

    Sometimes I even get a spell to work!

    Flying on my broomstick is also pretty wicked.

    Wait – full stop – what is THAT??

    The Dark Lord is back! Better race back to Hogwarts and warn everyone!

    I got this guys!

    Take THAT Lord Voldemort!

    All in day’s work.

    Big thanks, as always, to my friend and photographer, Jon Upson. The Harry Potter pictures were supposed to be a few quick ones for the calendars and thanks to his wonderful talent, we ended up shooting a ton! To Mama Jedi for assisting on yet another photo shoot and for being my biggest cheerleader. To my friend and HNG Podcast co-host Darcy for over 4 years of constant motivation and support. Seriously, I couldn’t do this without him. To Reba for the lovely, and very last-minute, watermarks. And to my talented artist friend, Ben Risbeck, for fabulous, and also last-minute, photo shopping of the spell effects.

    Quick announcement! Me and the Podthingy boys (John Mulhall, author of Geddy’s Moon; Blayne Alexander, lead singer of Idiot Stare; and Hayden Lawrence, NerdBFF and Geek Outlaw) will have a booth at Long Beach Comic Expo February 28th-March 1st! Come say “Hi!” and check out the entire first season of the podcast HERE.

    ON TO THE CONTESTS!

    Part 1: If you want a chance to win a signed print of your choice from this photo shoot, leave a comment below by Thursday, February 5th at Midnight PST. I’ll pull five names out of a hat and contact you directly if you’re a winner!

    Part 2: I love, love, love all of the photo shopped photos that people have sent me over the years. So much so that I have a facebook photo album dedicated to them! Photo shop a spell or a Dementor or anything Harry Potter-related that you’d like into one of the 5 photos below and myself and an expert panel of judges will choose a winner. The winner will get a customized package full of HNG swag and will be featured on the HNG Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest pages! Photo shopped image must be submitted by the Thursday, February 5th at Midnight PST deadline! Send to: princesstrek@hotmail.com

    Option 1:

    Option 2:

    Option 3:

    Option 4:

    Option 5:

    Thanks to everyone who participates!

  • 7 Guys Worth Nerdgasaming Over

    Just replace the Tribble with one of these 7 delicious men and I’ll be a happy camper

    My sister-in-law and I were at WonderCon on Friday and somehow we got on the topic of “Cheat Sheets.”

    And no, I’m not talking about the school variety.

    The “Cheat Sheet” I’m referring to is a list of people you’re allowed to get it on with and your significant other can’t hold it against you.  You both get one and the list is full of people you don’t even remotely stand a chance with.  For example, Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale are on my SIL’s list.  Isla Fisher and Gretchen Mole are on my brother’s list.  They are only allowed 5 each.

    Now, I’ve written a number of articles about sexy women, the 2 most popular being 10 Hottest Babes of Sci-Fi and Maxim’s Hot 100 Lucky 13 but I have yet to write a post about nerd-worthy sexy men.  This kind of blows my mind. It also got me thinking about my own list and who would be on it.  I certainly know it when I see it if I’d hit it…but can I narrow it down to a list?

    It’s was a difficult challenge but one that I was willing to accept.

    Yeesh my job really sucks sometimes 😉

    After much thought, meditation and Google image searching, I’ve put together my Cheat Sheet. I couldn’t narrow it down to 5 so I get 7.  Because I’m HNG and I say so.  So there.  Naturally everyone on my list fits nicely into the nerd ‘verse….cause that’s all I ever pay attention to anyways…ahem.  Sorry if you don’t bat for this team and it’s not your kind of list.  I’m an equal opportunity sexy list maker and I can’t (nay won’t!) neglect the fans who will appreciate this.

    So without further ado, here’s my list in alphabetical order:

    Orlando Bloom

    I studied for my college finals every December for 3 years in a row while waiting in the 5+ hour line for opening day of the latest Lord of the Rings movie.  I graduated Cum Laude so I must have been doing something right.  The first time I saw Legolas on screen I was 100% convinced that I was going to marry him one day.  Then all the teeny boppers jumped on that bandwagon (especially once Pirates of the Caribbean came out) and it turned me off big time.  But still, I can’t help it.  I think he’s adorable.  Thankfully most of those teeny boppers have moved on to RPatz.  I used to see Orlando outside my work sometimes, once with Dominic Monaghan (and cue borderline creepy stalker pic) and my heart would still leap into my throat.  So he stays on the list.

    Nathan Fillion

    Does this one really need an explanation?  I didn’t think so.  But I’ll give one anyway.  Actually, I wrote a whole blog about it back when HNG was brand spankin’ new and I stand by it.  But aside from the fact that he’s Malcolm Reynolds, Captain Hammer, Richard Castle, The Holy Avenger, etc etc etc…Nathan himself has an amazing sense of humor.  I don’t pay much attention to my Twitter account (although I probably should) but every once in a while I go on and just read back through his tweets for fun.  I’m often told that I look like Stana Katic, Nathan’s source of sexual tension on Castle.  I disagree about the physical similarities but I would gladly trade places with her and experience some of that sexual tension for myself. ….please….?

    Tom Hardy

    Five of the men on this list are foreigners with deliciously sexy foreign accents.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m as proud an American as they come, but GD I love a good accent.  There’s a scene in This Means War when Reese Witherspoon meets Tom Hardy for the first time and she asks him to say something again because it sounds so awesome.  I could not have said it better myself.  Tom Hardy first came to my attention as the Captain Picard clone in Star Trek: Nemesis.  I went to see it on opening day with about ten guy friends.  About five minutes into the movie I started crying (because I’m a movie psychic and I’d already figured out what would happen to Data) much to the horror of every guy I was with.   I will never forget the moment when the friend next to me asked me if I was ok and I looked over and saw ten grown men staring at me like I had tentacles sprouting from my face.  It was HI-larious.  But I digress.  The other thing that stood out was Tom.  He’s been charming me ever since, crooked teeth and all. Seriously, he was my very favorite character in Inception. I think I’m the only person on the planet that isn’t looking forward to seeing him as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.  I know he’s going to be brilliant but the thought of him like that just makes me cringe.  But I’ll still watch it.  Over and over and over again.

    Chris Hemsworth

    If you’ve been following the blog for a while this will come as no surprise.  If you are a newbie, allow me to explain.  I’m a big Thor fan. 1. He’s my favorite comic book character and 2. I’m a ridiculously proud Scandinavian who grew up listening to stories about Odin and Asgard while we made lefse and sauerkraut.  The first time I remember seeing Thor on a movie screen was when Vincent D’Onofrio reluctantly accepted the title in Adventures in Babysitting, one of my very favorite movies of all time. So I had very high hopes for whoever Kenneth Branaugh cast in his Avengers set up.  I wasn’t sure what to think about Chris Hemsworth at first.  I remembered him being Kirk’s daddy in the latest Star Trek and I thought he was mighty cute but not big enough to be the God of Thunder.  Then he took his shirt off and I had a conniption fit.  OMFG.  Seriously Chris, you just have to say the word and it is on like Donkey Kong.

    James McAvoy

    I think my attraction to James mostly has to do with his Scottish accent.  And his eyes.  And the fact that he’s a brilliant actor.  And his eyes.  And his accent.  All of which I discussed in my review of X-Men: First Class. But aside from all that, he’s uber talented.  Mr. Tumnus is one of those literary characters that is beloved by fans of The Chronicles of Narnia and James did good by our favorite faun.  Plus, he rocks the Jane Austin-type stuff and you know us girls eat that shit right up.

    David Tennant

    Another choice that needs no explanation.  Easily the sexiest of all the Doctor incarnations, his 3 series and 8 specials are the most popular and well-loved of the long running Doctor Who BBC show.  Then he had to go and seal the deal with Harry Potter and Fright Night, forcing me to adore him forever.  His face is so malleable, he can twist and turn it in countless ways.  But when he just stop and smiles, your heart melts.  David, I am so sorry (see what I did there?), but I just can’t quit you.

    Michael Trucco

    Now, my brother’s name is Michael and normally I’m totally weirded out by the thought of banging someone with the same name as someone I’m related to but in this case I will totally make an exception.  I fell head over heels in love with Anders the second he showed up on Battlestar Galactica.  Lee who?  Seriously, I wanted to punch Starbuck in the face for the way she treated him.  Even the fact that he was a Cylon could not diminish my love.  It sucked when he went all vegetable and yet I would still probably hit that.  I’m a little grossed out by myself right now but damn, that is a fine ass man.  He also had memorable guest spots on Big Bang Theory and Castle (where my celebrity look alike got to have a nice little love triangle with TWO of the people on my list.  Bitch.)

    Runners Up:

    Richard Madden – Game of Thrones

    Kit Harington – Game of Thrones

    Chris O’Donnell – Batman Forever (but never ever ever Batman & Robin *shudder*)

    Patrick Stewart – Star Trek: The Next Generation, X-Men

    Henry Cavill – The Tudors, Immortals, Man of Steel

    Jamie Dornan – Once Upon A Time

    Jason Mamoa – Conan the Barbarian, Game of Thrones, Stargate: Atlantis

    Ben Browder – Farscape, Stargate SG1, upcoming Doctor Who episode

    Alexander Skarsgard – True Blood

    Ryan Kwanten – True Blood

    Joe Manganiello – True Blood

    Tristan MacManus – Dancing with the Stars (I know, totally random, right? But I’m a theatre/dance nerd too and he’s frakking adorable)

  • Best Nerdy Cakes Ever

    How did I manage to get in this predicament?!

    I’m not gonna lie, I’m more of a pie girl than a cake girl…Mmmmmm…rhubarb….but one thing that cake has going for it that pie doesn’t is it’s artistic possibilities.  Seriously, you can do ANYTHING with cake.  As a Food Network afficianado I know this for a fact.

    A friend recently sent me a photo of a Clone Trooper cake made by her friend Loriann at Ah, How Sweet bakery and it got me thinking about what other awesomely nerdy cakes might be out there.  The following cakes were made by Loriann: Pink Laptop, Steve Jobs Apple, Pac-Man, Starry Night, Clone Trooper, and Jack Skellington.  All of the rest I found via Google so if it’s your cake and you want credit for it, hit me up and I’ll be happy to oblige.  In an attempt to save some space (there were just too many that I loved!) I clumped some of them together.

    So grab your R2D2 eggs and your whisk and get ready to see some kick ass cakes!

    Let’s start with my favorite franchise, shall we?  That would be Star Trek  for any first time visitors. Here are a couple of nice insignia cakes:

    Oh no! The Klingons and the Borg!

    Phew! Our heroes are here to save the day.

    And then, of course, there’s this:

    Not creepy at all Data, not creepy at all…

    On to Star Wars.  We’ve got these familiar faces:

    And these:

    You want to see some Doctor Who? Ok fine:

    If you’re as big a fan as I am of the “Vincent and the Doctor” episode, this one is for you (add a little “For Amy” text on the cake for some extra credit):

    Nothing says “I do” like a nice Aliens wedding cake:

    This would be the ultimate birthday cake for my friend (and uber Ghostbusters fan) Hayden:

    How about we switch gears and look at some fantasy cakes.  Here’s one for the Lord of the Rings fans:

    And one for the Harry Potter crowd:

    And an epic tribute to Dungeons and Dragons:

    Are you a gamer?  Here you go:

    Or if you’re really old school:

    Or if you’re really REALLY old school:

    If you’re just into math and technology in general:

    But what about us comic book fans?  It’s ok, I got you covered.  Here’s all your favorite heroes in one delectable creation:

     

    And my personal favorite:

    I really missed the giant alien squid in the movie version of Watchmen but they definitely nailed this guy:

    Whether you’re a Walking Dead  fan or just like zombies (that would NOT be me) this wedding cake is for you:

    Nightmare Before Christmas is ridiculously awesome and also full of undead dead characters:

    If you’re a child of the 80’s like me then you’ll love these.  This Bumblebee cake is from the Michael bay movies but I couldn’t find a great Bumblebee cake from the cartoon and this one is pretty awesome so I’m rolling with it (hee hee, get it?):

    Heroes in a half shell!  Turtle power!

    And so ends are cake odyssey.  I hope that you’ve enjoyed the trip as much as I have.  I’d like to end it on this classy note:

    You're welcome.

  • Cooking with Hot Nerd Girl: Butterbeer

    Just remember, you've been warned!

    I don’t cook.

    Let me repeat.

    I. do. not. cook.

    I decided a while back that I should at least TRY to learn.  And if I was going to risk setting my kitchen on fire then I wanted to do it while making food that sounded appealing to me and what’s more appealing than food inspired by Star Trek? 

    Mmmmmm….Gagh…..

    So I got out my Star Trek cookbook and thumbed through all of the recipes until I found some I thought I could pull off.  I told a friend what I was doing and he suggested I film my attempts for posterity.

    Uff da.

    THEN I saw International House of Geek’s Thanksgiving post and the recipe for Lembas bread and decided to try recipes from several different franchises.  Really, I just wanted to try the Lembas bread. I explored The Geeky Chef and between the Star Trek cookbook, IHOG and Geeky Chef, I found 5 recipes to try. One entree, one bread, and three beverages. 

    I showed the rough edit of the first video to a family member and her first reaction was: “It’s obvious you don’t know what you’re doing.”

    It’s true.  I don’t.

    So feel free to laugh at my cluelessness in the kitchen.

    Up first, my new favorite Holiday beverage: Butterbeer! 

    (From Harry Potter, in case you didn’t know)

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYfAKaYWM94]

    –

    And here’s how to make it:

    Ingredients

    1/4 cup unsweetened condensed milk

    1/4 cup butterscotch topping

    2 tablespoons whipped butter, room temperature

    1 1/2 cups vanilla cream soda

    Directions
    Combine condensed milk, butterscotch topping, and butter in a glass heatproof measuring cup. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Remove and stir until butter has melted and incorporated into mixture. Meanwhile heat cream soda in another heatproof measuring cup for 1 minute 30 seconds. Divide butterscotch mixture between 2 (10 to 12-ounce) mugs. Fill mugs with heated cream soda and stir thoroughly. Serve garnished with a cinnamon stick or an old-fashioned butterscotch candy stick.

    Enjoy!

    I sure did!

    Look for more Cooking with Hot Nerd Girl videos in the very near future!

  • Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up 2011

    On Saturday I went to Long Beach Comic Con, a fairly young comic book convention that is small enough that comic books *GASP!* are still the primary focus.

    Imagine that.

    Anyhooters, it was pretty epic for me because I attended as a “professional” aka a member of the press.  My list of press passes has been steadily growing but this was my first for a comic con so it was very exciting for me.

    😀  <–  See?  That’s me being excited.

    Here are some of the highlights:

    If you don’t know what Team Unicorn is then you need to crawl out from whatever rock you’ve been living under. The second I walked up to them one of them put her arms out and said “you’re a unicorn!”  It was a proud moment for me, let me tell you!  Yes, they are hottie mctotties, but what really struck me was how nice they were.  They stood there and talked t-shirts with me (we all agree that Cafe Press sucks major monkey balls) for way longer than they needed to. Friendly hot girls? Yup, they exist.

    Michelle Boyd, Rileah Vanderbilt, HNG, Clare Grant, Milynn Sarley

    I turned around and there was Clare Grant’s hubby Seth Green so naturally, I had to get a picture with him too.  I’ve been a fan of this guy since My Stepmother is an Alien so when he and Alyson Hannigan teamed up again on Buffy it was like nerdvana.  Random fun fact: Seth was also an uncredited vampire in the orginal film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  When I met him I blurted out that I was a big fan of his wife, which is very very true, but Seth, if you ever read this, my love of you came first 🙂

    That Robot Chicken show is pretty cool too

    After that we headed off to a light saber demonstration by Saber Guild, a not-for-profit costumed performance group.  Apparently they do a lot of performances for charity which I’m all for.  Some of the Jedi and Sith were better fighters than others but they were all very enthusiastic and the kids in the audience were super into it.

    Big Daddy in the house

    Here’s a video I took of the climax of the battle and the young Padawan who helped defeat Darth Vader:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BekCv3LAH8]

    –

    Renowned horror master John Carpenter was in attendance.  Not gonna lie, he didn’t look thrilled to be there, but he’s one of the most prolific sci-fi/horror directors of all time so I was glad that he was.

    Big Trouble in Little Long Beach

    Apparently Thomas Jane was there (representing Raw Studios with Tim Bradstreet) because at one point he came over the intercom and, speaking verrrry slooooowwwly, asked all of the men to stop what they were doing, take out their “pieces” and wave them around.  I’m just going to assume that my dirty sense of humor correctly deduced what “pieces” meant.  Alas, I didn’t see him which was a bummer.

    On to costumed characters!

    Wonder Woman was actually there with Wolverine but Wolvie kept getting pushed aside so that WW could take pictures with Asian Superman.  Never thought I’d say this but Wolvie was kind of a bitch.

    Gotta love those stunna shades

    I’m pretty sure that this pop can tab creation is supposed to be Iron Man.  Old school Iron Man circa 1963 before he hired Maaco to paint his suit red and gold.

    The magnetic chest plate gave it away

    Believe it or not, these two crazy kids had never heard of Night of the Living Trekkies, they just randomly decided that dressing up as Starfleet Zombies would be awesome.  I’m still not sure how I feel about my favorite franchise being combined with my biggest fear…kind of seems like a conspiracy against me.

    So wrong. So very, very wrong.

    This guys claims he’s dressed up as a video game character and NOT a Doctor Who character but I choose not to believe him and I straight up told him so.  I’m pretty sure I made him laugh under that rubbery exterior.

    No dude, I am not your mummy

    Speaking of Doctor Who…I was pretty stoked to find this hot female Dalek.

    Exfoliate! Exfoliate!

    On to the next franchise – Star Wars!  Jango Fett was hanging out by the light saber demonstration.  Obviously doing recon.

    That’s my “badass” look. Intense, I know.

    Big Daddy Darth Vader was hanging out by the Occupy the Death Star booth.

    What can I say? I’ve always had a thing for bad boys.

    He thought I was adorable.

    I don’t let just any masked man pinch my cheeks

    This robotic R2D2 was controlled incognito by a guy who kept his hand in the bag over his shoulder.  People would walk up to it and it would move, confusing the heck out of them.  It was pretty funny.

    See the confusion?

    Y’all know I heart me some Harry.  There were no Gryffindors in sight but there was a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin.  Although, to be honest, she looked way too nice to be a true Slytherin.

    With hair like that she’s gotta be a Malfoy…right?

    “Occupy” paradies were all over the place but this was probably my favorite.

    It’s funny cause it’s true

    And last but not least, I leave you with two awesome t-shirts.  This first one I found at a t-shirt vendor.  I didn’t have the balls to buy it but I thought it was fucking hi-larious.

    Tempting…

    And me wearing my brand-spanking new Team Unicorn t-shirt the morning after.

    So I was just kidding, I have one more thing for you.  A video shot as I was leaving LBCC.  You can see me in motion for once!

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA9kpRtBKCw]

  • 15 Best Halloween Costumes for your Pet

    Normally I’m very much opposed to people dressing up their pets.  The animals look miserable and I pity both them and their human parents who are obviously missing some kind of nutrient in their diets that turns them into crazy people who spend tons of money on clothes for animals who don’t need or want to wear clothes. 

    I don’t care what you say.  I repeat.  Animals. do. not. want. to. wear. clothes.

    However, dressing human children up as black cats and Ninja Turtles is perfectly acceptable. Yes, that's me and my brother.

    That being said, there’s a time and a place for everything.  For example, my friend Hayden dressed his dog Pebbles up in some Hanukkah garb to have some professional portraits taken a few years ago.  I’ll admit it, it’s ridiculously adorable.  Plus, Hayden doesn’t make a habbit of dressing up Pebbles so it’s ok. 

    Challah!

    Also, my best friend Bia dresses up her dog Dominic in a costume (usually Superman) for Halloween every year.

    It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Super Domi!

    This brings me to the ONE day of the year that it’s ok to dress up your dog.  Halloween.  Because if I have to strap on an uncomfortable costume, why shouldn’t Dominic have to too?

    So, here is a list of the Halloween costumes for your pet that have my approval.

    Y’all know I’m a big fan of the military so here’s Operation Flying Doggy

     I vant to eat yor kibble

    Remember the movie Lake Placid?  He does. 

    Sir Barksalot

    The Headless Dogman

    Batdog and Superdog together at last

    Captain Jack Sparrow with after market parrot and eyepatch

    Aslan – looking a bit more perplexed than usual

    Hogwarts kitteh (not sure which house uses orange and purple)

    Fluffy – small dog version

    Fluffy – big dog version (Harry Potter not included)

    And for those who like to be more obscure – Aradog (hehe, get it?)

    Princess Leia could use a shave

    Wicket W. Warrick is calling you a Lurdo

    Darth Vader…although honestly…this is probably more like Lord Dark Helmet

    And can’t forget YODA!  Especially the one on the bottom with the Jack Skellington-ish jack o’ lantern

  • Let’s do the time warp again

    Hot Nerd Girl circa 1930

    I attended a friend’s birthday party over the weekend that had a 1930’s theme.  Next thing I know, I’m in a room full of gorgeously dressed gorgeous people in authentic 1930’s formal attire.

    Naturally that got me thinking about time travel.

    Time travel via giant donut

    Because, really, what nerd brain wouldn’t go straight to Captain Kirk in City on the Edge of Forever or Captain Picard on the holodeck in The Big Goodbye or Vic Fontaine crooning to the crew on any given episode of Deep Space Nine?  It’s only natural.

    Time travel is a common theme in science fiction.  It’s a convenient story line that can take up an entire episode or movie and be self-contained or expanded into a multiple episode story arc.  The possibilities are endless and the hardest part is making up some kind of space-time fluctuation to get our heroes to the time period needed.

    Back when Gene Roddenberry first envisioned his “wagon train to the stars,” he got together with some of the greatest scientific minds of the time to hash out all things science-based on his show.  He wanted to know exactly what could be done and how it could be done that was accurate and feasible.  In other words, he asked these scientists to look into the future and dish the dirt.

    The result has been the precursor to the cell phone, the hypospray, the modern computer, and so on and so forth.  Their predictions were so accurate that NASA named one of its space shuttles Enterprise to acknowledge the fact that Roddenberry and his cohorts were far ahead of their time and deserved to be recognized for it.  Every time I read an interview with an astronaut they claim to have been inspired by Star Trek.

    Fake astronaut, meet real astronaut. Real astronaut, meet fake astronaut.

    But what about their ideas on time travel?  Some of the earliest evidence of exploration on the topic comes from the 700’s BCE with the Sanskrit Epic Mahabharata.  In it, King Revaita travels to the heavens, meets God, and returns to discover that many years have gone by on Earth since he left and everyone he knows is long dead.  The Japanese tale Urashima Taro and Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle contain the same basic storyline of a lone traveler leaving and returning to find themselves in the future.  Even A Christmas Carol is a study of time travel. 

    Time travel in science fiction is often a paradox, a confusing mess of “what if’s.”  If I step on a butterfly in the past, will I alter human life in the future?  If I altered human life in the future, how could I have stepped on the butterfly in the past?  It’s a classic chaos theory or “butterfly effect.”  I’ve seen wormholes, time dilations, subspace temporal distortions, a transwarp corridor and a temporal casualty loop all used in the name of story telling.  But is time travel real?

    That'll do Scott Bakula, that'll do.

    Time travel does exist, just not in a way that is convenient for us to go back and tell our 20-year-old selves not to get drunk and sleep with so-and-so.  According to the theory of relativity, if I board a spaceship and start traveling away from Earth at a relativistic speed and then turn around and come back after a few years, more time would have passed on Earth than did for me on the spaceship.  Therefore, technically, I would be traveling into the future.  Einstein also theorized that it would be possible to travel into the past using specific types of motion in space. Folds in space time are another popular theory.  If space folds in on itself, then why can’t we skip from one fold to another?  One of my favorite books, The Last Legends of Earth by A.A. Attanasio goes into this in depth.  Ancient magic has been the inspiration for many time travel stories as well.  From Claire Randall going through ancient Druid standing stones in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, to Hermione’s Time Turner in Harry Potter, the possibilities are endless.

    It's true.

    Physicists all tend to have their own theories of what is and isn’t possible.  Stephen Hawking has been one of the biggest naysayers of most time travel theories.  Ironic, since science fiction writers like to use black holes as a time travel source and Hawking is the world’s leading expert on the phenomenon.

    If I could go back in time and attempt to change something, I’m not sure that I would.  I would love to have prevented some deaths I feel were unnecessary, but who am I to make that decision and change the course of history ala Quantum Leap?  Is it even possible to change it?  Maybe it would simply result in fate finding a way like in Final Destination.  Given the choice, I would much rather travel to the future.  I would love to see what the human race is able to accomplish 100, 200, 300 years from now.

    I promise I won’t step on any butterflies.

    Credit to ewallpapers.biz

  • Something wicked this way comes

    I'll getchoo my pretty!

     

    Who does your hair?

    Witches have had a pretty bad rap.  Throughout history they’ve been portrayed as ugly old hags bent on evil doing or using magic for profit.  The Stygian Witches personify this stereotype.  Three hideous crones sharing one eye and one tooth between them and practicing cannibalism (although how they managed to eat flesh with one tooth is beyond me).  The Weird Sisters in MacBeth represent darkness, chaos, and conflict.  They manipulate MacBeth into committing murder and destroying lives.

    Good times. 

    Then witches went through a seductress phase.  The Sirens in Greek Mythology were “technically” prophets…a term used to distinguish young, pretty witches from old, ugly witches.  Their mission in life was to make passing sailors jump into the sea to their deaths.  Morgan le Fay in the Arthurian legend is bent on the downfall of her half-brother King Arthur.  In later versions of the story she seduces him and bears him a son named Mordred whom she uses as a pawn in her evil schemes.  In the 1996 movie The Craft, a group of young teenage hotties train as witches.  It’s all fun and games wrecking havoc at their Catholic School until Fairuza Balk goes off the deep end and ends up in the psych ward.

    You know you like it

    Good times.

    More recently witches have undergone a major public relations campaign.  Hermione in Harry Potter, Amelia Broadway in True Blood, any number of characters in any given LJ Smith book.  Good witches performing good acts and cute to boot.  It follows in the footsteps of vampires morphing from bat-like monsters to creepy old dudes with bad hair to sexy young teenage thangs.

    Jail bait no longer!

    We’re so fickle when it comes to our mythological creatures.

    Somehow wizards have never suffered the same disdain.  Merlin, Gandalf, Dumbledore…all flawed but generally seen as good guys.  And somehow they always seem to have a long grey beard.  Talk about stereotypes.

    Here’s my theory.  The above wizards are a result of the Days of the Druids.  They represent a time long past when magic played a very real part in people’s every day lives.  When Christianity came along and communing with nature was no longer kosher, these wizards were created and idealized as a homage to a previous culture that is still held dear to many people.  If you want proof of this, go to Ireland, where strict Catholics still believe in faeries.

    Burn me and I will cut you bitch!

    Witches, on the other hand, have always represented the evil ways of women.  (Somehow female druids got side stepped on this one).  The story of Eve and how she screwed everything up for Adam is pretty old example of this.  Women are stronger then men in every way except physically.  Men didn’t appreciate this.  Strong women must be manipulative and evil, right?  Eve. Evil.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Hey!  Let’s suppress them!  For centuries, any woman who was not subservient was suspected of and often accused of being a witch.  They were burned and drowned and hung.  Oftentimes only the manner in which they died could prove that they weren’t a witch after all.  But they still died.

    Good times.

    Then you get the Wiccans.  In the strictest sense of the word Wiccans are not witches.  Wicca is a neopagan religion that, while a relatively modern concept in and of itself, has been around since the dawn of man in some form or another.  You can be both or you can be either/or.  Wiccans have a deep appreciation for Mother Nature and all she represents.  Not to be confused with hippies (have I mentioned how much I hate hippies?)  One perk of practicing Wicca for the ladies is that the Goddess is worshipped just as much as the God.  In trying to convert the Pagans, Christianity elevated the Virgin Mary to a sort of pseudo-Goddess-like status.  You know, kind of like how they decided to celebrate Christ’s birthday in December instead of sometime in September.

    Good times.

    In short, my friends, witches represent magic and I think we can all agree that magic makes for a very good time.

    What were they smoking and where can I get some?