Dallas Sci-Fi Expo

This past weekend, my husband and I met up with some friends at the Dallas Sci-Fi Expo (actually in Irving). We really enjoyed the convention we went to last spring and agree that we very much want to continue going to them. As much fun as it was to make a big trip/vacation out of a bigger convention, we thought it would be nice to try some of the local offerings as well. It's not like we don't live smack dab in the middle of a big metroplex where these things do actually happen from time to time. The Sci-Fi Expo actually seemed perfect for us, since we also wanted to see how our daughter would do in such a setting: it was close by, less expensive, and smaller (a mini-con, as it were). If we had to leave early because of a cranky or misbehaving child, we wouldn't feel ripped off, but there was still plenty for us to see and do. It also seemed like a good fit for our friends, who had not been to a con before and wanted to give one a try.

So, we went, and we had a great time. It was a two-day event but we just went for Saturday. Still, lots of fun was had. Baby Girl behaved herself extremely well and enjoyed seeing all there was to see. Our friends also enjoyed themselves, commissioning portraits of their daughters as zombies from one of the booths and seeing all of the various cosplayers. There were some good media guests at the con, several cast members from Firefly (Jewel Staite, Ron Glass, Adam Baldwin, and Sean Maher) and Eliza Dushku being the two big draws of the weekend. Also in attendance was Alexis Cruz, who I am most familiar with as Skaara from Stargate the movie and then later on Stargate SG-1 as well, although he has actually been in a ton of stuff. I think the award for the most random guest goes to Noah Hathaway, who played Atreyu in The Never Ending Story (and also Boxey in the original Battlestar Galactica, which I did not realize until we saw the photos in his booth). Well, either him, or the dad from Teen Wolf.

We actually didn't get any photo ops or autographs, but it was a small enough space that we could see the various celebrities signing and talking with fans. That was pretty cool. I would have liked to have been able to go to the Firefly Q & A panel, but unfortunately it was full and we couldn't get in. So we enjoyed just wandering the exhibition floor, seeing all of the art, talking to a few vendors, drooling over the various toys and props, and admiring the cosplay. Of course, you know I had to stop and get photos with a few people!

Me with a Clone Trooper as Baby Girl looks on. His gun is named Vera! Especially apt with the random Jayne
walking by in the background.

These guys get bonus points for creativity. This wasn't the only Indiana Jones cosplayer, but it was the only
Professor Jones Sr. to be sure!

There was a trio dressed as Rainbow Dash, Derpy, and Spike from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, but by the time I thought to get a photo with them, they were all having lunch and I didn't want to bother them. Their costumes were really spiffy though. I did get a picture with Darth Vader as well, but it seems to have been accidentally deleted by me swallowed up in some sort of photo black hole, alas.

One really spiffy thing was that one of the writers for GeekMom was there. I had seen a post a day or two before that Brigid Ashwood would have a booth there, so I made note of her booth number and with my husband's help was able to find it so I could stop by and say hi. In addition to writing for one of my favorite blogs, she is also an amazing artist. Her style is beautifully ethereal and fantastical with some steampunk elements as well. You should check it out. She has also started making these absolutely gorgeous perfume lockets that I've been drooling over. I know that they will make a spectacular gift for someone I love dearly, I just have to find the perfect one for her. She was super nice and I enjoyed getting to talk to her for a few moments. It was actually one of my favorite moments of the convention.

Geek + Mom = Awesome! (Although Baby Girl doesn't seem to think so, the way she is trying to escape...)

Eventually the kiddo got squirmy and we had been by all of the booths twice (once to check everything out, and again to pick up the stuff we had scoped out that we wanted to buy) so we headed out. All in all it was a pretty fantastic way to spend a Saturday afternoon, I have to say. We are thinking maybe next year if the guests are relevant enough to our interests we will spring for the VIP passes (good for both days and gives priority access to panels and early access to the booths) and get a hotel in that part of town so we don't have to drive back and forth.

For the curious, here's the swag I ended up taking home:

Con badge, Doctor Who minifigs (Amy, a Cyberman, and Rory), Soft Kitty t-shirt (from The Big Bang Theory), a handful of spiffy twenty-sided dice, and a Stargate Atlantis staff badge for when I finally get my Stargate costume together.

Some handmade stickers by Kathryn Crenshaw of Galactic Dust Bunnies.

What's a comic expo without a few comic books? Got the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus volume five and a lovely illustrated companion to Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels.

My daughter also picked up a little swag of her own because, as my husband put it, "Mommy is a sucker."

Old school Bedtime Bear! She loves this little guy. I could barely get it away from her to take a picture.

And it had to go right back to her for nap time afterwards. Look at that satisfied face...

So there you have it, folks. A fun weekend adventure almost right in my own backyard (give or take forty miles). I look forward to checking out some of the other DFW area conventions in the future. If you are interested in checking out a convention but don't know where to start, I definitely recommend the Dallas Sci-Fi Expo, or look for expos in your own area if you're not local. There is lots of fun to be had for sure!

Take Earth Back

Well, the Mass Effect 3 demo dropped this week, and I have to say, I had a pretty darn good time playing it!

Spoilers ahead for the first two games and anything seen in the demo.

Up front, let's get the few things I didn't like out of the way first: 

I always forget how different the animation style for Mass Effect is from my other Bioware games. It's not bad mind you, it's just different. It feels choppier somehow, rougher around the edges. It completely fits in with the feel of the franchise, but it always takes me a bit of time to get used to it. 

Where is my map????? Okay, this might (fingers crossed) just be a demo issue. Maybe. There was no map at all my screen, not even the semi-annoying little circle at the bottom that at least let me know the position of nearby enemies. Now, the menu screen has a "Map" option, but it wasn't functional for the demo. Granted, maps always annoy me in the ME games. I am not going to lie and pretend that they don't. But not having some sort of directional guide and not being able to pull up a full screen map to figure out where the heck I am or where the heck I am going was a tad frustrating. Now, you can use the "V" key to get a brief little indicator to point you towards your objective, and thankfully that was one of the first little (very quick) hints to pop up on the screen. I utilized that key quite a lot, let me tell you. Still, it would have been nice to have that little enemy indicator as well, especially since....

The camera just felt all out of whack to me. I am trying to remember if it is always like this in ME games, and I think it might be. I hope so, because that means it is something I got used to and got over pretty quickly. Still. Wow. Basically, you are just looking over Shepard's shoulder the whole time. It's not first person (thank goodness), but you can't really look around too much. Very limited perspective and no zoom that I could tell. 

Lastly, they have way pared down the way to access combat moves. It's always been a little minimal, but in the past when you scroll down your mouse (which is your camera control and your targeting control) over one of the UI parts of the screen, you get a pointer back and can click on your various skills/moves or change weapons, use medpacs and whatnot. As far as I could tell, that wasn't there at all. Your mouse looks you around, and you use it to point and shoot. You've got your spacebar to interact with objects that can be interacted with once you get close enough, and to use a special shot or biotic ability you have to use the number key that it is assigned to in the bar at the top of the screen. Now, that ability bar has always been there, with shortcut keys in place, but it was optional before and I never really used it much, preferring to use my mouse to select an ability from the area with my health and party status. If that option is gone for good, it is going to take some serious adjusting for me when the game rolls around (and some quick memorization, because of course many of the keys are different from previous games). 

Also, in previous games there was a way to pause in combat and order your companions to do certain things and line up a set of moves to perform a more controlled coordinated attack. I am pretty sure that we will have that ability once the game drops, because I recall the "giving your squad orders" feature being quite heavily advertised every time the game was presented at conventions and whatnot. But I will be darned if I could figure out how to do that in the demo.

Still, a lot of this is just more of the same for how ME plays, which I think stems from its creators trying to walk the line between a first-person shooter experience and a full-out role-playing game. It will either go away in the full version of the game (the demo is always going to be a stripped down version), or I will get used to it. I am not really worried about any of that. Seriously, if those are the only problems I end up having with the game, well, that would be nice. 

Now, with all of that out of the way, on to the good!

Squee!

The demo takes you through the opening sequence of the game, which is mostly cut-scenes with a few quick starter movement and combat sequences. After that, you get a second mission from later in the game that is a bit harder, but your character has leveled up and you can allocate points to the abilities you prefer for yourself and your two squad mates (Liara and Garrus, in this case). Then you get a chance to get really down and dirty and see how the combat works and how to best use your newly obtained skills. 

There are a few new faces right off the bat and a bunch of old friends. Not gonna lie, my heart melted a little when Kaidan popped up. Now, if you've played the first game, you know it's an either/or situation on whether you get Ashley or Kaidan, but the demo set-up gives you a chance to pick which one of them died at Virmire, so that was nice. From what I saw in the demo, I actually have to say they have done a good job at making this game accessible to people who haven't played the first two without sacrificing the wonderful story experience for those of us who have.

You still get the character customization option (along with a few presets to choose from if that's not your cup of tea). It's still not to the level of some of Bioware's other games *cough*DragonAge*cough* but at least they have added in a few more decent hairstyles/colors. Of course, that is countered with the option of having a freaking bouffant available as a hairstyle option for FemShep. I almost fell out of my chair, ya'll. What the heck is up with that? What military officer in the twenty-second century would wear a bouffant? I mean, really, what? Sigh. Also, FemShep's eyelashes are still just...too much. And there's no way to alter them. But in the grand scheme of things, not really a big deal. Like I said, there are some fun new options. I mean, I'll be playing with a pre-created character when the full game hits, but they do give you the option to tweak (or heck, totally change) your character's appearance even when starting from a saved game. So I am glad to know I can at least update her hairstyle and makeup. Hey, I have my girly moments.

Issues with figuring out how to use my skills and abilities aside, actually getting to see them in action was a lot of fun. I also really enjoyed getting to see some of my old (and older) teammates interacting with each other and with me. Story-wise I am really intrigued to see where this chapter will take us. From the demo we learn two interesting factors. The Alliance (Earth's space force) has reinstated Shepard in the wake of her being absolutely right about the Reapers, and Cerberus (with whom Shepard was loosely, if unwillingly, allied during the second game) is back on the side of the bad guys once more. Also, they have no compunction about getting in Shepard's way or attacking her and her crew. I will be very curious to see which of the companions from game two are back to actively help (or even hinder) Shepard this go-around. Especially after my husband pointed out how there is a large likelihood that in many people's playthroughs, most or all of their crew got killed during the second installment's endgame. That's got to be a bear for the writers to sort out and balance to make sure that no one misses out on too much content just because they couldn't keep a particular crew member alive. Still, it would suck immensely for all of those wonderful characters to just be gone. We shall have to see.

One other really cool bit from the demo? Female Krogan. Yup. The second mission you play in the demo is to rescue/escort one from the Salarian homeworld (while under attack from Cerberus). I mean, mostly she's stuck in a life-support pod while you are trying to get her off the planet, but we did get to meet her briefly once the day was saved, and she was awesome. I really really hope she has a goodly part to play in the plot, because I love her already.

One interesting new bit I noticed was the option for type of gameplay between action, role play, and story. I chose role play because that was the "traditional" Mass Effect experience. But from the descriptions it sounds like action focuses more on the actual combat and just kind of runs you through the story on rails without you needing to worry about trying to influence the outcome with your choices, no dialog options, for example. Story, on the other hand is all about that part of the experience, minimizing the combat, with battles not so much affecting how the story unfolds. Role play seems to be the middle of the road between these two paths. I think it is a definite example of how the fan base of this game is a bit wider because it does draw in the fans of shooters and the fans of RPGs but doesn't really fit squarely in either category. After I've done a playthrough in the role play style, it might be fun to try one out in story. 

I do wish that we could have gotten a glimpse inside the Normandy during the demo, mostly to reassure myself they didn't mess with it too much from game two. Normandy 2.0 is my favorite spaceship pretty much in the history of ever, even edging out Serenity, which is pretty spiffy. I will be heartbroken if they've gone and screwed it up.

I didn't mess with the new multi-player feature at all, so I can't really speak to that. But as I have no intention of utilizing it in the full game either, well, yeah. I mean, bully for you if you've been looking forward to that. Some of the comments I've seen online seem to suggest it is pretty well done. Not my cup of tea though.

All in all though, playing the demo just made me super jazzed for Mass Effect 3. I will probably play it through a couple more times, try out the different classes and whatnot, as well as to get a feel for the playing style once more. If you have any interest in checking out the game come March 6, I highly urge you to give the demo a try. It is available for XBox 360, Playstation 3, and PC for free (though I know with PC you will need to have or set up a (free) account with Origin, I would guess there might be similar requirements for the other platforms as well). You can download it by clicking right here. Even with all of the time I spent messing around in the character generator, it only took me about an hour to play, and I think it gives you a good feel for the franchise and the forthcoming game whether you've got any history with Mass Effect or not.

Mostly Worth The Lack Of Sleep

You may remember that a while back I mentioned that I had ordered a new desk, one meant to eventually become my daughter's homework desk. Well, it arrived some time last week, but unfortunately the perils of shipping had caught up with me (I order so much freaking stuff online it really isn't a wonder), and when I opened up the box and started pulling out the pieces to make sure they were all there and intact, well...yeah, not so much.

Everything was there, certainly. The problem was the top of the desk, the big huge massive piece that everything else attaches to. It was cracked in multiple places, including one very large line right down the middle. Sigh. Thankfully the company that made the desk gets that damage does occur during shipping and has a really efficient (and free) parts replacement department. So I went online to tell them I needed a new top as mine arrived mangled and the next day they shipped it out. Of course, now I have a big broken plank taking up space in my garage until the start of next month, but there are worse problems, I will grant you.

The replacement piece arrived on Tuesday and I decided to put the desk together that night once my daughter had gone to bed. Normally I don't mind, and even often enjoy, when she "helps" me, but I get, um, cranky sometimes when doing things like assembling my furniture, so I figured it would be best for both of us if I did that while she wasn't around. My poor husband wasn't so fortunate. He was gracious enough to allow me to totally disrupt his evening by making him help me by holding up various pieces as I put them together (and reattaching the feet after I put them on the wrong end of the legs). Once we had the basic desk put together and upright, I let him loose and he called it a night. I stayed up for another hour and a half or so getting the various drawers and sliding bits assembled. Was up until two-thirty in the morning getting it done, but I've got to say, I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I even managed to pick one that doesn't cover the
oversized vent on the wall, go me!

Let's see, we've got an alien from Toy Story, a Lego alien from
Toy Story, Zeke from Ctrl+Alt+Del, Lego Indiana Jones,
coloring supplies, a box of notecards...

...a Lego TIE Fighter complete with Darth Vader, R2-D2,
and my daughter's Spongebob Squarepants coloring books.

The kiddo checks out her new domain.

Now it just needs a chair. Speaking of which...

My updated to-do list for around the house is now as follows:

• Figure out how to refinish a wooden item.
• Refinish the chair that will go at this desk.
• Frame the various maps and convention art that needs to go on the walls (frames already purchased).
• Hang up said maps and art.
• Hang up the awesome Firefly, Star Trek, and Wheel of Time stuff we had professionally framed once it is ready to be picked up.
• Hang up that blasted sconce my husband randomly brought home from the office.
• Convert my daughter's crib to a toddler bed.

...and I think that's it. Refinishing the chair should be extra awesome, as I discovered when I finally got it down from the shelf in the garage where it has been living. I had forgotten that when my brother-in-law and his wife repainted some of our house's exterior while I was pregnant, I had let one of them stand on the chair, knowing I was going to be overhauling it anyway. So now there's big blotches of blue paint all over it that I get to sand off. Whee.

Oh, for those wondering, I know I mentioned that I was going to try to revamp a lamp that had belonged to my grandparents, but the lamp on the desk is not that lamp. I tried taking apart the old lamp and realized that I would need to tinker with the wiring to actually get all of the pieces separate, so I eighty-sixed that idea and just caved in and bought a new base. I will just tuck the old lamp in a corner in my closet for now until I either decide to send it to Goodwill or find a use for it elsewhere. 

I wish you all a fantabulous weekend! If you'll excuse me, I'm off to do some research on wood refinishing...

Can't Stop The Signal

Yesterday was the sixth annual Can't Stop The Serenity event in DFW. For those unfamiliar, Can't Stop The Serenity is a global series of screenings of the movie Serenity, held throughout the world on or around Joss Whedon's birthday and raising funds for Equality Now, Whedon's favorite charity (and an extremely worthy cause).

The Jane hat was made for days like this, y'all.

So yesterday morning Browncoats from all over the metroplex gathered at the Studio Movie Grill in Arlington to do something right, as well as to enjoy each other's company and enjoy a pretty shiny movie. Hubby and I have been attending the event for five years now (we missed the first one, sadly). Every year we find ourselves immersed in a crowd of like-minded folk and it is a truly wonderful feeling. It's not just that we are all fans of all things Whedon. I mean, yeah, there is that. But it is also a group of people who support the cause of equal rights for women all across the planet.

One of the great things about this event is that it is just that, an event. You aren't just going to a movie. There is always more to a Can't Stop The Serenity screening. At our event they also showed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (singing encouraged), held an evil laugh contest, a costume contest, an raffle of all sorts of Whedon-verse goodies, and then auctioned off even more awesome items. Of course, there was also plenty of trivia to be had. All in all a fantastic time. We even actually won something in the raffle! I ended up going home with a shiny new copy of Done The Impossible, the documentary about how the fans were a driving force in getting the movie Serenity made after the cancellation of Firefly.

Before the show got underway, we got to view a message from Joss himself, thanking everyone who is part of the Can't Stop The Serenity event. So far Browncoats around the world have managed to raise over half a million dollars for the cause. That may not sound like a lot, but it truly is. He also mentioned that next year will be the twentieth anniversary of Equality Now, and hopes to make some noise when that times come, because the time has come for this organization, and all that it stands for, to be noticed. As Joss said, this cause boils down to wanting half of the human population to have the same rights as the other half. I think it is hard to argue with a message like that, and every little bit of boost we can give the signal sending that message takes us one step closer to that goal.

Spread the word, folks, spread the word. If you aren't local to DFW, here's a link to the global site, see if you still have time to get into the one in your area! Either way, definitely plan to attend next year, I have a feeling it is going to be BIG!

Finishing Touches

Got a few projects finished up this week. Baby Blanket Alpha is done as of yesterday.

Heartfelt Warmth by Cori 2011.

Pattern: Heart Filet Afghan from McCall's Needlework & Crafts (January/February 1981 issue), heavily modified.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Blackberry (five skeins)
Hook: H

I am really happy with how this came out, though I think that when I next make this pattern I will play with it to make it a bit wider.  The original pattern is actually all filet like the hearts picked out above, with only the hearts themselves in solid double-crochet, and with a different configuration of the hearts. But since this is for a baby, I didn't want it to be all holes. I thought a few outlining the shapes would be enough for a kiddo to play with but not so much she would get completely tangled up.

I'm still a little on the fence about the border I did--edging is so not an area where I excel--but I think it came out okay nonetheless. Now I just need to finish my next project, a fuzzy companion for the recipient's big brother, and I can ship it off to its future owner, yay!

I also made a second Jayne hat last week.

Jayne Hat II by Cori 2011.

Pattern: Jayne by Heather Hill (inspired by Joss Whedon's Firefly).
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Paprika, Gold, and Chestnut Heather (one skein each).
Needles: 10.5 (US) Circular and DPN

I have a friend and fellow Browncoat who celebrated a birthday over the weekend and I thought she might appreciate a Jayne hat for one of her gifts (she did). I went with the Wool-Ease yarn because she has a small child like I do and I would feel very guilty giving her any knit gift that was not machine washable and dryable. The colors aren't completely perfect, but I have seen Jayne hats in a wide variety of shades of the three basic colors (orange, yellow, and red), so that was really not high on my list of concerns for this project.

No, that was reserved for the fact that once I had assembled the yarn and my needles and sat down to start making the hat...I couldn't find the pattern. Anywhere. It is gone. Vanished. Vamoose. I started this on Thursday and my friend's party was on Saturday, so that meant I had a deadline. I mostly remembered the way the pattern went, and I had my first hat for reference, so I decided to wing it.

I actually think it came out really well. Compare with the original I made:

Jayne Hat by Cori 2011.

Honestly, the only thing I actually got wrong was the length of the earflaps. I made them a bit too short the second time around. They were still long enough, however, to cover one's ears, so I suppose that is all that matters, right?

And yes, if you are wondering, I did manage to get some progress made on my Doctor Who scarf this weekend as well. I am now officially at halfway done I believe. Geronimo!

The Year of Multitasking

It all started innocently enough. I decided that 2011 would be the year that I finally jumped into the craft of knitting, in addition to my already existing mad crochet skills. I already have two completed projects (a pair of slippers and a hat) under my belt. I thought the easiest way to maintain balance would be to alternate between knitting and crochet projects. This worked for a while.

But then I started on THE project, you know the one, I've mentioned it often enough. Yes, I am talking about the Doctor Who scarf. Good lord, for such a simple and straightforward pattern, this thing managed to completely derail me. I would find myself going for a whole week without doing any knitting or crocheting, pick up the scarf for a day or two, and then more days of not doing anything. Blame it on the tediousness of the super simple pattern, blame it on February, whatever the reason, I was not happy with my crafting lethargy.

THEN I looked at a calendar and realized, holy cow, there are quite a few people in my life having babies in fairly short order! People that I actually do want to make baby blankets for. (The count is now up to five, good gravy.)

I have always preferred to just work on one project at a time, only occasionally taking a break if I had a specific very small and quick project that needed to get done, and then going right back to the main project once finished. But I finally had to face facts and admit to myself that a) if I want to ever actually finish the Doctor Who scarf, I can't just put it in a drawer until I feel like picking it back up again, I need to keep it going, and b) if I want to get all of those blankets done in a timely manner, I needed to get started on them pretty much nowish.

So, I have come up with a solution. Monday through Friday I will work on baby blankets. Saturday and Sunday I will work on the scarf. I put this plan into action a week ago, and so far I am pretty pleased with the results. This past weekend I made some decent progress on my scarf:

Doctor Who scarf as of March 17, 2011.

I felt much less pressure while working on it this weekend and once more found myself actually enjoying the project. Excellent. Goal achieved, huzzah! I have come to terms that this is a project that will get done when it gets done, and I am okay with that. Besides, it is starting to get warm here anyway, I won't need it until October at least.

I also have been plowing along with Baby Blanket Alpha:

Baby Blanket Alpha as of March 15, 2011.

This photo was taken Tuesday night, so I have actually made a bit more progress than what you see. It is about a third of the way done after less than a week of work. This bodes well for baby blankets!

Speaking of finished knitting projects, that hat I mentioned earlier is indeed the Jayne hat that I took with me to Seattle to work on. I started it on the plane on Friday morning and finished it as we were leaving the airport Monday night. I worked on it in between panels on Saturday and while waiting in line for our photo op on Sunday (causing me to now really want a couple of these). I am pleased as punch with how it came out, even though the entire time I was making it I worried that it would be too small. But it actually fits just right!

Jayne Hat by Cori 2011.

Pattern: Jayne by Heather Hill (inspired by Joss Whedon's Firefly)
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky by Brown Sheep in Autumn Harvest, Sunburst Gold, and Rust
Needles: Size 10.5 (US) Circular and DPN

Modeled by moi.

Note: Jayne hat also looks good on mini-Browncoats.

So, I have already been discovering the necessity, benefit, and possibility of multitasking in the crafting aspects of my life. If you had asked me a week ago I would have told you that was more than enough, thank you very much. I have enough going on in general without doubling up in each different area.

Then Leigh Butler announced that as of tomorrow she will be starting a new series of posts for Tor's website. I have long enjoyed her Wheel of Time re-read posts, and she has captured my interest with her writing style and turn of phrase. Tor is apparently pretty pleased with her as well, because they asked her if, in addition to her weekly Wheel of Time posts, she would be interested in doing a series of re-read posts for George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Here's the thing though: Leigh has never read the series. Not because she didn't want to, but because her devotion to Wheel of Time has sucked up enough of her time and energy that she didn't want to dive into another vastly epic and intricate series that is sort of taking its time to get finished. It's a testament to Martin's writing that fans are so vociferously annoyed at waiting for the next book in the series (which finally has a hard set release date for this summer), though it would be nice if they would go about expressing their desires in a more polite way. But I digress. The point is, Leigh decided she would be willing to give it ago, though instead of a re-read series, her posts will actually be a read-through. Two chapters a week.

Now I, like Leigh, have also had this series on my radar for quite some time. I too have hesitated to jump into it, though unlike Leigh this was because I already have enough other books to be reading that I don't need to jump into yet another big long addictive series (sadly, even though I have been reading at a pretty steady pace this year, my book pile has still only grown larger since last I showed you a picture). But. Two chapters a week? That really is not an unreasonable task. I read way more than that even on my slowest reading weeks.

So, I have finally, at long last, broke my hard and fast rule about reading more than one book at a time. Going forward, in addition to my regularly scheduled reading pile reading, I will also be reading A Game of Thrones (the first book in the series) along with Leigh. If I enjoy it enough, then I will pick up the next book when I am done.

My copy came Tuesday morning and I read through the prologue and first chapter that day. Can I just say, I really kind of want a direwolf now.

This also has the added bonus of ending up saving me about forty-five bucks (well, thirty six if you subtract the cost of the book) next month. I was planning to subscribe to HBO's forthcoming television show based on the series on iTunes (we haven't had any of the premium movie channels since I stopped working for the cable company and I refuse to add any just for one series). But since the first season is supposed to roughly cover the first book, I don't want to watch until I have read the first (and maybe the second as well) book completely through. So, I will probably just end up watching it on Netflix instead once I've finished my reading. Huzzah!

As a second added bonus, I won't be tempted to read the comments section on Leigh's posts (something that can suck up a great deal of time and often make me quite irritated at other people and the world in general). Since most people who will be reading her posts will have already read the entire series so far, she hasn't forbidden spoilers in the comments. So in order to avoid the risk of finding out something I don't want to know until I read it, I will just know to stay away. Excellent.

Hmm, maybe this multitasking thing is gonna work out for me after all.

(Lack Of) Progress Report

Oh my goodness, yesterday my mother posted an entry on her blog showing off all of the awesome things she knit during the month of February. I have to say that (in addition to being very impressed and proud that she's my mama) her post made me feel like a big ol' lazy bum. Why? Because I started my current project, the Doctor Who scarf, over a month ago and am nowhere near done with it. Truth be told, I spent as much time in February not working on it as I did knitting.

(And before you start to suggest that might have something to do with my glut of gaming of late, know that my allotted gaming times and my allotted knitting/crochet times don't even remotely overlap.)

I did make some progress. I am about a third of the way done with it at the moment, I think. Here, see for yourself:

Progress as of March 1, 2011.

I think part of it is I just took a big fat lazy pill this past month. I mean, yeah, the Doctor Who scarf is pretty big for a scarf, but it's nothing compared to a blanket, and I can crochet up a queen to king-sized blanket in about two weeks. Now granted, this is only my second knitting project, and it is definitely bigger than anything I have tried to knit before. I do also think part of it is the somewhat monotonous nature of the project (this is actually what mostly derailed me when I tried to crochet a version a few years ago). It is just back and forth, back and forth. The only real "pattern" is the changing of colors every so many rows. So, easy, but (and I hate to say this about anything Doctor-related, but what can you do) boring.

But this happened last year too, come to think of it. I started off in January being mildly productive, and then come February I just tapered out. Then, March rolled around and I got into a frenzy of fiber-crafting again. Maybe, like my mother, I do not react well to February. Instead of being inspired to create as much as possible like her, however, I seem to just not want to do a damn thing productive. I blame the final gusts of winter, I get antsy for spring and maybe I get super lazy before it comes so I can store up energy for its arrival.

Also, once spring arrives, I usually start to have a better idea of the things I need or want to crochet for other people. This means deadlines.

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
~~Douglas Adams~~

He wasn't that far off, you know. While missing a deadline is not something I like to do by any means, actually having that deadline in the first place gives me a chance to set out an actual workable schedule. When I don't have one of those, well, you get February.

I have finally found my first deadlines of the year. I have four, count 'em, four, baby blankets to get made by the end of May. Two girls and two boys headed our way. I am going to pick up the yarn for the first one today when I go to the store. I already have a pattern in mind, I just need to alter it a little bit to be baby-sized. If that goes well, it will probably do for the other girl's blanket as well. The boys are getting diagonal stripes. I will plan to start blanket Alpha when my husband and I get back from Seattle next week. I'll keep working on the Doctor's scarf as well, I just think I am gonna have to break it up with other projects. This may be the year of me finally mastering the multiple projects at once challenge.

I had actually been waffling for the last couple of days over whether I wanted to bring a crochet or knitting project with me to Emerald City Comic Con. Part of me really didn't want deal with the hassle of keeping track of all of my craft-related odds and ends while traveling, let alone deal with airport security and knitting needles (they are allowed, but sometimes the security people are unpleasant about it). The other part of me though, really, really needs to get a project done to get my confidence back up. It also acknowledges that having some yarn handy will be very useful at the airport, on the plane, and while we are sitting in a convention hall all day on Saturday.

The latter part of me won out last night. I finally settled that I would go ahead and bring a small project along. Something that could be carted around in my bag easily and that I could more than likely get finished over the weekend. Sadly, these two conditions rule out the Doctor's scarf (there is too much yarn involved to make it easy to travel, and there is no way I would finish it anyway). Seeing as how I am going to a comic convention though, I felt like I should take something nerdy to work on nonetheless.

It wasn't hard to pick the project that will be coming with me to Seattle, really.

The Jayne Hat.

Jayne Hat by firepile on Flickr.

It is a project that will be instantly recognizable to any Browncoat in attendance, it will give me a chance to work on circular needles for the first time, it is a small and portable project, and most of all, when I finish, I will have my very own Jayne hat. There's nothing not to love about this outcome of events.

Goodbye February doldrums. Hello March, thanks for bringing spring with you!

Webcomics Are Awesome: Sheldon

So I have been thinking for a while now that I'd like to do a semi-regular feature to tell you about each of the many, many webcomics that I follow.  In an earlier post I told you about the comic Looking for Group, so I'm just going to go ahead and cross that one off the list.  I also won't be including Gronk, since I link to the new update on that one every week.  But fear not, gentle readers, for that still leaves over twenty comics for me to point  you toward.

What?  Why are you looking at me like that?  I like comics.  This world doesn't have enough happiness (or snarky nerdiness, for that matter).  Comics help to fill that void a little bit at a time.  Webcomics are slowly steamrolling over the old-school newspaper comics, sad to say (heck, I read all of my old-school strips online, without visiting any newspaper sites, so what does that say).

So, without further ado, I bring you the first official installment of Webcomics Are Awesome!  I hope you enjoy.

We're going to start off with a really truly wonderful strip called Sheldon, which is written and drawn by Dave Kellett.  Here is the premise of the comic that Kellett gives on his website:

"Sheldon is a sarcastic, nerdy family strip filled with pop-culture references and fun, random storylines. At its center is this weird, wonderful little family: a boy, his duck, and the grandfather that raises them both. It's a strip of geeks, for geeks, drawn by a geek. You'll dig it: trust us."

And that is a pretty good summary.  On the "New Here?" part of his website, you also get a brief description of each character featured regularly in the strip.  Since that original little summary was written, Sheldon's family has also been extended to include Sheldon's pet pug, Oso, and his duck Arthur's son Flaco, who is a lizard (it's all explained in the strip). 

I would extend the summary by telling you that Sheldon, who is about ten years old, is actually a software billionaire, though he only goes in to run his company (Sheldonsoft, of course), every once in a while.  His blue-collar grandfather does his best to keep Sheldon living a normal life though.  Really, Sheldon isn't so much concerned about his money as he is about keeping Arthur from spending it all on silly silly things.

But as Kellett says, the heart of this strip is that it is about a geeky little boy, and despite the talking duck and the insanely intelligent lizard (that speaks in a language consisting only of the word "squee"), it is this heart that keeps this story so darn believable.  It is warm and touching and funny all at the same time.  I also feel like this is a comic that appeals across a wide variety of ages.  Young geeks can see themselves in Sheldon and his friend Dante, older geeks are taken back to when they were that young.  People who live with and love geeks but don't always understand them will find Gramps (and often Arthur) quite familiar, and those with a sense of adventure will be hard-pressed not to fall in love with Flaco.  There's an added dimension for people who own pugs, of course, as Kellett himself does, in the ongoing adventures of Oso.

I originally stumbled across this strip from a link on Whedonesque, and then another, and then another, and after reading the strip and enjoying the repeated Firefly and Star Wars references, I ended up just subscribing to it.  This is a strip that I share and recommend often.  I would like to say it is my favorite webcomic, and maybe it is, though there are so many that I love for so many different reasons I have a hard time placing that qualifier on any these days.  But this one is definitely in the top three.

New installments appear Monday through Friday and you can check them out at the Sheldon website, subscribe via RSS feed, or sign up to have the strip emailed to you daily, for free.  (Note that there is also a Saturday installment, but that is actually for Kellett's other strip, Drive, which I will be telling you about in another post.)  You can jump in with the first strip here, but be warned that this strip has been running for nine years now (and was running seven days a week for a lot of that time), so it's quite a slog if you want to catch up with all of it online.  You also have the option of just checking out a bunch of random strips from the archives, which I think is pretty neat.

Kellett also has done a pretty good job with the merchandising aspect of the comic.  He's got all of the installments released in book form (the eighth collection just came out, actually).  The artists editions are a little highly priced, but worth it, and a plain version is totally affordable.  He has also released a few individual collections, about pugs and literature, collecting the strips focusing on those elements.  There are of course shirts and stickers and buttons as well.  I am waiting for the plushies to arrive, but other than that, I am pretty satisfied with what there is to buy (and own quite a bit of it, truth be told).

One of the coolest items you can buy, however, is the original art from any given strip.  Each strip is hand-drawn by Kellett and then loaded into his computer-machine to be shared with us on the web.  But if you really really love a particular strip (and if someone hasn't beaten you to it), you can buy that original art.  I own one (for this strip), it is one of the best Christmas presents I have ever gotten (I love my husband). I just think that is a really cool thing that Kellett does, and I have my eye on a few other strips as well, though they are not cheap, and so will have to wait.  They are so totally worth the price though, I promise you.

Finally, I will close by saying that the last thing which recommends this strip so highly to me, and therefore why I recommend it so highly to you, is that the creator is such a darn nice guy.  If you email him, he emails you back, personally.  He completely and totally appreciates his fans and acknowledges that our lust for merchandise is what allows him to do this for a living.  Also, he's pretty darn funny--if you do decide to check out the comic, be sure to give his blog entries a gander as well.  He also makes himself accessible, going to as many comic conventions as he can and planning meetups with his fans in those areas when he is in town.  One of the reasons I am so keen on going to Emerald City Comic Con this coming year is because he is a regular attendee and I am really excited to hopefully get to meet him.  And get my high five.

So, I hope you will check this comic out.  It really is worth the read, and who can't use a daily smile, am I right?

Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale (Comic Book Review)

Disclaimer:  The following review is largely free of spoilers for the comic book, but does have one HUGE spoiler for the movie Serenity if you have not seen it.  (And if you haven't, why the heck not?  Seriously, stop reading this and go watch it.  Chop, chop!  I'll wait.)

Those of you familiar with the television series Firefly and the consequent movie Serenity will be aware that the character of Shepherd Derrial Book (played so excellently by Ron Glass) was perhaps the singularly most mysterious character in that 'verse.

Okay, I know all of you River super-fans are screaming out in protest at this, but I stand behind that statement.  River is baffling, certainly, and often an unknown quantity, but once the movie had aired, there wasn't a whole lot of mystery left to her character.  Questions?  Sure.  Mystery?  Not so much.  We know exactly what happened to make her, well, her.  We even find out what a lot of her super secret skills are as the series and movie unfold.  While we know that we don't know all there is to know about River Tam, at this point I doubt any new revelations will actually be shocking, or even all that surprising.  She was trained to be a psychic super soldier.  Anything new and badass that she ends up doing can likely be traced back to that training.

But Book?  No one in the 'verse knew what was up with him.  We know he's a Shepherd, the equivalent of a priest or a pastor in the 'verse, but that's about it.  Throughout the series and movie he was a stalwart man of faith, exploring the 'verse for the sake of the journey itself.  But throughout there were always hints.  A line here, an action there, a counter-intuitive reaction somewhere else.  As the story unfolds it becomes clearer and clearer that Book was most definitely not always a Shepherd, and while he never reveals what he did before turning to God, the impression is pretty clear that it was rather ungodly work.  Then, Joss Whedon, in typical fashion, up and killed Book in Serenity.  Without revealing any of his back story.  Fans have been clamoring for years to find out what Book's deep, dark secrets were, pestering Joss at conventions, speculating about it online, etc., etc.  I myself speculated that perhaps he had at one time been an Operative.  (I'm not gonna tell you whether or not that guess was right.)

Finally, with the help of his brother Zack Whedon and artist Chris Samnee, Joss has deigned to give us that back story in Serenity:  The Shepherd's Tale.  This graphic novel (which comes in a lovely hardcover edition), is a little shorter than your standard trade paperback comic book, but definitely longer than a one-shot comic.  Let me be clear.  This is not the complete, unabridged, full-out origin story of Shepherd Book.  What it is, is a glimpse at the series of events that got our favorite preacher onto the crew of Serenity.

It is a very satisfying set of snapshots that show us not only where Derrial Book came from, but how he got from each stage of his life to the next--leading from his childhood to his death, although not in that order (more on that in a sec).  I don't think it will surprise any of the readers to learn that Book's life before becoming a Shepherd was a difficult one, or that he committed many sins for which he wished to atone.  We only get to see a few of those sins.  Some of them are monumental to shaping the Shepherd, but some are just stepping stones.  What I did find delightfully surprising was the array of allegiances he seems to have gone through in his life. 

My favorite part is that this story is told backwards.  It starts with the attack on Haven (which occurred during the course of the movie Serenity but was not shown onscreen) and works its way back through different points in his life--his days on the ship, leaving the church to go wandering, finding God in a bowl of soup, and so on--all the way to the defining moment of his youth when he took charge of his own life and set out on the path that led him to us in the first place.  If you are familiar with the Wheel of Time series at all, the manner in which this is told struck me as being very much like the trips the prospective clan chiefs and Wise Ones of the Aiel took through the glass columns in Rhuidean.  Not just because it started at the one end of the time line and worked its way backward, but also in the manner in which we see the different lives led by the man who came to be known as Shepherd Book.  It is one life, overall, but it may as well have been many separate lives.

All in all, I give this book a hearty thumbs up.  I, as a fan dying of curiosity to know more about Book, was completely satisfied by the answers this story provides.  Perhaps even more so because it does leave some of the mystery intact.  And who would Book be, without his mystery?

My only nitpick with this at all is the art.  Don't get me wrong, the book is gorgeously drawn and inked, but I didn't see any familiarity in the faces of the characters we knew.  I realize there is a certain freedom with comic book representation of established characters, and they can vary from artist to artist, and I accept that.  I just feel very strongly that in the case of established characters that were, in fact, established on a television or movie screen, rather than first on the written page, the artist should try to remain faithful to the faces of those characters that we know and love.  I read many comic books based on television series and believe me when I say that sometimes a poor representation of a character's appearance can be so jarring as to take a reader right out of the story.  Thankfully, the story in this case is wonderful enough that the incongruity can be overlooked.  But I would be remiss not to warn you of it, all the same.

Other than that though, quality stuff.  Christmas is just around the bend, folks.  If there's a Browncoat on your shopping list, this might make a right shiny gift (or perhaps Santa could bring you a copy, if you ask him nicely).

I'm Trying to Keep Up With My Brain Today

But really, it's been a bit difficult.  It's just been racing all over the place since yesterday.  This is largely because I got struck with the huge Mallet of Inspiration regarding my Halloween costume (which I need to have ready one week from today).  Until yesterday, I had been thinking that if I ended up dressing up for anything Halloweeny, I would just reuse my peasant/wench costume from a few years ago, because I hadn't felt like getting anything together.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I have been slowly figuring out how to put together a super cute Kaylee Frye (from Firefly) costume.  Here is the look I am wanting to achieve:

The second picture is her "basic" outfit, though I definitely want to complete it with accessories/hairstyle for the scene from the pilot, which you can see in the fist picture.  See, my husband and I have decided we would like to start going to genre/comic conventions every once in a while, and I thought it would be fun to have a costume put together that I would wear to these.  The main requirements of course would be that it be a costume of a character I love, be something that would be comfortable to wear (especially wandering around a convention hall for hours), and be something that I could put together with my limited sewing skills (i.e., that I could find all of the pieces and would need to make limited alterations to).  Kaylee fits the bill perfectly for all of this.  I had thought I might try to get the basics assembled for Halloween as a kind of test run, but quickly realized that I will need to do some serious searching to get this as close to accurate as I would like it to be.

So, I kind of fizzled out on getting Kaylee put together by this Halloween, though she is still very much on the back burner. 

Then, yesterday, I found out that the Halloween party tomorrow night that I couldn't go to has been moved back to next Friday, when I can go.  And I found myself suddenly in need of a costume.  I considered just recycling the peasant costume, but it's just a cheap store-bought ensemble.  It's got some potential, mind you, but I get the impression that the people throwing this party are a lot more serious about their Halloween costumes than I normally am.  So I was sitting on the couch thinking maybe I'd just check out the costume aisle when I go to the store next week and see if there was anything there that I could combine with my existing costume for something more interesting, when a little thought flickered through my brain.  I blinked, went "huh," and tried to go on about my life, but the thought turned around and came back for another, slower, pass. 

Amy Pond. 

For those not in the know, Amy Pond is the newest companion on the wonderful series Doctor Who.  The most recent season of Doctor Who has gotten a lot of scrutiny because there's been a new companion AND a new Doctor.  And both of them are portrayed by exceptionally young actors.  But I am in the group of fans that have absolutely loved Matt Smith's performance as the good Doctor so far, and that is at least in part to his companion, played by the amazing Karen Gillan.  Together they are just extremely adorable. 

But, back to costumes.  Amy wore a few different outfits throughout the season, naturally, but here's the one that stood out for me:

And I realized this would probably be super easy to put together in a week.  So since that thought occurred to me, I've been doing research online, tracking down items, making lists, and all of that.  It has paid off so far.  I have found the sweatshirt she wears (forum consensus is that it is this one), and there is a store in Dallas that carries it.  My husband has a gig in Dallas tomorrow and offered to head out early and pick up the shirt for me, so they already have one on hold for me!  I love my husband, he is truly awesome.  I've found a few good candidates for the miniskirt online (one of which is from Old Navy, so I can go to the store and actually try it on first), but I am first going to hit up some thrift stores today to see if I can find one there.  Given that it is Halloween time, I have high hopes that I can track down a decent and not too expensive red wig.  Other than that, it is just picking up the pantyhose, socks, and a headband, and hoping that I can track down some blue hi-top Chucks in an actual store so I don't have to pay the ridiculous price of express shipping.  Huzzah! 

I am not going to worry too much about accessories (i.e., jewelry) right now, but once the I get the season on DVD next month, I can keep an eye out for any other pieces I'll need to pick up down the road to perfect my costume.  That way I'll already have one con costume in the bag, and I won't have to feel any kind of pressure on taking my time assembling my Kaylee costume.  I am really quite pleased with myself, I have to say.  Part of me wants to use this as an excuse to justify getting that sonic screwdriver I've had my eye on, but technically that wouldn't be part of Amy's costume, so I will have to make myself wait on that. 

And yes, I do know that it is unlikely anyone at that party next week will recognize my costume.  But I'm okay with that, because I will know. 

Let's see, I have a few more tidbits for you before I let you go for the weekend.  Flick Filosopher linked to this amazing "intro" for Star Wars using the Macgyver theme music.  It is beautiful.  Check it out. 

Also, here's some more behind the scenes dirt from the making of the original trilogy for you. 

And in a slightly Star Wars related item, Joel Watson has a new shirt up in his Hijinks Ensue store, based on this comic strip.  Ewok Stare, I love it. 

Here's a sneak peak at the upcoming Syfy original movie Red:  Werewolf Hunter.  It's a re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood starring Felecia Day and Kavan Smith.  I don't care if it's a cheesy made for TV Syfy flick, I am super stoked about this.  Felicia Day.  And Kavan Smith.  'Nuff said. 

Oh, and the web series Riese, that I wanted to start watching forever ago, but couldn't because they pulled it off the web for retooling, is coming back via Syfy.  That's pretty spiffy.  Plus, it now has added Amanda Tapping.  Never a bad thing, IMO.  

And lastly, it's Friday, so you should go check out the new Gronk strip. 

Now, go forth and enjoy your weekend. 

Discovering the Star Wars Expanded Universe

Alright, I don't know if I've actually mentioned this yet, but I absolutely LOVE Star Wars.  I hear the sizzle of a light saber and my imagination just bolts off to a galaxy far far away.  I can't help it.  It is second only to Stargate in the realm of things Cori is a huge fangirl about.

Yes, Stargate still comes first.  In fact, just so there's no question, let's go ahead and get Cori's space opera hierarchy on the record, shall we?  First to last, it goes:  Stargate, Star Wars, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (the 21st century version), and Farscape.  Okay, have we got that out of the way?  Good.  Now, back to Star Wars. 

For the sake of clarity, when I say the Expanded Universe (or EU), I mean things that are considered officially Star Wars but not part of the main cannon, which for my purposes includes the original trilogy, the new trilogy, and Clone Wars (the movie and cartoon).  So EU would be the official novels and comic books (of which there are a LOT), and video games.  I think technically Lucas is only counting novels and comics as EU, but there is a ton of story in the video games (and many of them are getting novelization tie-ins anyway), so I consider those part of the Star Wars EU.

Now, I think it would be fair to say that I have always enjoyed Star Wars.  It was always in the background when I was a kid, I was all about Ewoks, and USA used to always show the trilogy during holidays so I caught bits and pieces of it here and there.  It wasn't until the summer before my sophomore year of high school though that I actually actively watched the entire original trilogy (which I actually did at a sleepover at a friends house--back to back--staying up to finish long after she had fallen asleep).  When I was a senior in high school the theatrical re-release of the trilogy happened, and I got to go with my friends to see all of the movies on the big screen.  Yes, they were the special editions, but I didn't know any better, so I'll have to admit that the changes Lucas made have never really annoyed me as much as they have  all of the fans who came before me.  (Though I will admit that once I was older and wiser I was very irritated that he tried to take back Han shooting first.  That is truly just an insult to the character.)

The summer after my freshman year of college, The Phantom Menace came out.  My sister (a year younger than me) had fallen in with a crowd of ultra geeky Star Wars fans (one of whom was the assistant manager at the local theater), and so they had camped out for opening day tickets (ah the days before online movie ticket sales) and they got me one too.  And you know what, I really liked Phantom Menace.  I went to see it at least five times that summer.  (Admittedly, this was partly because I often got into movies for free that summer, and I saw a lot of things multiple times, but still.)  Was it as good as any of the original films?  Hell no.  Does it hold up well under scrutiny eleven years later?  Not really.  Was it a lot of fun for a casual Star Wars fan who just wanted more of the story?  Oh heck yeah.  I also liked Attack of the Clones, which I went to see at opening with my best friend (and now husband) and our ultra-hard core Star Wars fan roommate.  Sadly, I didn't get to see Revenge of the Sith when it opened (I liked Attack of the Clones but it was a bit of a let down and some of the fervor had died), but I did get to see it in theaters and am so glad I did.  It is arguably the best of the new trilogy and damn it if isn't just a good movie.  Still not quite up to par with the original trilogy, but I don't think anything ever can be because we've all placed it on a pedestal that is too high for mere mortal filmmakers to reach anymore.

Revenge of the Sith got my excitement for the franchise back up a bit, actually.  It is what got me to start thinking about the EU.  I thought maybe I might like to give some of the novels a try.  But oh my goodness, where to start?  Seriously, next time you're in a bookstore or goofing around on Amazon, check out the Star Wars books.  There are a very very lot.  My husband suggested the logical place to start would be with the three books by Timothy Zahn that essentially stand in for episodes seven, eight, and nine (The Thrawn Trilogy).  Those would be, in order, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command.  So I read those books, and they were okay.  I have to admit some of the writing really took me out of the universe.  Zahn didn't quite have the world in his grasp--some things were just too close to Earth, and it felt a little like laziness on his part, given how rich this universe is, that he couldn't come up with something more Star Warsy than hot chocolate (if you've read them you probably know what I mean, if not, yes, Luke discovers that he loves hot chocolate in this series).  But the story itself was pretty compelling and it was a nice continuation of the original trilogy.  We got some closure and paths to whole new stories and adventures were opened up.  We also got some perspective on the events of the original trilogy from characters that weren't in the spotlight in the movies.  But still, I was sated.  I thought I might like to read more but didn't have enough motivation to find out which series should be my next to pick up.  At this point, I was still just a casual fan. 

And then Clone Wars came out and everything changed. I knew I had to see the movie because it came out just a few days before my birthday, a birthday which my husband and I were celebrating with a trip to my hometown, hanging out with those same friends I saw the original trilogy in theaters with.  So, on my birthday, my husband, my best friend from high school, and his daughter all went to see Clone Wars.  I think I liked it best out of anyone in the group.  It got my imagination going again.  There was a lot of negative feedback for Ahsoka Tano--but even at her whiniest moment (and remember, she's a teenage girl and a padawan being tossed at a new master who isn't really a master himself yet, just a knight) she was nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE, near as whiny as Luke Skywalker in A New Hope.  And she stepped up pretty darn quick.  Plus, I thought the baby hutt was cute.  Sue me. 

But the point is, I was quickly falling more in love with the Star Wars universe than I ever had been before.  I had dithered on getting the new trilogy on DVD but suddenly, I had to.  My husband, who had been trying to get me to see the awesomeness of PC gaming (at this point I was strictly Gamecube, Wii, and PS2 games, and really only casually), was finally able to talk me into playing Knights of The Old Republic (which was totally my gateway drug into PC gaming and I really haven't looked back).  In between KOTOR and the Clone Wars series, I was gone.  Total fangirl.  I wanted, no I needed, more.  The joy I get from dipping my toes into the Star Wars universe takes me to a happy place surpassed only by Atlantis.  And thus, I have begun my foray into the EU.  On the video game front, I have played KOTOR and its slightly less entertaining sequel, as well as, of course the Lego Star Wars games  for each of the trilogies.  My copy of the Clone Wars Lego Star Wars game, coming out next month I think, is already on preorder.  I've got quite a few console games (like The Force Unleashed) sitting in my Amazon wishlist waiting patiently for me to bring them home and give them a whirl.  I just picked up Republic Commando and will be playing it as soon as I finish my current game.  As far as comics go, I have been reading the online tie-ins to the upcoming MMO The Old Republic (set after the events of KOTOR), which I am eagerly awaiting.  For my birthday I picked up the first volume of the Legacy series, set a few generations after The Return of the Jedi.  I enjoyed that quite a bit, and will be picking up the rest of the series as my budget allows.  There's also a new series of comics called Knight Errant about to come out that I've subscribed to.

And what about the insanely massive amount of EU books I mentioned earlier?  Well, I've jumped back into those waters as well, with the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss.  I just finished the first book, Hard Contact, a few days ago and am currently working on book two, Triple Zero.  In all honesty, everything that I've said so far was supposed to be a quick intro into my review of Hard Contact.  But it is clear that I have more than a little to say about Star Wars and the EU.  So we'll save my book review for tomorrow, and I'll wrap this up. 

You may have heard that George Lucas has recently announced his plans to re-release both trilogies (in chronological order, which I think is just a terrible idea) in 3D (which is an even worse idea) over the coming years.  This is getting him a lot of (well-deserved) flak.  But the fallout is landing on Star Wars itself as well, and that makes me more than a little sad.  Flick Filosopher, who I adore, asks in her question of the day why we keep letting Lucas make us his bitch.  And instead of focusing on why we, the fans, time and time again give Lucas money in exchange for disappointment, the comments have mostly been just remarks on how the new trilogy sucked and no one will be seeing them in 3D, and they refuse to give any more money to Lucas.  While I respect their right to these opinions, and the fact that they don't want to pay for what they perceive as crap, they are clearly in the minority--because Lucas doesn't keep messing with the original trilogy (and didn't get to make the new trilogy) because nobody went to see what he came up with.  So I suppose my point in all of this is just to say that yeah, somebody needs to love Lucas enough to tell him "no" once in a while (and actually enforce that no), but just because he's gone off the deep end, we shouldn't forget that without him, we wouldn't have this wonderful sandbox that is the Star Wars Universe to play in at all.  Right now, with the movies and the television show, along with all of the EU, Star Wars has something to offer pretty much any fan.  I, for one, will remember to thank him for that at least, while hoping he eventually realizes he's a bit too big for the sandbox and maybe he should just let the other kids play in it now. 

A few fun quick links for you folks:

Darths & Droids (A webcomic that retells the new trilogy as if it were a RPG campaign, using stills from the movies.  It is hilarious.)

The Old Republic MMO (I seriously cannot wait for this game to come out--at which point my family and friends are probably going to need to just say goodbye to me for a while.)