I Really Am A Girly Girl

So, as you know, I have been playing Dragon Age: Origins through again. (I have finally gotten to new ground and am no longer repeating my first disastrous attempt at a replay, huzzah!) Now, I am playing the "ultimate" edition, which includes (theoretically) all of the DLC and the expansion pack, yada, yada. So when I fire up the game, it has a new start screen to differentiate it from the original version of the game (then, when you click "play" it takes you into the same screens as before).

This screen is really starting to irk me.

Why? Because the art for this screen is freaking awesome. Okay, I see you are still confused. Do you read comic books? If you do, or heck, even if you don't, you probably know that it is common practice for the art of the comic and the cover art to be drawn by two completely different artists, in two completely different styles. Very rarely is the cover of the book indicative of the art that is contained therein. With me so far?

This is pretty similar to the way the box art for video games is designed. I do not know if it is necessarily a different artist (though I would hazard a guess this is the case), but the art on the box is very rarely similar to the actual art of the game. Characters from the game itself are usually recognizable, but they don't actually look like they appear in the game. Like I said, this is standard practice. It is not an unexpected phenomenon.

Now I am not by any means trying to say that the art in the Dragon Age: Origins game itself is in any way bad. It is actually spectacularly gorgeous for the most part. But. The personal details for the characters are a bit lacking. Specifically in wardrobe choices and in hairstyles.

I know, I know, but as the title of this post says, girly girl.

Take, for example, this episode from season three of The Guild.

In the very opening sequence, the character of Codex is talking about the expansion pack for the game played on the show. What is she most excited about? New hairstyles! I had not even heard of Dragon Age when I first saw this episode, but I knew exactly why the prospect of new hairstyles was so enticing! I did have previous experience with crappy selection in video game hairstyles (and wardrobe). From another Bioware game, no less.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic came out in 2003. I first played it through (completely) in 2009. Now, Dragon Age: Origins came out in 2009 (though I didn't play it until 2010). You would think that in the six years between the two games Bioware would have managed to get a little more creative as to the customization of character appearance. But no, not really. Hell, even the hairstyles and outfits in Dragon Age II didn't improve much. Why do you think I was so excited about the Mirror of Transformation DLC? At least I didn't have to be stuck with one terrible hairstyle for the entire game! You know, it's not even that they are that terrible (though some of them really are), it is that they aren't that interesting. I don't even know what makes an "interesting" hairstyle, but Bioware has yet to come up with anything that really appeals to me in that department.

I get that most gamers aren't playing the game so they can mess with hairstyles and clothes. I really do. But. (There's that word again.) I am spending at least 30 hours, usually way more than that, staring at this character. I would like to enjoy how my character looks. Is that too much to ask?

As far as the clothes go, there are lots of different choices, technically, sure. But many of them all look the same along the class of the outfit (i.e. armor, mage robes, etc.), and they are more distinguished by their abilities (adding to your defense, dexterity, resistance, and so on) than by how they look. But...I can't see the badass effects of a new set of armor. I can only see how stupid it looks. I'll be frank. Quite often I have totally eschewed a really cool outfit/armor set because I just couldn't stand how it looked and didn't want to have to watch my character run around in it. I know I can't be the only one who feels this way.

I also refuse to believe that Bioware is unaware of this issue. Mass Effect 2 saw Sheppard issued a standard set of armor and you could go to your quarters and customize its appearance to some extent. When you wanted to upgrade it, the physical appearance of your armor didn't change, you just equipped the new stats for it and that was it. That was, quite frankly, awesome. Then, when you were running around the ship, you had your choice of three or four uniforms you could wear. It wasn't much of a selection, but with the customization of the armor (and I'll admit, I really liked the uniform I chose to wear on the ship), it was more than satisfying enough for me. I had rather hoped Dragon Age II would use the same system. You did get a separate outfit to wear in your house, but you didn't a choice in what it looked like, and the armor system for Hawke was the same as in the first game.

Ostensibly, I am given to understand that there are games out there that let you do a great deal of customization to your character's appearance without sacrificing armor stats. But these are, from what I understand, MMORPGs, and I am saving myself for Star Wars: The Old Republic. I can only hope that Bioware is getting their act together to allow for a little more customization for that, or at least some new/different hairstyles. Geez.

But back to that starting screen art. Here is what it looks like:

This!!! I want this.

You've got a mage with a freaking gorgeous outfit, a decent hairstyle, and a phenomenally cool looking staff (don't even get me started on the lack of options for mage staffs). None of these things are available in the game. Nothing like. So every time I start up the game, I get a glimpse of this super awesome gear that I can't have.

Now compare to the mage outfits you actually do get:

My mage Caitlyn and Wynne--it comes in different colors at least.

Tell me, honestly. Wouldn't you be annoyed?

Further Adventures of Mathman and Dragongirl!

One of the great things about any comic convention is that it brings out the cosplayers in droves. For the uninitiated, a cosplayer is someone who dresses up as a fictional character or in a period costume recreationally (i.e., not for Halloween or a costume party). They come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors, and Emerald City Comic Con was no exception.

Some of them are organized, and use their powers of awesome costume assembly for good:

Hubby, me, a Scout Trooper, and Chewbacca

The 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, and Mandalorian Mercs, for example, are three distinct Star Wars cosplaying groups who banded together at the con to run a photo booth for charity. That was pretty spectacular. We saw the stormtroopers walking around on the first day and I decided we had to get a photo with them, especially once we found out it was for charity! Unfortunately, when we made it to the photo booth, there weren't any stormtroopers available (they had several different characters available at any given time, switching out periodically so they could all get breaks). But it was still a lot of fun. They were doing all kinds of crazy poses, and there were props available, though Hubby and I decided we just wanted to be partying with the trooper and Chewy.

I did find a few more Star Wars cosplayers, who may or may not have been off-duty members of the photo booth groups, and managed to get photos with them, too.

I found a stormtrooper, yay!

You know I love me some Mandlorians.

Wickett! I love the Ewoks, always have, always will.

There was also this guy, of course:

Best. Robot. EVER.

While not technically a cosplayer, I thought he probably fit in this section. I am not sure if the guy that built this R2D2 was affiliated with the photo booth groups or not, but he set up his (working) droid behind the photo booth area and then settled himself into a chair in a corner with the remote. We had seen him setting up, but a lot of people hadn't and didn't realize that the R2 was a working model. He was having some serious fun with that, and I have to say, it was pretty amusing to watch as well. Even though he was tucked back out of the way, R2 drew a pretty big crowd. What can I say, he's awesome, we all know that. I think it is pretty safe to argue that R2D2 is probably one of the most competent characters in the entire Star Wars franchise, if not the most competent. In fact, it has been argued, and quite well.

It wasn't all Star Wars, of course. One of the very best costumes is one I saw on the first day that, sadly, I did not get a picture of. But there was a pretty darn good representation of Morrigan from Dragon Age at the con on Friday and it just made me giddy. There were also, of course, a bevvy of super heroes running around, some of them fitting better into their latex/spandex than others.

I had to get a photo with this guy, of course:

Stargate in the house!

His patch was for SG-1, so either he was just a generic SG-1 team member or he was Colonel O'Neill. I think he pulled it off either way, and he was super nice about getting a photo with me. One of these days I am going to get off the lazy train and put together my own Stargate uniform, though mine will definitely be from the Atlantis side of things.

This one was pretty well done also:

It's-a me, with Mario!

The box he is holding is one of the bricks from the game (the question mark is not visible in the photo, alas), and you can see he had a couple of mushrooms to get from it. Also, he's a Guildie (we met him in line for our Felicia Day and Amy Okuda photo op), so he gets extra props for that.

Speaking of The Guild, we did decide to do the celebrity photo op with Felicia Day and Amy Okuda (we missed out on the first day's op which included Wil Wheaton--another convention-going lesson learned there). The line really wasn't that bad, and it seemed pretty well organized. Maybe a little too much so, they just pushed us in there, took our picture, we got to say "hi" and then "bye" and it was done. Though Felicia did tell Hubby she liked his shirt and declared us the t-shirt king and queen. So, that's something, I guess? Both were super nice though, and I am pretty happy with how the photo turned out.

Amy Okuda, Hubby, me, and Felicia Day

(That funky line is from the scanner going before I was ready, not from the actual photo, by the way.)

All in all, I had an absolutely FANTASTIC time at the convention. I got to meet lots of really cool people. I got to spend an entire weekend with my hubby, just the two of us (and a few thousand other nerds). It was just awesome. Hubby is still gushing that he not only got to meet Sergio Aragones, but to actually help him set up his booth (we met him on the first day, not too long after the floor opened). So I think between the both of us, we had a wonderful enough experience that this is definitely something we will be doing again. And as much fun as we had on our own, once she is a little older, Baby Girl is definitely coming along as well. Now I just have to think of a good set of costumes for the three of us...

The Adventures of Mathman and Dragongirl Continue!

In addition to all of the wonderful artists and art to see at Emerald City Comic Con there were, of course, many panels featuring various actors, writers, artists, and geeks. My husband and I attended five panels over the weekend, one on Friday and four on Saturday. All of them were quite enjoyable, I have to say. There were several more we would like to have seen, certainly, but we tried to limit ourselves to the ones that really called to us (okay, to me), so that we could still have plenty of time for all of the other wonderful things we wanted to do!

The first panel we attended, Friday afternoon, was the Wil Wheaton Awesome Hour. As you might guess, this panel featured none other than geek superstar Wil Wheaton. He read a few excerpts from his own works and then the floor was opened up to audience questions. In person I found Wil Wheaton to be just as human and as humorous as he comes across in his blog, which is just a joy to read. As much as I love to read his thoughts on writing and gaming and his updates on whatever projects he happens to be working on, my favorite posts are always the little "slice of life" entries he puts up from time to time. He is a real person, and he is extremely adept at capturing those moments that we all have in our lives that make them worth living, and putting them down on the written (or typed) page to share with others. You can imagine that I was pleased as punch that his first reading was one of those "slice of life" stories. This one about a moment of bonding he and his son had over his comic book collection. I did manage to get it on video, but it is of truly poor quality, very long (around eight minutes), the audio starts to get choppy at the end, AND Blogger doesn't want to upload it. So. No Wil Wheaton video for you. Ha, ha, I kid. Luckily for you, there were many other people there, some of them much better at capturing video. These are a little long, but of good quality, and the two stories he told us, enjoy.

I also was pretty excited that he announced that he was able to tell us the return date for the rest of this season of Eureka, though I have already forgotten what it was, sigh. But I remember that it was quite soon, so yay! 

Saturday was our marathon day of panels. We attended four in a row. I was a bit concerned that we wouldn't be able to get in for the first one, or get good seats, or that they would kick us out between panels. I was worried that I would be stuck in that seat for four plus hours and not even be able to get up and run to the restroom. It turns out my fears were pretty much groundless, yay! This year ECCC rented out the super mega huge panel hall, capable of holding up to 3,000 people. I only saw one panel line for that room the entire time we were there, and it was for the panel after the last one we attended. (Though I think there were lines for the last few we saw, but we were already camped out). They didn't clear out the room in between panels, and there were restrooms in the back of the hall itself. My husband and I did screw ourselves over a little bit after the first panel though--we got there about forty-five minutes early and were able to snag seats in the sixth row, but after the panel, it looked as if people in front of us were getting up to leave so we thought we'd hop up and get some closer seats. Except what really happened was that everyone in row two and back was standing up milling around trying to do the exact same thing...we thought we had seats up closer and while my hubby went to secure them, I told someone else they could have our seats. But, someone beat us to the closer seats, so we actually ended up moving back a bit further after the second panel. Not too far, thankfully, we were still in the front section of seats. But, valuable lesson learned for future conventions.

Anyway, on to the panels. First up was The Guild, featuring Wil Wheaton (again), Amy Okuda, and FELICIA DAY! It was a lot of fun, let me tell you. The format for the panels was that ECCC brought in a local celebrity personality to host each panel, talking with the actors for a little bit about the show and each actor before opening up the floor to audience questions. Felicia promised that season five of The Guild is in the works and does feature a convention, but would say no more because, as she pointed out, she hasn't actually written it yet.

She and Wil talked about gaming a bit, Amy talked about gadgets (she doesn't game much in real life, but LOVES tech and gadgets). Fans asked about how they have managed to embrace their geek pride and how they deal with people who still give them crap, or how they would suggest others tackle that issue. Wil and Felicia drew naughty doodles (and gave one of them to the first question-asker). Someone asked the group in general (but Felicia specifically) about their thoughts on fan art and fan fiction. Felicia professed her love for fan art but stated she hasn't seen any of the fan fiction, and that she isn't likely to seek it out since as the writer for legal reasons it is better for her not to have seen it. Wil was in full support of this, admonishing that once seen it CANNOT BE UNSEEN. I think he has found a few stories about Wesley Crusher...

Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, Amy Okuda, and the moderator.

Wil doodles something naughty on the table...

The next panel was the Fringe panel, featuring John Noble and Jasika Nicole. They were absolutely adorable! I had completely forgotten that Noble is a Brit, don't ask me how. His accent made me all giddy, and I just wanted to hug Jasika. They talked about all sorts of different things on the show, as well as Noble's work in The Lord of the Rings movies and Jasika's musical background. One of the fans told them that he and his friends all have a viewing party and then eat or drink whatever Walter eats and drinks on the show each week (even things like his cough syrup cocktail). I feel this is ill-advised (Noble very graciously did not call the guy a kook), but to each their own, I guess. He tried to suggest though, that Walter not eat so many Red Vines, as they were getting sick of them. But there is so much fail in that suggestion for so many reasons that I'm just gonna leave it at that. Though man, did that panel ever leave me craving Red Vines...

According to Noble, he feels that the show could just go on forever. Wouldn't that be awesome? It is clear that he loves playing this part, and Jasika also seems to really enjoy Astrid. She hinted that there is a really cool Astrid episode coming up later this season and that she hopes her character(s) gets some more front and center screen time as the series continues. One thing about the series that they weren't too enthusiastic about, however, are their scenes with Gene the cow. Apparently working with a live cow on set is not a picnic. Though let's be honest, that probably shouldn't be a surprise. I managed to capture a little bit of the panel on video, this one is much shorter than the Wil Wheaton clip (only about two minutes), and just a little sampling (of much poorer quality, but what can you do).

After Fringe came Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner (of Star Trek The Next Generation). I am not a huge Star Trek fan, just for lack of exposure more than anything else. I have been slowly getting into it, and my husband of course grew up watching The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. This was the panel that he was really excited to see, and kind of my carrot  for him sitting through the first two panels with me (he doesn't watch The Guild or Fringe, not because he doesn't like them, just because he has never had the time to get into them). I quite honestly expected most of this panel to go over my head, being full of Star Trek references I did not get. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that it instead was funny as hell. As my husband said, these guys have been doing this for so long that they just came out there and started making stuff up.

Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, and moderator.

Goofing around.

I have to admit, there were a few things that my husband had to explain to me, but for the most part I laughed my ass off the whole time these guys were on stage. Also, they talked about Wil Wheaton a surprisingly lot. That amused me. I felt a little bad for the fan who asked Spiner to sing the "Lifeforms" song that Data had performed in one of the movies, because he couldn't remember it at all. But, as he rightly pointed out, probably everyone in the audience knew it better than he did, because he had only seen the movie once or twice and once he had recorded the scene hadn't really thought about it any more. I found it an interesting commentary on the fan/actor relationship, actually. As fans, we will read or watch something over and over, possibly memorizing part (if not all) of it during the course of events. Certain lines or scenes will stick with us forever, speaking to us on a direct level, and it is a common assumption that something that so profoundly influenced our own world must of course have done the same for the writer or actor who brought that to us. But really, no, it was just a job for them. There may be certain bits they enjoyed more than others, but it is very rare for the actor or writer to get anywhere near as deeply immersed in these universes they create as we the fans do.

Anyhoo, it was a lovely panel nonetheless. It was like swimming in a rainbow with thousands of beautiful naked babies, really.

And finally, we come to one of the big ones for me. It is a toss-up to say which panel I was more excited for, The Guild, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Guild probably won out, but just because Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton are right now two of my personal heroes. But still, Buffy! With Nicholas Brendon AND James Marsters? I mean, come on, how awesome is that? Clare Kramer was there as well, and even though she was only in one season, the guys treated her like one of the family, and it didn't seem like she was too left out of the panel.

This was a fun one, to be sure. I love that Nicholas Brendon is looking so deliciously geeky as he ages. To the girls who were sitting next to us Friday night during the Wil Wheaton panel griping about the fact that Nicholas Brendon now has grey hair even though he's about ten years younger than James Marsters (who dyes his hair and works out religiously because he likes to play ACTION roles), well, all I have to say to them is phttbt.  I like me a geeky looking man who can accept that part of life is growing older (and wiser), and who is okay with a little bit of grey. This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows my husband.

Anyhoo, the panel was a lot of fun. In contrast to Wil Wheaton, Brendon and Marsters openly embraced the glut of fan fiction out there for Buffy, even the stuff that pairs up their own characters romantically. Brendon honestly seemed a bit more perturbed about the turn that the comic books have taken in pairing (SPOILER) Xander and Dawn together than about the existence of Spike/Xander slash fic. Marsters, on the other hand, who had just said he actually hasn't been following the comic books and didn't know what was going on, was quite surprised to learn about that particular turn of events. I actually managed to catch that question on video. It was awesome. Even with the camera shaking (because I was laughing so damn hard) you can still see Marters' reaction in this one. I think most of the fans were on the same page, man. Seriously.

True story: Yesterday morning in the airport we were browsing the magazine stand and we saw the Michelle Trachtenberg Maxim issue. I think the store clerk thought I was a little bit nuts because I was giggling so much at it. You know what, it was a bit racy, Marsters, I agree.

In another moment of musical letdown, someone asked Marsters if he would sing a little bit of one of his songs from the musical episode of Buffy (which there had been a screening of the night before). He was game, but couldn't actually remember the words. After a valiant effort he exclaimed that he didn't do covers and that was that. Still, props to him for trying. He also was asked if we'll see him on Torchwood any more, and while he said he hasn't been asked back, he did declare that he would say yes in an instant if he was. This made me very happy.

The Buffy panel actually got cut a bit short--ending right on time even though it started late due to other panels running over. The last panel of the day was Shatner and he apparently had to start exactly right on time. Hubby and I debated staying for that panel, but neither of us was really gung-ho about it and we had had enough of sitting around by that point, so we decided to head out and stretch our legs by walking the floor a little.

All in all, I really enjoyed the panels, and I am so glad we got to see as many as we did. It was good times.

I will have more convention review goodness for you tomorrow, but for now I am gonna scoot. I've got to take my daughter to her Little Gym class and then go pick up a certain video game that comes out today...and sadly, we don't live far enough into the future yet that the laundry is gonna do itself. Which is a bummer really. Can someone get on making that happen soon? Free cookies for anyone that does!

Alrighty then. Ciao!

Out With the Old, In With the New

TUESDAY PSA:  Don't forget, new episodes of Stargate Universe and Caprica tonight on Syfy starting at 8 p.m CST!!!

With The Guild wrapped up for another season, and the Legend of Neil series finale getting ready to air tomorrow, there is a sad empty spot in my heart that was once filled by web series.  But, never fret!  Syfy has the answer (scary as that may seem)!  A new web series is premiering today on the Syfy website called Riese:  Kingdom Falling.  Here's the "about" blurb for the series:

Riese: Kingdom Falling takes place in Eleysia, a dying kingdom where distrust and anxiety have clouded people's minds, causing a regression into primitive ways of thinking. Rituals and mythology have resurged, and the darker side of mankind has begun to reveal itself. Riese, a wanderer, travels across the decaying land with her wolf, Fenrir. Marked as a heretic by religious group The Sect and the new Empress, Riese must evade their assassins and discover their true intentions for Eleysia.

Narrated by Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary), the series stars a cavalcade of talent from the world of popular speculative drama including Christine Chatelain (The Bone Collector); Sharon Taylor (Stargate Universe); Ben Cotton (Harper's Island), Allison Mack (Smallville); Ryan Robbins (Caprica); Patrick Gilmore (Stargate Universe); Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica) and Emilie Ullerup (Sanctuary).

Of course, this isn't actually a new series.  Riese was running under it's own steam for at least one whole story arc before the creators brokered a deal with Syfy and pulled all the episodes off the air so it could be retooled and they could have exclusive rights to it.  I watched the first episode about a year ago and was very intrigued.  I didn't get a chance to delve too deep into it before it was pulled though, so I am really excited that it has come back.  I can only hope Syfy does it justice.

Though looking at their website I can already see a big issue.  They don't seem to understand that part of what makes web series so popular is that they don't follow the BS scheduling practices of network and cable television.  They've got its scheduled "air time" plastered all over the page--which isn't until 11 pm CST.  What the heezy?  Sigh.  Once the episode is up, it should be available for viewing at any time though (hopefully), but still.  Come on, Syfy, don't jerk us around and try to make us dance to your schedule--that defeats the whole purpose of a web series.  If I get excited because Tuesday is web series day, that means I get excited because I can hop on my computer at any point on Tuesday and watch my shows, not have to wait until the end of the day or the next day for you to get it put up.  At that point, you may as well just decide that Riese day is Wednesday, not Tuesday.  I really do want this series to succeed though, because it truly does have a fantastic cast--those listed above don't even start to list all of the awesome people involved. 

But this just reminds me again that the heyday of the SciFi Channel is long long gone.  There was the name change, of course.  I'm not going to get into my rant about that, it's been done already and often, and has been done well.  Plus, there's the wrestling thing.  Look, I am not a fan of professional wrestling.  I really just don't get the appeal.  Many people I know (my brother-in-law in particular) love it, and I am totally cool with that.  Not everybody enjoys science fiction on the level that I do, after all.  To each his own.  BUT.  Syfy is supposed to be a specialized cable channel.  Changing the spelling of your name doesn't change the expectations a name like "Syfy" is going to give your viewers.  The programming decisions that the network has been making over the last several years has made it very clear to me that the people now running the show don't believe there is an economically sustainable demand for a purely science fiction and fantasy channel.  So they've got this Ghost Hunters crap, and they've got wrestling.  And they keep making ridiculously substandard monster and disaster movies instead of devoting those resources to well-done series.

Update:  It looks like the first episode is already up and can be watched here.  Thank goodness for Ryan Robbins' FB account keeping us all in the loop!  Though, this does make me wonder, why the heck do you even have an air time listed on your website at all Syfy?  

The decision to move Stargate Universe and Caprica to Tuesday nights is another clue that the people running the show don't really care about the actual scifi programming anymore.  They moved the shows primarily because they got Friday night wrestling and didn't want to risk losing any of those shiny new viewers by changing the night of the program, so they decided instead to screw over all of the existing viewers by canceling the long-standing SciFriday and shunting our programming to Tuesday nights.  The argument was that this should actually help these shows succeed because their summer programming does so well on Tuesday nights.  Okay, see, here's the thing, summer programming that is original is going to do better simply because it isn't reruns.  But your fall shows?  Why would you put them on against such a seriously stacked existing Tuesday night lineup on other channels?  An io9 article yesterday stated that SGU and Caprica are "circling the drain" and it made me bristle--but it's true.  The ratings have been abysmal.  The shows themselves have been outstanding, but there is simply too much competition on Tuesday nights for anyone who isn't a straight up fangirl/guy to bother about watching the shows live in the days of DVR.  The +7 day numbers for SGU, at least, are something like an additional 70%.  What does that say when 70% of your viewers aren't watching your show live?  It says it's on at a bad day and time.  The end of the year is coming up, and along with it the decision of whether or not to give these two shows new seasons.  I think the yea or nay here is going to say a lot about the network's devotion to its scifi programming, because the move to a new date should definitely be taken into account when they start crunching numbers.  I try to keep watching this channel, because the genre shows it does air are a lot of my favorites, but it is getting harder and harder to trust the people behind the scenes to look out for my viewing interests, I'll tell you that.

Hmm, well, that was a kind of unintended rant.  Sorry about that.  I'll wrap up with some costuming updates.  I only ended up having one party to go to last weekend because one got called on account of rain and rescheduled for a few weeks from now.  As predicted, no one at the party recognized my costume, but that's alright.  Here's a reminder of what I was going for:

Karen Gillan as Amy Pond

And here's what I ended up with:

Cori as Amy Pond

Considering I am a bit shorter and quite a bit rounder than Karen Gillan, I think I pulled it off rather well.  I do think however, that when I do wear this to a convention, I'll probably just go ahead and invest in getting my hair colored, because when push came to shove, I couldn't bring myself to wear the wig.  Here's what it looked like with the wig though, in case you're curious:

This wig adds +6 to Silliness.

And, to close things out on a happy note, here's another picture of a baby dressed as a giraffe.  

Baby Girl checks out her costume.

Enjoy your Tuesday, folks.

Tuesday is Your Friend

Howdy, folks! 

Just a few quick reminders for you: 

There's a new episode of Stargate Universe on tonight! 

(Syfy @ 8 p.m. CST)

Caprica is finally back with new episodes right after Stargate!!

I will, of course, have my Stargate write-up for you tomorrow.  Speaking of Stargate, I found out today that there is a series of comic books out about the SG-1 character Vala Mal Doran (fabulously portrayed by Claudia Black).  It gives a glimpse into some of her back story, which, given that it's Vala, has got to be pretty interesting.  Geek With Curves did a write-up of the series here.  I so far have been able to stay away from the Stargate comic books (I know, I don't really know why either), but I think with this I might have to cave in.  It looks like the first four issues are out and a trade paperback collection of them is due out next month, so I went ahead and preordered it.  I will definitely let you know how it is. 

Speaking of Stargate reading material, I don't know if you are familiar with the Stargate novels that Fandemonium has been putting out, but they are mostly pretty fantastic.  They've got a pretty good batch of writers who are familiar enough with the shows and their mythology that usually each book feels just like its own stand alone episode.  There are a few hit or miss moments here or there sometimes--usually when someone doesn't get a character quite right or an author that is clearly much more familiar with SG-1 takes a stab at an Atlantis story and doesn't quite get all of the Pegasus nuances down.  But still, I highly recommend these books for anyone who misses SG-1 or Atlantis and is looking for new adventures of a better quality (or with less, um, monkey business) than fan fiction.  Which isn't to say I don't love me some Stargate fan fiction, but these are better, trust me. 

My only really big bone of contention with these books is that they have got some serious kinks going on in their marketing/distribution system.  See, in order to keep up enthusiasm in between book releases, they'll go ahead and announce new titles well before they have finished the publication process.  They'll even have them up for preorder on Amazon.  This is cool and all, except that when there are delays, you're sitting there waiting for your book that you preordered and it doesn't come for another month or three or twelve.  The SGA title Brimstone, for example, was initially slated to come out in March or May of 2008, and I preordered it on Amazon two days before its scheduled release date.  But apparently there was some sort of glitch in the approval process, and well, you know what, it still hasn't come out.  I tend to hop on Amazon once or twice a year and just preorder any of the new books that they have showing available--but after all of the delays from the last batch I swore to myself that I would never do that again.  I would just wait until each book was actually in stock to order it. But, I am kind of addicted to preordering, and also, apparently, a masochist.  So  after I finished the most recent stack of Stargate books in my reading pile, I went ahead and preordered all of the ones that were available to preorder.  Sigh.  So, when I got three emails today from Amazon telling me that there had been a delay in my order and that some items would be arriving later than originally expected, was I surprised?  Not really.  I can't even be mad about it any more, but still.  I wish they could get their act together, because honestly, that have a really good thing going. 

On the bright side, it isn't as if I don't have plenty to read while I wait for those to finally come out, do I?

Read us, Cori, please--before the dragon gets to us!

And that's just my pile of books to read.  And despite my attempts to whittle my way through it, it keeps getting bigger.  I keep saying, oh, no, I won't buy any more books, but really, how can you not buy more books if you're a bibliophile?  I am lucky that my husband is not only a patient man, but also an understanding one who happens to have the same problem.  Man, and those Outlander books?  When I get to those, I'm going to have to reread the first three in the series first anyway, because I haven't read them since the start of 2009, and I'll need to refresh my memory.  AND I'll have to take a break in whatever I am reading next month when the new Wheel of Time book comes out, because that is an immediate must-read, of course.  And I guess I shouldn't complain too much about the lack of Stargate books, because fourth and fifth down from the top on the right are actually two more Stargate books.  Hmm.  Time to stop complaining, Cori. 

Right, moving on.  So, it's Tuesday, yay!  That means a new webisode of The Guild, huzzah!  Sadly, it's the season finale, but that just means that Felicia Day and crew are hard at work on making a new season now, so I am trying to not be too sad about the end of season four.  It's not that hard, because today's episode was AWESOME.  Check it out here. 

There's also a new webisode of Legend of Neil.  For those of you unfamiliar with that series, it follows slacker Neil who is "magically" transported into the original The Legend of Zelda game.  It is not for the easily offended, but I for one find it extremely hilarious.  It manages to make fun of video games and video gamers in a loving way that you realize is really a tribute to us and an acknowledgment of how far video games have come since the original Zelda. The current season is actually the last--but I am okay with that.  I think American show makers have a lot to learn about just telling a story and ending it where appropriate, rather than stretching it out as long as possible.  I would rather have three outstanding seasons of this series than six or eight mediocre seasons.  You can check out the newest episode here.  Kill Link!


And, lastly, I shall close with...crochet!  Yay!  This past Saturday my husband and I attended the wedding of one of the guys he is in a band with (Holy Moly, they are awesome, check them out), and so of course I made the happy couple a blanket for their wedding present.  Instead of going with an actual blanket pattern this time, I went to my pattern book and picked out a cool stitch pattern and used that.  The stitch I picked out is called Diamond Mesh, and I would love to give you a link to it, but I can't, because my copy of the pattern is a photocopy from a pattern book and I don't know what pattern book it came from.  Boo me, I know.  But, here is what the stitch looks like:

Diamond Mesh

And here is the entire blanket:

Diamond Mesh Blanket by Cori (2010)

And that's all I've got for you.  Enjoy your Tuesdays!  Oh, and if you're looking for something to watch before Stargate and Caprica, there's a new episode of Glee on Fox.  It looks like they are doing their version of Only the Good Die Young, which is one of my top five favorite songs of all time, yay!

Huzzah For New Stargate!

If you haven't figured out already, I am a HUGE Stargate fan.  While Stargate Atlantis will always be nearest and dearest to my heart, I truly do enjoy the entire franchise.  I have particularly been enjoying Stargate Universe, which kicks off its second season tonight, picking up right where the crazy season one cliffhanger (of course) finale left off.  Though the survival of most of the characters seems more or less guaranteed, I am still eager to see exactly how that survival is achieved, and what will transpire next.

Gateworld posted a great article last week to help get people pumped up for the new season.  It is a very good read.  Check it out here.

In other news, Tuesday truly is my favorite day of the week.  Largely because it is new DVD day (and new CD and video game and book day), but also because of television related things as well.  While I didn't get any new DVDs today (I have had to cut back substantially since Baby Girl's arrival, but thank goodness for Netflix), I did get my paperback copy of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.  I am very excited about this one.  Should be a fun read, I hope, and one that Baby Girl will enjoy down the road--it's a Newberry winner so definitely one that will get read to her.  I also got four boxes of tea (2 of Chai, 1 of Earl Grey, and 1 of Ancient Cherry Green Tea) along with a super spiffy made for tea travel mug.  Good times.

And then, if that wasn't enough, Tuesday also means new episodes of The Guild!!  Are you watching this?  You totally should be!  These people are so socially awkward they make me feel like a social butterfly, and that is seriously saying something.  Here's this week's episode, enjoy. 

Hostile Takeovers

Well, it's Jeopardy! time, so I need to skedaddle.  I will leave you with this final piece of joy.

More LOLcats can be found here. 

 Where is this kitty when you need him, huh?  Happy Tuesday folks.