Category: Event

  • San Diego Comic Con 2012 (Friday Highlights)

    It’s 2:00am on Friday night…I mean, Saturday morning…and I’m running on about 2 hours of sleep but before I hit the hay I wanted to put together a few of the highlights from today’s…I mean, yesterday’s….Comic Con.  I’ll put together a more comprehensive post after the weekend is over.

    I just realized it’s 13 pics for Friday the 13th. Boo yah!

    Holy crap I’m exhausted!

    I can’t wait to spend another fabulous day at Comic Con!  I’ll post some more highlights tomorrow night.

    Ok, I gotta go to bed now…

  • An Out of this World Fair

    I’m back from New York City where I spent an incredibly fun 2.5 weeks hanging out with my two adorable nieces. If you want to see some pictures from NY, check out the “HNG in NYC” album on the HNG facebook page.

    Within hours off stepping off the plane I was drinking Scotch with my Step-dad and Mama Jedi at the Scottish Highland Games and pounding Jager Bombs at the local Irish pub before it changed owners at midnight.

    Tomorrow I’m heading to Colorado for my step-brother’s wedding. It’s a road trip so I’ll be gone for a week (I swear my Summers aren’t usually this crazy busy). It was important to squeeze in as much stuff as possible while I was home in San Diego. That included a trip to the Del Mar Fair with Mama Jedi (yes, I know it’s technically the San Diego County Fair now but whatever. Much like The Murph will never be Qualcomm, the Del Mar Fair will never be SDCF for me). This year in particular struck my fancy because the theme was “Out of this World.”

    The wonders of space with the comforts of sunny San Diego

    It’s like San Diego is welcoming me back with open arms after my 12 year hiatus.

    First things first. They had fried cheese curds. My bulk of Mama Jedi’s side of the family is in Wisconsin where Mama Jedi grew up and I lurv me some cheese curds. However, I’m not convinced that these were real curds. I’m pretty sure they were mozzarella. Weak.

    They were still pretty tasty though

    After that Mama Jedi and I headed straight to the “Out of this World” exhibit.

    This exhibit was super awesome. Y’all know I’m a sucker for anything space-related and this one did not disappoint. I actually enjoyed it more than the “Beyond Planet Earth” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.

    I love that this articulated truck is called the Dragon Wagon. You see Marines driving trucks like these up and down the San Diego freeways on a pretty regular basis.

    Speaking of Marines, here are the ones that have been in space!

    Oh look, a spaceship!

    Oh crap, we’re being abducted by aliens! Bad aliens, bad!

    They took us to the moon! Yay! You’re a-okay Mr. Alien Dudes.

    Next time we should probably pack a spacesuit. Just sayin’.

    Time for a trip to my favorite part of the exhibit…

    Mama Jedi loved this kinetic energy silver ball thing but I think the one at the Discovery Science Center is better.

    I’m alive! I’m ALIIIVE!!!

    We got to chat with a couple of guys from the San Diego Astronomy Association. They were super awesome and told us about all of the astronomy events happening in and around San Diego.

    I always get emotional whenever the Challenger or Columbia disasters come up.

    Overall, a great production.

    We then moved on to the Home and Garden section of the Fair.  Everything had a sci-fi theme.

    Some of my favorite rooms (especially this one, it reminded me of my room when I was a kid). Star Wars was well represented.

    Going from the inner exhibits to the outdoor garden area we ran into this guy.

    The outdoor gardens were gorgeous.

    This one was my favorite.

    At this point something totally insane and unexpected happened.  I got recognized. For the first time. In public. By a Sheriff no less! I was so surprised by it that I didn’t even think to get his name or take a picture or something. So, Mr. Sheriff Dude, if you’re reading this, email me!

    Then we headed over to the kid area infield to check out the Area Fifty Fun (see what they did there?) building.

    On the way in we got a good look at the sun. The sunspot we saw was larger than Earth but the real beauty was the solar prominences. Spectacular. Don’t worry, this telescope was all set up to safely view the sun. Don’t go looking into the sun or anything, you’ll burn your corneas, mmkay?

    I like to tease cyborgs by pinching their cheeks. On of these days that’s gonna come back to bite me in the butt, I’m sure.

    They had a pretty decent Star Trek display. Much of which I have at home.

    Star Trek FAIL.

    It turned out to be a fun area for the kidlets filled with animals and toys and all that stuff that kids (and HNG’s) seem to like.

    In the end I left with a new mop, a giant bag of Kettle Corn and my 5th lightsaber (a cheap red one for my nephew to play with when he comes over so he’ll leave my nice ones alone).

    I think the Fair should have this theme every year.

  • WonderCon 2012

    The WonderCrew: Troi, Geek Outlaw, HNG, Mama Jedi

    The first time I went to WonderCon was way back in 2002 while I was in college in San Francisco.  I was the only girl in the group and was rocking my Batman Underoos and a very ill-fitting SFSU sweatshirt.

    A Spider-Man sticker on top of a Batman logo…I’m trying to remember if we had some sort of Marvel vs. DC thing going on that day….

    Since moving to Southern California I wasn’t sure I’d ever go to a WonderCon again but fate had other plans (namely construction) and planted WonderCon in Anaheim this year.  I had to go.  Now, normally I like to spend at least two days at a comic book convention; however, WonderCon inconveniently fell on St. Patrick’s Day weekend and the Irish blood in me refused to give up the St. Patty’s Day festivities.  Therefore, I settled for going to WonderCon on Friday only.

    This was the first Comic Book Convention for my Mom, my sister-in-law Troi and my friend Hayden (aka Geek Outlaw).  We’re all going to San Diego Comic Con this Summer so it was good practice for them.  My Mom wore the HNG t-shirt I had made for Long Beach Comic Con and guys were flirting with her all day.  What can I say?  I have a hot mama.  Hayden wore his Geek Outlaw outfit which was so weighed down by his geeky accoutrements that he literally had to mosey.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J67TEVdIN0]

    First things first.  Star Trek.  Star Trek actors are the only celebrities I get star struck by.  I’m not sure why that is other than the fact that I heart Star Trek sosososososososo much.  Seriously, Harrison Ford could walk up to me and I’d be like “yo, what’s up dude?” but if Patrick Stewart did that I would freak the fuck out.  So it should come as no surprise that when I saw Anthony Montgomery (aka Ensign Travis Mayweather) I freaked the fuck out.

    See that look on my face? That’s pure joy right there.

    I was in the process of purchasing a comic book and getting my face sketched on the back of it (more on that later) when Hayden and I realized that Anthony was in the booth right next door.  I couldn’t move yet because of the sketching so Hayden went over and warned Anthony that a Super Trekkie was in his midst.  I tend to be a very shy person but as soon as I got the go ahead from the sketch artist that I could move I practically mauled the poor man.

    I swear I don’t normally do this type of thing!

    He now holds the distinction of being the only Star Trek actor that I’ve hugged.  Twice.  Seriously though, super super super nice guy.  I even told him my Connor Trinneer story and he got a laugh out of that (short version: I had just arrived at Whole Foods in Hollywood and saw a guy holding a baby and trying to get a grocery cart.  I got the grocery cart for him and when he turned around and thanked me I realized it was Connor Trinneer and I almost had a heart attack right on the spot).

    Anthony was there promoting his new graphic novel Miles Away.  Y’all should check it out because it looks really good and because I heart him.  A lot.

    Back to the comic book I was purchasing before I saw Anthony….

    Artist: J caught my eye because she’s a fellow HNG who wrote a comic book. Seriously, she’s badass.  She combines the comic with music to create a whole experience for the reader.  I love and support my fellow HNG’s and you should too.  So check her out.

    And she makes a darn sexy Wonder Woman too

    One of her artists, Will Olmo, did a quick sketch of me on the back of the book.

    While looking for an artist I saw at LBCC (alas, I never found him and I can’t remember his name) I ran into two other artists that I will be paying close attention to from now on.  The first one is Mike McKone who happens to live just a few miles away from me.  I’m going to try and hit him up for an interview.  The second is Gerimi Burleigh creator of Eye of the Gods and Morningstar.  We first noticed Gerimi because Hayden is a fan of the country western genre and Morningstar has a cowboy twist to it.  After talking to him, you can’t help but like him.  Super talented and super nice.  Plus, he has an awesome name.

    Geek Outlaw and Gerimi Burleigh

    DC is fighting hunger in Africa with their We Can Be Heroes campaign.  To bring attention to the cause they had a photobooth set up wherein you could get your picture taken with shadowy images of the Justice League.

    They printed a picture for you (or in Hayden’s case, a crapload of pictures…the printer went nuts over his sexy photo and wouldn’t stop printing them). The photos will be accessible online and on the DC facebook page at some point.

    My scanner doesn’t like this picture for some reason so I’ll replace it when they get the digital versions up

    We went to an Amazing Spider-Man panel where I saw and got super excited about this:

    It’s Punisher! In space!

    But the best panel was Nerdist Industries Live! I really hope that no one reading this is too young to remember MTV’s Singled Out.  It was back when MTV still played music videos and there were only a handful of reality shows, namely Real World, Singled Out and Love Line (though LL may have come later…I can’t remember, I haven’t watched MTV in years). Anyhooters, people mostly remember Singled Out because it introduced the world to Jenny McCarthy.  I remember it because it introduced me to Chris Hardwick.  My love for him has only increased over the years what with The Nerdist, Talking Dead, and various hilarious commentaries on E! pop culture shows.

    He introduced several people who will be participating in the new Nerdist youtube channel.

    Those of us in Ballroom 3 had to pay dearly to see this panel.  Warner Brothers decided that right beforehand they would force everyone waiting for The Nerdist to watch an episode of The Secret Circle.  It was worse than Chinese water torture.  And this is coming from someone who enjoys Twilight (I know, I know). It did give Chris the opportunity to tell jokes about sexy witch scissor sex (that’s how you complete the circle, right?) which almost made it worth it.  Almost.

    Other Chris Hardwick gems:

    Nerds make the shiny things that distract the mouth breathers.

    A nerd’s true superpower is to try to understand something and try to live it more than any other living creature.

    At the end of the panel Chris had two Angry Bird stuffed animals.  The first he threw right to a kid in the front row who made them all feel horribly guilty for cussing.  The second he decided to throw as far as he could.  The guy next to me was crazy still during the whole panel but he wanted that GD Angry Bird.  I’ve never seen a man that size move so fast.  It was pretty epic.  And the guy was STOKED.  Of course I captured it on video.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3GAz77TDqs]

    On to cosplay photos!

    We got to take pictures in front of an Avengers poster while holding Cap’s shield.

    Somehow I ended up being the buttkicker in both photos

    And then with Captain America himself.

    There was Batman.

    And Rogue.

    Hulk…at least the top half of him…

    And Spidey (who was insanely flexible).

    And then there was whatever the frak this guy is.

    That’s a nice leg and dangly-thing you got there Mister

    To represent the gamers we had some Halo.

    And some Halo Barbies.

    Scorpion had some crazy white contacts lenses that gave me a really great mental picture of what Roose Bolton’s eyes must look like.

    Abraham Lincoln was in attendance just in case any vampires showed up.

    Battlestar Galactica was represented.

    This is the best Doctor #10 I’ve ever seen at a Con.  He was spot on.

    These fellow HNG’s made their Tardis dresses themselves.  As a very non-domestic lady I was extremely impressed.

    It takes this artist 8 hours to put this Firefly display together every time he goes to a convention.

    Represent.

    My favorite shirt of day.

    I heart Transformers.  Haha, j/k, it’s a Gundam.

    And, of course, there was plenty of the Force.

    Last but not least, Hayden’s favorite, the Ghostbusters.

    That was a really hard pose to hold.

    ….and all the times Troi and I decided to photobomb Hayden’s pictures… 🙂

    Our souvenirs, including an R2D2 for my nephew.

    WonderCon turned out to be a good time had by all.  The newbies are sufficiently stoked for SD Comic Con and I got an 8-bit Starfleet communicator. What more could a girl ask for?

    
    
  • My Star Wars Leap Day Night Thing at Disneyland

    The Lovely Ladies of Leap Day – Jessica, HNG, Troi

    At first I didn’t that think our little Leap Day trip to Disneyland was nerdy enough to write about. Then I thought about the fact that I stayed up all night for a history-making 24 hour Disney marathon and I realized that this is about as nerdy as it gets.

    Our little group chose a Star Wars theme for our little adventure. We were planning to ride Star Tours multiple times like I had on my birthday. Also, we all love Star Wars. We wore our t-shirts. Jessica had her Darth Vader backpack. Troi had her Darth Vader sweatshirt. I had my Darth Vader watch. Then, of course, it turned out to be über cold and we had to cover up our sweet t-shirts. Then Jessica had to head out and she took her sweet backpack with her. In the end the only proof of our Star Wars love was Troi’s sweet Vader sweatshirt. Which got a ton of compliments in the Star Tours line the ONE time we were able to ride it.

    But this guy kind of made up for it with his sweet Viking beard beanie

    We also had our mini lightsabers. I snagged them the second I saw them at Target because they, well, look like mini lightsabers. Only after I brought them home did I realize that they could also be used as location devices. At that point I didn’t think the park would be very busy in the middle of the night. I was very very wrong about that. So these bad boys came in handy on multiple occasions. Plenty of people had glow sticks and light up Mickey ears but these outshined them all. I’m never going to any nighttime event without one ever again. A stroke of genius on my part.  And did I mention that it doubles as a lightsaber?

    Mini lightsabers FTW!

    I got to introduce Troi to the awesomeness that is Captain Eo. Usually she has my 3 year old nephew with her and he’s not quite old enough to sit still or appreciate he epicness that is Michael Jackson throwing rays of light that turn the Borg into 80’s workout video dancers. And they gave us a special pin for watching it on Leap Day. Double win.

    We had to fight for this picture with Darth Vader. Seriously, people, you just don’t mess with my sister-in-law. She’s married to a marine so she has badassery via osmosis. She plays roller derby so she has badassery in her own right. She’s all tatted up (including a skull that looks like it should be Klingon, that one is my favorite) so basically she’s just badass all around. Here’s what happened…

    Don’t come between a fangirl and her Vader

    We were hanging out by the totally random rave party for about 5 minutes while Troi said hi to a friend of hers.  As we were leaving we saw Darth Vader and two stormtroopers walk by.  Game Over for Troi, the girl is borderline obsessed with Vader.  So we follow them and see a line to take a picture with them. It’s kind of long, but shit, so are all the other lines so we get in it.  They say that Vader and friends are going to be there for half an hour.  The way the line is moving we’ll totally get to the front in time.  Ten minutes later one of the girls working the line…don’t know her name so we’ll just call her Evil Whore….starts shouting that Vader is only going to be there for 5 more minutes.  The person behind us in line has a schedule of his appearances and says not to worry, he’ll be back at midnight (in about 20 minutes or so).  We have nothing better to do because, at this point, we’re still under the delusion that people will clear out of the park after the parade at 1am, so we decide to wait.  About 5 minutes later the stormtroopers come back sans Vader (so they’re obviously following this so-called schedule they’ve given out).  Troi gets a little anxious and goes up to EW and asks when Vader is coming back. EW says it won’t be for about another half an hour.  Troi very nicely says that she would like to wait for Vader and that other people can go in front of us in the line if they want a picture with just the stormtroopers.  EW flips the fuck out.  She says that we have to take pictures with just the stormtroopers or we can’t have pictures at all.  Troi comes back to the line fuming.  Everyone around us wants to know what’s going on and why Vader isn’t there.  Troi fills them in on what EW said and states that she’s not moving.  She’s waiting for Vader and EW can suck it.  Everyone else decides that they are going to do the same.  We get to the front of the line and refuse to move.  EW starts yelling at us.  We start calmly explaining our position.  EW starts threatening us.  We start not so calmly explaining our position and all the ways in which she’s failing at her job and how she’s a lying liar who lies.  A grandma behind us points to her crying grandson and totally uses him as a pawn against EW.  It was epic.  EW threatens to call over security or management.  We tell her to please do.  The Manager comes over and wants to know what’s going on.  Troi is our unofficial spokeswoman and she very nicely tells him the whole story. EW is standing next to him with her arms crossed and a smug look on her face.  The Manager….don’t know his name so I’ll just call him Awesome Manager Dude….TOTALLY AGREES WITH US.  The smug look very quickly evaporates from EW’s face, only to be replaced with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred.  AMD quickly forms a second line for those who don’t mind having a picture with only stromtroopers…mostly made up of people who happened to be walking by (I felt bad for the poor troopers, they had no idea what was going on and we wanted to tell them that it had nothing to do with them).  EW walked up and down the line saying that there was a second, faster line for the troopers and NO ONE MOVED.  Seriously, it was like some crazy, instantaneous brotherhood of nerds that was as mad as hell and they weren’t gonna take it anymore (bonus points if you know what movie I stole that line from).  Darth Vader came back out about 5 minutes later and we got our GD picture.  Justiccccce!!!  I’m not gonna lie, the experience restored my faith in humanity a little.

    After that we said screw it and got in the long ass line for Star Tours.  We quickly formed “fleeting line friendship #1” with a guy named Chris who had come to the park (han) solo.  He explained to us how they had a giant X-Wing in the room we were waiting in during the previews of the revamped ride.  He was kind enough to email me a picture of it.

    Tada! Thanks Chris, it was nice to meet you!

    The good thing was that this was the best scenario combo I’d seen yet for the ride. The bad thing was the 10 drunken idiots behind us that were shouting the whole time.  Made soooo much worse by the fact that one of them was chosen to be the rebel spy. (I might be just a little bit bitter that I’ve never been chosen as the rebel spy…ahem)

    In line for Pirates and eagerly anticipating being able to sit down in the boat

    After a quick jaunt over to Pirates of Caribbean (in which the girl we’d been talking to in the seat behind us fell asleep and had to be shoved off the ride), it was 4am and our last chance to ride Space Mountain.  We had been hopeful that the line would die down, but nope, there was a 140 minute wait.  We quickly formed “fleeting line friendship #2” with a lady about my mom’s age who had flown in from Arizona that morning on the 7am flight, taken a Super Shuttle to Disneyland, ridden rides all day/night by herself, then was going to take the shuttle to the Disneyland hotel, the hotel shuttle to the airport and catch a 8:30am flight back to Arizona.  The woman was a frakking rockstar.

    I was on my 3rd Redbull by this time

    By the time we got off Space Mountain it was 6am and the park was closing for 4 hours before they opened again at 10am.

    Yes, I took a picture of the clock saying that it was 6am

    We walked down Main Street with the rest of the crazies…surprisingly few people considering how crowded it was all night.  We found a drunk guy in a Ninja Turtle snuggie and had to stop and take a picture with him.

    I’m pretty sure he was passed out on the sidewalk just moments before

    We high-fived the Management team who were all lined up wearing Mickey hands and shouting “We did it!”

    High-fives bitches! Now get your drunk asses out of our park!

    We walked past the ticket booth where people were already lined up to buy tickets for the park that day.  I know it sounds weird, but it was sort of a spiritual experience walking through Disneyland while the sun came up.

    Dawn at Dland

    Maybe it was just the exhaustion, but that was the first and only point where I thought “dude! I was just a part of history!”

    It says: I took the leap and didn’t sleep. I pulled an all-nighter at Disneyland.

    I’m glad I did it but I will never, ever, ever do that again.

    Never.

    Probably.

    We survived! Now lets get the fuck out of here.
  • HNG’s Birthday Party Bonanza!

    Jager shots! It's tradition.

    I don’t throw parties very often but when I do I usually pull them off pretty well.  I hadn’t had a birthday party since I turned 21 so I figured it was as good a time as any to put one on.  Naturally, it had to be nerd-themed.  The invite specified that costumes were required and I was really excited to see what my friends came up with.

    Because so many amazing pictures were taken, I’m going to post the pictures of the prepping, food and costumes on the blog and I’ll put the rest of the pictures on the facebook page for Picture Friday.  So be sure to check that out!

    We spent a good 3 days prepping for the party.  This included cooking, baking and decorating. My sister-in-law Troi did all of the baking.  This was only her second time ever working with fondant and I was beyond impressed with how the Darth Vader cake she designed turned out.

    Rolling out the fondant

    She then had to spray it with a steamer to make it shiny.  She’d never used the steamer before.  Turns out it’s like a power washer so she had to stand about 3 feet back.

    Steaming the fondant

    This was the end result.  Feel free to tell her what an awesome job she did (especially for being a rookie!) in the comments. 

    Best. Birthday. Cake. Ever.

    She also baked Star Trek snickerdoodle cupcakes (my favorite).  I was put in charge of the chocolate insignia toppers.  I’m an ok artist but have never drawn with chocolate before.  Some of them came out better than others.

    You try doing this freehand

    In the end they looked pretty good.

    The rest of the desserts included Star Wars cookies, chocolate hazelnut and french vanilla lightsabers, Star Wars lollipops (a perk of having your birthday near Valentine’s Day), Nerds candy (which myself and several other people thought was hilarious), and Lembas Bread (donuts wrapped in “mallorn leaves” NOT the Lembas Bread that I ridiculously attempted to make here).

    All of the food we made was themed.  I was going to use this perfect opportunity to film more Cooking with Hot Nerd Girl segments but we just didn’t have enough time so I’ll have to recreate them again sometime in the near future.  Some of the recipes were from The Geeky Chef, some were from JustJENN, and the rest I just made up or came up with names for existing foods. All of the food labels have Marvel characters on them, and yes, I know that it’s weird to have Hulk on a food named after Yoda, but I liked the stickers and I couldn’t find them for any other franchise so I went with it.

    The whole spread

    The double-sided lightsabers were from JustJENN. I made both meat and veggie versions.

    The other main dish was Hasperat, a spicy vegetarian Bajoran favorite.  This one came from The Geeky Chef but I modified it quite a bit.

    For sides we had Arc Reactors (my sis-in-laws AMAZING deviled eggs), Ewok Food (sort of like Chex mix), and Spicy Yoda Ears (edamame).  The Ewok Food and Yoda Ears came from JustJENN but I modified them.

    For dips we had Yoda Poop (guacamole), Sarlacc Pit Dip (onion dip), BRAAAAIINS (tapenade), and Grapok sauce (salsa).

    The big hit of the night, however, was the Carbonite Jell-O.  This came from JustJenn but if I had to do it over again I would have spiked the Jell-O.  This was an adult party after all.  I was just so crazy busy that it didn’t even cross my mind while I was making it.  Next time!

    Admit, this is the most awesome party food ever

    I made three themed drinks. Klingon Blood Wine, Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, and Ambrosia.  Turns out that Ambrosia turns your whole mouth blue.  Oops.  The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster was the most popular.

    On to the costumes!

    I think I had one too many Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters before the party started because while taking pictures I had a tendency to either molest or fake-fight my friends.

    Sarah as The Silhouette from Watchmen.

    Jason as a nerd with his real nerd credentials (chemistry). His t-shirt says “DNA is life, the rest is just matter.” 

    Troi and I built this Darth Vader costume from scratch.  The best part?  Her cape, which flows when she walks.  My nephew got away with wearing just a Star Wars t-shirt. But barely.

    Brian as Malcolm Reynolds. He took his browncoat off just for this fist fight.

    Gene as a Sith Lord.

    My brother has a tendency to deploy during all of my major milestones so I had this cardboard cutout of him made a couple of years ago.  He’s dressed as a Vulcan.

    Jeff as Sub-Zero.

    Every time someone would ask Brett (eyepatch) if he was “so-and-so” he would nod and say “yes” – can you guess who he was? His friends came as illegal aliens (which was hilarious).

    Vivian as Shadowcat. Remember this lovely lady cause she’s got a guest blog coming up.

    Chelsea and Justin as Princess Leia and Han Solo.  Chelsea’s R2D2 lunchbox had a little player in it that said “help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!”

    Karen and Hannah created their own cosplay characters.  Karen even had little wiffle balls that she would throw at people.  One of them hit me in the eye which was way funnier than it sounds 😉

    Don as Donatello complete with nunchunks.

    Nick and Meghan as Twi-tards. You may remember Meghan because she braved the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn, part 1 with me.

    Brian as my noble Starfleet Captain.

    Hayden as Venkman. My nephew was obsessed with all of his blinking lights and his ghost trap.

    Matt and Julie as members of the Zoltan cult from Dude, Where’s My Car?

    Star Wars Episode 7: The Return of Mama Jedi!

    Matt as an ultimate Star Wars geek.

    Christian as a TNG-era Starfleet Capatin.

    Danielle as Batgirl using her Batphone to fight crime.

    Jake as The Punisher.

    The Empire and the Rebellion together at last.

    And the winner of the “Friend Who Made The Biggest Effort To Get Here Award” goes to my friend Danny who took a private jet (!!!) from Northern California.

    I'm on a plane, I'm on a plane, take a good hard look at the motherfucking plane!

    For that, he got a grope from yours truly. 

    See my nephew back there?  Yeah, well, just after this picture was taken he stuck his lightsaber right between my legs. It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen him do and I WISH I had a picture of it!

    I know that this post is uber long but I still have sooo many awesome pictures so seriously, check out the facebook page on Friday where I’ll be posting all of my favorites.

    Thanks to everyone who came!! And a HUGE MEGA SUPER DUPER thank you to my Mom and my sister-in-law, I could never have pulled this off without them.  I wuv you.

  • The Star Wars Experience

    My Dad came to SoCal to visit my brother and I and being the family o’ nerd that we are, we decided to go to the Discovery Science Center’s Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit in Santa Ana.  I’ve always wanted to visit the giant black cube that looks suspiciously Borg-like so this was the perfect opportunity. 

    I honestly don't know which of us is more excited….probably me.

    The museum itself is mostly a kid science wonderland so if you don’t like small children running full speed into your legs all day (that’s gonna leave a bruise) then I would suggest going on a weekday.  The Star Wars exhibit was a lot like Star Trek: The Experience (or Star Trek: The Tour….or Star Trek: The Exhibition….) in that it was costumes, props and models used in the movies. 

    One cool thing about having it at a science center was the interactive games they brought in, like this Moisture Farm that my sister-in-law (whose name is Troi btw…no really, it is and it’s pretty awesome) and I couldn’t figure out…probably because we’re over the age of 10.

    Quick! Get a small child over here to figure this thing out!

    My 3-year-old nephew is finally getting to the age where he can really appreciate science fiction and if I have anything to say about it he will be savant-like in his knowledge of all things nerdy. This is how my sister-in-law woke him up this morning:

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLSGOWJG1TQ]

    The costumes kind of freaked him out (and cost me what would have been an awesome picture of him standing next to a Jawa) but he LOVED anything mechanical.

    I can haz AT-AT?

    Apparantly it runs in the family.

    Three generations of machine buffs

    Here are some close ups of the Millenium Falcon.  The detail was unbelievable.  Thanks to the lighting I had to take all of these pictures with my phone.  They turned out way better than the pics I took with my point and click camera.

    Here’s a few pictures of me with my patented double thumbs up pose.

    Stormtrooper? Double thumbs up!

    Han and Chewie?  Definitely double thumbs up!

    Darth Vader?  Worthy of two chicks doing a double thumbs up!

    Speaking of Darth Vader…they had his helmet displayed in three pieces allowing us to see the complex breathing apparatus that serves as the main portion of his life support system.

    Here are some costumes from the prequels. I desperately wanted to put that Anakin costume on my nephew cause he totally looks like a Skywalker.

    And here are some costumes (and puppets) from the three Star Wars movies that didn’t suck.

    Just another day of hanging out with Leia, R2 and Threepio.

    I may have molested a Wookiee or two.  Ahem.

    I attempted to ride in the hovercraft but I think I was too heavy for it because it was really slow.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U1gQxm4Vyw]

    The Discovery Science Center has an impressive space section but I’ll keep the picture show Star Wars-related and just show you one last video of my sister-in-law and I in a wind tunnel.  Mostly because I think it’s really funny.  And if you’re wondering what I’m handing her at the end, it’s strategically timed eyedrops.

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

  • Trek Nation and the Next Generation of Greatness

    Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Productions

    About 10 days ago I got an email asking me if I was interested in joining Rod Roddenberry at a private viewing of his documentary Trek Nation being held for his friends and a few fans.

    Uh…does the Enterprise have warp nacelles??

    It was not a difficult decision 😉

    Rod and his peeps were kind enough to let me bring two guests so I grabbed my Mom and my friend Darcy. The screening was at a sports bar, the irony and hilarity of which did not escape us.  But seeing as I’m one of those weirdo chicks that like sci-fi AND sports, it was kind of perfect for me (Go Chargers!) 

    *sigh* …… jocks….

    Rod, his wife and his friends were all incredibly nice.  I had so much fun chatting with them before and after the screening.  I have a copy of The Continuing Mission that I’ve been collecting signatures in for years.  I asked Rod if he would sign it and he said he would be happy to.  He then proceeded to sign it up in the corner explaining that he wanted to leave the main area open for the big signatures of the big stars.  He’s very humble and almost in awe of the role fate has given him.  Instead of exploiting it like so many other children of Hollywood, he has funneled this opportunity into his environment and science-based Roddenberry Foundation.  He’s big on scuba diving and has become passionate about protecting Earth’s oceans.  Just this past October the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Gladstone was inaugurated, helping to pave the way for all of those advancements in medicine that make Star Trek such an idealic version of the future.  Y’all know I love it when people help each other.

    Rod picking out his place in the upper left corner

    I’m sure that many of you have seen Trekkies and/or its follow up Trekkies 2. If not, you should.  I am ridiculously good at poking fun at myself and I think that most of the world is far too PC so I can appreciate the comedic portrayal of the more “out there” fanatics of Star Trek.  While that is all well and good and has its place in pop culture, Trekkies is severely lacking representation of the rest of us (i.e. the people who DON’T dress up and sing folk songs as the wife of the dead astronaut in “The Royale.”)  

    Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry set out to change that, to show us Trekkies and Trekkers as the beautiful and highly intelligent individuals that we are.  A group of fans joined together by arguably the greatest science fiction franchise of all time and a man most of us have never met.  Somewhere along the line the focus changed and, while the aspect of “normal” Trekkers was still vital, it also became a documentary about Rod’s journey to discover his father, a man he hardly knew himself.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6NLATn2h2g]

    My Dad was away on Westpacs a lot while I was growing up so I can empathize with what it’s like to feel like you don’t know your Dad but I can’t even begin to fathom what it must be like to lose your father at age 17.  Close or not, losing a parent cannot be easy at such a vulnerable age.

    Rod was very brave in wanting to know everything about his Dad, the good, the bad and the ugly.  I mentioned some of these triumphs and tribulations in my tribute back on October 24th but Trek Nation  goes infinitely deeper.  Over the course of 10 years Rod interviewed dozens of people about Gene Roddenberry, from fans who idolize him to former co-workers who felt very bitter towards him.  The one common thread between them all was that they got it. They understood Gene Roddenberry’s vision and, in many cases, fought for it.  Watching Rod go through this whole process is touching and his humility when faced with his father’s greatness is endearing.  It’s obvious that this was a true labor of therapeutic love, not just for his parents, but for Star Trek and the fans so that we too can understand the imperfect human behind the Great Bird of the Galaxy. 

    At the screening Rod mentioned that they only used about 5% of the footage they shot (10 years worth, remember?) and I’m hoping that the DVD has much of what ended up on the cutting room floor.  I could easily watch 12 more hours of this.  The decades worth of footage and the natural shifts in focus result in a documentray that feels totally organic and never forced.  At one point in the editing process the test audiences felt that there was too much emphasis on Rod and so they shifted it back to Gene.  The sheer volume of material allowed them to tweak it to perfection.  The subject matter isn’t always pretty but it’s always pure.  One of my favorite parts of the documentary is the montages of the costumed Trekkies.  The manner in which they are filmed is simple yet stunning.  Trek Nation is ultimately a love letter to them.  

    Something tells me that Gene Roddenberry would be proud.

    If you haven’t seen Trek Nation yet, it’s airing on the Science Channel Dec 28th and 29th.

  • Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up 2011

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

    Imagine that.

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

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

    Here are some of the highlights:

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

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

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

    That Robot Chicken show is pretty cool too

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

    Big Daddy in the house

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

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

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

    Big Trouble in Little Long Beach

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

    On to costumed characters!

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

    Gotta love those stunna shades

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

    The magnetic chest plate gave it away

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

    So wrong. So very, very wrong.

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

    No dude, I am not your mummy

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

    Exfoliate! Exfoliate!

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

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

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

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

    He thought I was adorable.

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

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

    See the confusion?

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

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

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

    It’s funny cause it’s true

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

    Tempting…

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

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

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

  • Oh my Odin! It’s Vikingfest!

    Yay!  My computer has been on the fritz since I moved and I’ve been relying on my friends and family for computer access (hence the lack of blog posts).  But I now have a brand spankin’ new power supply and I’m back up and running bitches! 

    *sigh*

    My life is once again complete.

    On to the fun stuff…Vikingfest!

    Be afraid. Be very afraid.

    Because I’m way prouder of my heritage than any decendant of rapists and pillagers should be, I decided that it would be fun to go to Vikingfest not one, but two days over the weekend. That, and I’ve been deprived of lefse for far too long and one days worth simply wasn’t enough.

    Mmmmmmm….lefse….

    I am lucky enough to have a double dose of viking blood from both the Norwegians and the Danes. I wrote a bit about growing up Norwegian while reviewing Thor but there’s more to it than mythology.  There’s the fact that we (and by we, I mean Leif Ericson) discovered America 500 years before the rest of Europe (suck it Columbus).  You know that Bluetooth gizmo that all the douchebags never take out of their ears? It’s named after Harald Bluetooth who was King of Denmark and Norway in the late 900’s.  The Bluetooth symbol?  His initials in Nordic runes. Dannebrog, the flag of Denmark, is the oldest flag still in modern use and was sent to King Valdemar II by God himself (I’m just going to assume that this legend is true) during the Battle of Lyndanisse.  It’s so awesome that the design was stolen by Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland.

    Yes, I’m a history nerd…though not of the caliber that my friend Pete is. Seriously, don’t try to out-fact him, he’ll kick your ass every time.

    Going back to Vikingfest 2011. It’s kind of like a Renaissance Faire only with women dressed as Valkyrie instead of wenches. Uhmmmm, more awesome much?!

    Here are some pics from Vikingfest:

    A chick warrior!!  I gotta give her props because that armor was ridiculously heavy.

    Pretty sure she can kick my ass

     A traditional Viking tent dwelling.

    I could get used to this

    Party in Valhalla!

    I'm totally wearing this the next time I go grocery shopping

    I got the Danish from my Dad and the Norwegian from myMom.  We have epic “uff da” vs. “oof dah” battles.

    The woman who taught me how to make lefse

    Testing equipment with Don, one of my parental units.

    He's Scottish but I like him anyway

    Norwegian recliner.

    It's more comfortable than it looks

     My new kitchen towel knows what’s up.

    You've been warned

    The Dread Crew of Oddwood is a pirate “heavy mahogany” rock band.  I didn’t know you could play heavy metal without electricity until I saw them.  (oh, and nice hat dude in the front row).

    Fellow rapists and pillagers

    And last, but not least, my favorite t-shirt ever.

    Epic win

    Next month there’s a jousting competition and a Scottish festival. I’m not Scottish (does a touch of Irish count?) but I dig a man in a kilt so you can bet your sporran that I’ll be there.

  • 5 Nerdy Things About The AMP Music Festival

    Two Hot Nerd Girls. You're welcome.

    I got the heads up about the AMP Music Festival from it’s Producer Andy Lowe (who directed Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog Live! in San Diego a couple of months ago).  He drew me in with videos of George Takei…an excellent method of nerdy seduction.  When he mentioned press passes I was officially sold.

    On the surface it doesn’t seem like there’s anything nerdy about a music festival…unless you’re a music nerd…which I’m not really.  BUT, this festival had a few nerdy things going for it and I like Andy so I’m going with it.

    Nerdy thing #1

    George Takei starred in the promo (also directed by Andy Lowe).  I posted it on the facebook page last week and if you didn’t watch it, you should, because it’s uber funny.  Alas, I didn’t see George there.  If I had you would have heard the nerdgasm half way around the world, I can guarantee it.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwDq8_YM5A&feature=player_embedded]

    Nerdy thing #2

    Jane Lui (who played Penny in Dr. Horrible Live!) performed.  She’s a doll and talented as all get out.  Don’t believe me?  Watch this…

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAO8GVS9FI&feature=relmfu]

    Others that stood out for me?  Terry Matsuoka, Sam Kang, Lindsey Yung, and Michael Carreon.  Check ’em out.  It’ll be worth your time, I promise you.

    Nerdy thing #3

    There was a band called Science Fiction.  No joke.  They played jazz.  Science fiction jazz.  It was kind of like hanging out at Mos Eisley’s.  But outside…  Anyhooters…their version of MJ’s Thriller was epic. 

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGiK5T619Kw]

    *side note: my high school friends will appreciate the fact that when this song started my first thought was “they’re playing Didomite?!?”  Uff da.

    Nerdy thing #4

    They had cosplay girls there.  Y’all know I love my costumes and hot girls in costume are just a win-win.

    Photo by Christina Rogers

    Nerdy thing #5

    AAA aka Asian American Awesomeness.  Pretty much every performer I saw was an amateur comedian and they were hysterical.  The songs about being book smart and taking off your shoes before going into your house had me in stitches.  And they gave scholarships away to kids that seriously deserve it.  It gave me warm fuzzies.

    Oh, and they had prizes.  Beer visors for all!

    Yes, this is my Mom. I take her places because she’s kick ass.

    Big thanks to Andy Lowe for hooking me up with a day of fantastic entertainment!  Now I don’t just owe you one, I owe you two!