Hot Nerd Girl

Tag: star wars

  • WonderCon 2013

    Mama Jedi, HNG, Geek Outlaw

    Mama Jedi, HNG, Geek Outlaw

    Hope y’all had a very happy and nerderific Easter! I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Between working full-time (yes, I have a “real” job!), out of town guests, and just plain old life, I just haven’t much time to blog. But I’ll try to be better.

    So, a lot of cool crap happened this past weekend. There was new Doctor Who, the season premier of Game of Thrones, and the season finale of The Walking Dead. And, of course, WonderCon.

    I mentioned in my wrap-up of last year’s WonderCon that WC was the first comic book convention I ever went to (back when it was in Oakland) and it holds a very special place in my hearts. It’s a nice combination of comic books and TV/movies. San Diego Comic Con is great, but it focuses so much on the Hollywood stuff that the comic books tend to get a little lost. A comic book vendor and I were joking on Saturday about the audacity of the people who actually buy comic books at a comic book convention! Inconceivable!

    After cosplaying as Thor for a day at SDCC last year, I honestly didn’t think I would cosplay in public again for a very long time. I’m quite shy, especially around large groups of strangers, and my instinct is to blend in. Cosplaying is the opposite of blending in. Because of the timing of the day, I didn’t spend much time at SDCC walking around as Thor. But in the brief times that I did, it garnered a lot of attention. Attention that I’m not used to and that made me a bit panicky. I was very uncomfortable and not just because of the corset. I’ve been putting together a Tenth Doctor costume for quite a while now. He’s my favorite of the Doctor incarnations (followed by Eleven, Four, Nine, and Five) and, if I’m being completely honest with myself, I was looking for an excuse to buy a sonic screwdriver. Because of last year’s experience, I almost didn’t wear it, but I’m glad that I did. It was comfortable and fun and was a great ice breaker (that and the flask of liquor I kept in my backpack *ahem*)

    Enough rambling, on to the panels I attended. Sadly, the TV show panel I was most excited about was the Vikings one and I missed it thanks to the traffic around the convention center. I was very, very sad because, as many of you know, I’m very proud of my Viking heritage. But I sat in on a bunch of really cool ones that made up for it.

    Allons-y!

    Geeking Out with the League of Extraordinary Ladies

    Panelists: Autumn Massey, Dina Kampmeyer, Emily Heyer, Geek Girl Diva, Jenn Fujikawa (Just Jenn), Sarah Kuhn, Stephanie Thorpe, Theresa Wollenstein

    These geektacular ladies are very much in line with my favorite motto: “nerd girls of the world unite.” They are a positive group of strong, independent, intelligent women who love to geek out together and support each other. As someone who can’t stand cattiness, these ladies are right up my alley. The first thing I did when I got home was to join their facebook group. I encourage everyone (men are also welcome) to join as well.  Unfortunately, we had to leave their panel early to make it to the next one. What I wouldn’t give for a time-turner so that I could go to multiple panels that are scheduled for the same time.

    Falling Skies

    Panelists: Drew Roy (Hal), Sarah Carter (Maggie), Seychelle Gabriel (Lourdes), Remi Aubuchon (Executive Producer)

    I’ve been a fan of Falling Skies from the get go. As my NerdBFF Geek Outlaw says, “if it’s got aliens in it, I’ll watch it!” And it keeps getting better. We got to see some clips from the first episode premiering June 9th on TNT, including a new baby girl, some more Karen, a badass new punk rock haircut for Matt, promotions for Tom and Lourdes, new alien technology, conflict for Maggie, and some pretty epic looking battle scenes. It definitely got me excited.

    Oddball Comics Live: Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll

    Panelist: Scott Shaw

    I’ve never laughed harder at a panel than I did at this one. Scott Shaw has collected some of the most bizarre comic books imaginable over the course of the last 50 years. It’s filled with crotches, boobs, phallic symbols, crazy concepts, and hidden-in-plain-sight imagery (kind of like the dirty stuff found in every Disney movie made from 1989 to 1992). It’s hard to tell if they were done intentionally or unintentionally.  He’s compiled them into a power point presentation that he complements with witty commentary. It’s hysterical and I highly recommend checking it out if you ever see him on a convention schedule.

    Roddenberry Presents

    Panelists: Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Tory Mell

    As a life-long Trekker, I always enjoy checking out the Roddenberry Presents panel. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Rod and Trevor a few times now and even interviewed Rod at SDCC last year (I’m still perfecting my interviewing skills, mmmkay?) They are super nice and working on some seriously awesome stuff.

    Rod Roddenberry, HNG, Trevor Roth. I have no idea why I look bored in this picture, I SWEAR I wasn’t. I was probably wondering if Mama Jedi knew how to operate my camera.

    Things worth checking out right now: Days Missing, Mission Log podcast, and White Room: 02B3. Things worth checking out in the near future: Worth. We were teased about exciting new things TBA at SDCC this year. One of the highlights of the panel? Winning this awesome “Cool as Kirk” t-shirt for answering one of the trivia questions correctly.

    Geeks Get Published

    Panelists: SG Browne, Katrina Hill, Alan Kistler, Alex Langley, Dr. Travis Langley. Moderated by Jenna Busch.

    This panel was extremely informative. It was a panel full of geek-centric authors offering up free advice on how to get published. The main thing I took away from it was that I’d like to get a literary agent and that I’m doing the right thing by writing what I love. Afterwards, Alan Kistler found me downstairs and wanted a picture (he’s a big Doctor Who fan and is coming out with a Doctor Who book later this year.

    Alan Kistler and HNG

    He graciously stayed and chatted with Geek Outlaw and I for a good 10-15 minutes about writing while his friends wandered off to the bar without him. Thanks again, Alan!

    Here’s some of what happened down on the Floor…

    One of the first booths we noticed was that of Lion Forge Comics. It was a mighty impressive booth.

    Geek Outlaw oohing and ahhing

    They had a healthy line for the slot machine which we were talked into joining. It was manned by this lovely lady armed with a sonic screwdriver.

    Mama Jedi went first and won a giant bag.

    Then it was my turn.

    The machine didn’t seem to be working properly so I fixed it when no one was paying attention and won a bracelet.

    Then Geek Outlaw went and won a bracelet. I totally took a picture of him doing it but he didn’t send it to me so blame him for the empty space here.

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    Based out of St. Louis, MO, Lion Forge has a lot of projects in the works and were some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. We chatted with a number of the people involved, including the Creative Director, the YouTube channel host, one of the primary writers, and even the guy who’s in charge of Licensing who was kind enough to help me get Mama Jedi into the giant bag she’d won.

    It seemed like a good idea at the time

    There was a large “celebrity row” including Boomer aka Herbert Jefferson Jr. from the Classic Battlestar Galactica.

    Star Wars staple Chewbacca aka Peter Mayhew.

    The ghost of Richard Hatch aka OG Apollo and reboot Zarek.

    The Soup Nazi aka Larry Thomas, who’s decision to sign soup ladles convinced Geek Outlaw to buy an autographed one for his parents who LOVE the Soup Nazi.

    And then there was this guy who Mama Jedi made a beeline for. I still have absolutely no idea who he is or what he does besides sitting there shirtless.

    We ran into SDCC buddy Daniel who was holding down the fort at the booth of a friend.

    We also visited a buddy from this past Long Beach Comic Con. Artist Matt Stevens creates metal fan art. Last time I bought Tenth Doctor and Wash. This time I got an Eleventh Doctor and River Song bookmark. They sit right by my desk and I LOVE them. Not only is Matt a fantastic artist but he’s a super cool dude so you should definitely check him out HERE.

    That’s a mighty fine t-shirt you got there, Matt

    One of the ships from Oblivion.

    There was a parade of R2 units lead by a small child.

    Where were those brakes again?

    They got into a fight with a couple of WALL-E‘s.

    There was some spitting and at one point the Black R2 unit totally flipped off one of the WALL-E’s as you can see in this video I took:

    [youtube:http://youtu.be/gfu_uFi_W6E]

    .

    It wouldn’t be an HNG convention wrap up without the costume pictures!

    One of the very first cosplayers we ran into was Toni Darling, better known to the interwebz as Lady Thor. She’s a friend of Daniel’s and the artist who’s booth he was manning (see the posters and artwork behind him?)

    I have no idea why I’m making that stupid face

    On our way to the Falling Skies panel I time crashed into my future self in the form of a delightful guy with a very convincing British accent named Jack.

    Something’s up with the universe because we ran into each other again at the end of the night while Geek Outlaw and I were chatting with Alan Kistler and took some more pics.

    This is Alan’s friend who took off for the bar while we were deep in conversation about writing and stuff

    Jack even helped us out by taking the picture of our little group in front of the WonderCon sign.

    Time crash number two occurred down on the Floor. This time I ran into my Fourth incarnation.

    Four is my favorite of the Classic Doctors so he gave me a jelly baby which I totally ate, because, heck, it’s a jelly baby from the Doctor! It was delicious.

    It was a little freakier when I saw myself. I’m just going to assume that he’s the Meta-Crisis Doctor 😉

    Mini me. Seriously, this kid was adorable. He was a bit upset with his Mom because she ruined his jacket. It’s not easy being the mother of a Time Lord, mmmkay kiddo?

    There were many, many, many ladies dressed up as the TARDIS. Apparently a Time Lord dropped some TARDIS coral on Earth at some point in the past.  This one was one of my favorites because it was so unique.

    Let’s move away from Gallifrey and check out some of the other costumes, shall we?

    This Lady Thor sat next to us during the Roddenberry panel.

    I ran into this walker at least three times. It freaked me out just as much each time. *shudder* He obviously ran into Haley from Woodbury because there’s no way Daryl would have missed that badly. Twice.

    There are always a few Ghostbusters wandering around conventions. This time they were everywhere. We chatted with a group from Sacramento for quite a while. I like the Ghostbusters groups, they do great things in their communities.

    The Ecto-truck (behind Ecto-1) belongs to one of the guys from the Sacramento group.

    The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was the Dad of the Mini Tenth Doctor (see him down in the right hand corner? He’s totally thinking he has the coolest Dad ever).

    Stay Puft helped me out by posing with Flat Stanley. I was put in charge of Flat Stanley by a friend who’s kid read the book. I honestly have no idea what the heck Flat Stanley is all about but I returned him to his owner yesterday. Apparently I’m getting him back when I go to Wisconsin for my family reunion next month,

    Rad.

    Steam Punk Snow White can kick your ass.

    Disney Princesses + Rainbow Brite = every little girl’s fantasy come true.

    Jon Snow admiring Daenerys’ …uh…eggs. Riiiight…..

    THIS.

    COBRA Command from GI Joe. I’m pulling this entirely from memory here but the group seems to include Serpentor, Destro, The Baroness, and I think Zarana, a BAT and a Night Creeper. Please correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been more than a few years.

    Marvel goodies vs. DC baddies.

    LEGO Darth Maul!

    This fellow HNG was mighty hot for a scruffy looking nerf herder.

    That’s a nice multipass you got there, Leeloo (and a view from the rear for anyone who’s interested).Finally, there’s CMDR William T. Riker as portrayed by a guy who’s name really is William (no joke). He was very nice and we chatted for a few minutes about how much we love Star Trek. It was only after I got home that I realize we’d already met and taken a picture together at Long Beach Comic Con back in November. Kismet!

    And that concludes my wrap up of WonderCon 2013. It was loads of fun and I’m looking forward to next year!

  • Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up 2012

    I love Long Beach Comic Con because it’s still small enough that comic books are the main focus. San Diego Comic Con is great, with it’s giant movie and TV show panels but it’s nice to be able to get back to the roots of what comic cons started as…a place to nerd out over your favorite artists and find out what’s next in the genre of, uh, comic books. Plus I got press passes again this year which totally rocks my socks.

    My brother was just as in to X-Men as I was when we were kids. He even stole my Series II trading cards (I still haven’t gotten them back…ahem) but he’s never been to a Comic Book Convention. Neither has my nephew, Zeke (yes, that’s a boy, don’t let his voluptuous locks fool you). So I thought LBCC would be a nice starter convention for them.

    It was a huge learning experience for me as well. For example, I now know that if I want to sit in on some panels, bringing a 4-year-old is probably not the best idea.

    Case in point.

    But that’s okay. I loved taking him around and he was totally blown away by all the “supers” (or “shoopers” in 4-year-old speech). He even convinced his dad to whip out his credit card and buy him a Green Lantern action figure. Of course, then we ran into Superman AND Green Lantern so Zeke needed a picture with them.

    I’m pretty sure he had a nerdgasm over the sheer volume of action figures surrounding him in every direction.

    We tested Zeke’s superhero knowledge often. It’s become apparent that our entire family is on a mission to make sure this child is a geeky as humanly possible.

    If you follow the facebook page, you probably saw my announcement that I managed to convince my brother and sister-in-law to give Doctor Who a try. I’m proud to say that they are officially obsessed.

    There was an artist there named Matt Stevens who creates and makes metal fan art. It’s basically a crapload of little dots engraved in metal. The pictures don’t do them justice, they are really quite stunning.

    If I was a wealthy woman I would have bought the whole lot because they all went together in big montages and he had them for most of my favorite TV shows. Since I am not a wealthy woman, I settled on a small one of the 10th Doctor in all of his sheepishly adorkable glory and a small one of Wash in the midst of a sudden but inevitable betrayal.

    We just happened to walk by Jesse Blaze Snider‘s booth while Zeke was being fussy and he was sweet enough to give The Zekester a free Toy Story comic that he’d written. We ended up chatting with him for a few minutes. He’s got a couple of projects coming up, including one about heavy metal bands featuring some of our favorite Asgardians that I’ll be keeping an eye out for.

    Yes, we started pinning Zeke’s bangs back with a bobby pin. His mother refuses to cut his hair.

    We saw a couple of celebs including Jason Faunt aka Wes Collins aka Red Time Force Power Ranger.

    And a personal favorite of mine, Lance Henriksen. Lance has many, many, many amazing credits to his name but he is best know to the masses as Bishop from the Alien franchise. Lance was extremely nice. He kept calling Zeke “she” and was mortified when I gently informed him that I was holding my nephew, not my niece. Zeke seemed to get a kick out of that 

    They had a whole Star Wars section.

    Including a game where you could shoot various Troopers of the Clone and Storm variety using a vast array of Nerf weaponry.

    They had a Jawa hanging out with them but he got the hell out of Tosche just before the shooting started.

    Around the corner was a laser tag obstacle course. I can only imagine how ridiculous this looked to my brother (he’s a Marine). I should ask him.

    Then this happened.

    Oh, Leatherface…

    On to costumes!

    I don’t know if it’s because I went on Sunday or if there were just fewer cosplayers this year, but the costumed character selection was a bit limited. But here’s the best of the best of what I saw.

    Bane from The Dark Knight Rises.

    The Joker from The Dark Knight.

    Rick and Daryl from The Walking Dead.

    A pair of sexy lady Punisher‘s. I really wanted a picture of Zeke standing between them but he didn’t want to get his picture taken unless me or my brother was holding him. Of course, once I picked him up he was totally stoked to be next to such hotties.

    I felt a happy disturbance in the Schwartz when I saw this guy with his singing and dancing Chestburster from Spaceballs.

    The 11th Doctor. He was facing away from me and I quietly said “Doctor?” and he immediately turned around like he responds to that name all the time. We also crossed paths with a pretty excellent 4th Doctor as we were walking in. Wish I’d gotten a picture of him but alas.

    Keeping with the sci-fi, we ran into this guy pulling a CMDR William Riker.

    Zeke was a little confused by this Jedi. Either that or he was super jealous of his epic lightsaber.

    This is not the child you’re looking for. Move along.

    Barbie Fett?

    But the winner of the “Best Comic Con Costume Ever Award” goes to this chick. Yes, that’s a chick.

    That’s it for costumes. Here’s a look at the fun stuff I accumulated. Iron Man fingerless gloves hand-crocheted by Bobbie Bomber and sold by Geeky Mamas.  A pink-skeleton-Sailer Jack-with bomb t-shirt that was on sale. My previously mentioned metal art. And a stuffed Thor (not included in the picture is the pretty awesome Thor print that came with the stuffed godlet).

    Every convention I go to I seek out my favorite nerdy t-shirt. This time it was won by this one. Hands down.

    And on that note, I hope y’all have a Happy Thor’s Day!

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 4 – Sunday Shenanigans

    Geek Outlaw and Hot Nerd Girl aka Nerd Best Friends Forever

    This has been my craziest Summer ever. I feel like I’m never home and I pretty much haven’t been since the beginning of June. Some of the reasons have been great (weddings, visiting new family members, hiking through Yosemite) and some of them have been sad (Grandma’s funeral) but all of them have been very time consuming. So I apologize for being so behind in answering emails and messages. Hopefully things start to calm down a bit.

    In the meantime, here is my last SDCC 2012-related post! (Don’t forget to check out my interview with Rod Roddenberry in the very near future. It was conducted at SDCC but is a beast all its own).

    Even though I had a couple more costumes to choose from I opted not to cosplay on Sunday. Not gonna lie, it was kind of a pain in the ass and one day of it was enough for me. I will definitely cosplay at future conventions though. It was a lot of fun despite the hassle.

    The first half of the day was consumed by the Fringe, Supernatural, and Doctor Who panels in Hall H. In case you missed it, I wrote about all of the Comic Con panels here.

    The second half I spent wandering around the Exhibition Hall. I didn’t see as many celebs on Sunday but Convention regular Thomas Jane was there.

    A bunch of people requested that I check out the Suicide Girls booth. Ask and you shall receive. They really liked my buttons.

    My buttons turned out to be pretty popular actually.

    Which is awesome cause I’m pretty much obsessed with my new button machine.

    I really wanted an awesome souvenir from the Con, and y’all know I’m a huge Trekkie, so when Geek Outlaw found Brian Rood’s booth I got really excited. I bought that lovely Kirk-Spock print you see in the pic.

    Some other randomly awesome stuff from the Floor:

    I’m actually pretty bummed that they remade Total Recall (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it mmmkay?) but I’ll wait until I see it to pass final judgement. I gotta admit though, this hover car was pretty badass.

    Geek Outlaw disappeared on me so I took this picture to make him feel guilty for ditching me 😉

    We ran into fan Andrew while roaming around.

    Michonne forgot to cut my arms and jaw off. Bad Michonne.

    My friend Eddy was sad that he was a zombie.

    We heard that there were Batmobiles across the way at the Hilton so we made our way over there.

    On to costumes!

    It took this badass chica about 1000 hours to make this armor out of aluminum.

    Where was this uber hot Cap when I needed her?? We were bummed that we didn’t run into each other when I was dressed as Thor the day before.

    Orcs! and Trolls!

    And Gollum! Oh my!

    I think he’s a little scared of me.

    This Bane was very friendly.

    As was this Darth Vader. All he wanted was a hug and everyone was just walking by. He looked very surprised and happy when I hugged him. What can I say? I’m a lover.

    Dark Helmet was not as friendly.

    Shit! I hate it when I get my Schartz twisted.

    I know who I’m gonna call. The World’s Tallest Ghostbuster standing next to me.

    It’s a Starfleet officer who has been assimilated by the Borg and has an Alien busting out of his chest WHO HAS ALSO BEEN ASSIMILATED BY THE BORG!! *le sigh* … I think I’m in love.

    Exterminate! Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!!!

    While taking the picture with the Dalek I heard someone yell “Hey Hot Nerd Girl! Show us your tits!” I turned around and my friend Leia was standing there! She’s a fellow HNG and sexy beast. Sorry guys, I did not show her my tits.

    And so ended my 2012 Comic Con experience. It was a great first crack and I can’t wait to go next year. I’m going to try to make it to APE Con in San Francisco in October but with all this traveling I’ve been doing I may not make it. We’ll see. In the meantime, thanks to Mama Jedi, Troi, Darcy, Joy, Christian, Eddy, and especially Geek Outlaw for hanging out with me at SDCC. Thanks again to Daniel and Morgan for the great panel seats. Thanks to everyone I met and chatted with. And thanks to you for patiently waiting for this SDCC coverage while I was off gallivanting around the country.

    I leave you with this totally awesome picture I took of Geek Outlaw.

    You’re welcome.

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 2 – Friday Shenanigans

    I’ve been struggling to figure out how best to showcase my Comic Con shenanigans because I have over a thousand pictures taken over the course of 3 days. I did a post dedicated to the Panels and thought I might do posts dedicated to Costumes, Celebs, Exhibition Floor, etc. but no matter how I worked it, it just wasn’t coming out right. So I decided to showcase each day individually starting with Friday.

    Holy craparoni there was a ton of people. I knew there would be, and yet, nothing can prepare you for the experience the first time you go. I used to celebrate Halloween in the Castro, I know what it’s like to be surrounded by a shit ton of humans dressed in crazy costumes, but I’m also used to smaller conventions where it takes less than 45 minutes to walk from one end of the Exhibition Floor to the other.

    Craziness both outside… …and inside.

    In the past I’ve discussed my extreme shyness and social awkwardness. They go hand in hand and it’s something that I’m constantly fighting with, especially as the blog grows. This trait o’ mine can be particularly frustrating to my family and friends when they’re with me at conventions and events and are promoting me. I have a tendency to panic and retreat whenever I hear my name mentioned so by the time they turn to introduce me to someone I’m nowhere to be found. For Comic Con it was decided that they were going to liquor me up.

    I’m dead serious.

    And they came prepared. My sister-in-law, Troi, brought disposable flasks. My NBFF (Nerd Best Friend Forever), Geek Outlaw, made a delicious alcoholic concoction in his CamelBak each morning. I was ordered to sip from one of these two vessels throughout the day so that I would be less likely to panic and run. To be clear, I was never once intoxicated or even slightly buzzed, but I will admit that it took the edge off a little. A few people were even surprised when they were told how well I was doing at being social.

    Geez, I totally sound pathetic haha. The point is, it helped and I probably had my most socially successfully convention ever.

    Sippin’ on gin and juice

    I needed that little bit of liquid courage because I made buttons to hand out to the people I met. Lots and lots of gloriously nerdy buttons. Despite the liquor I was pretty shy about handing these out but there were a few times when they caught on like wildfire and I actually had a line of people waiting to dunk their hands in the giant bag of buttons. I made these in the 1.5 days between getting home from my Grandma’s funeral in Cincinnati and the first day of Comic Con so hopefully the next batch of buttons will be better.

    I was lucky enough to meet up with some friends throughout the day including one of my best buds Brett (he zombifies all my pictures for me), Aaron who I hadn’t seen in at least a couple of years, and Eddy who I hadn’t seen in 10 years.

    Brett! Aaron! Eddy! (and a seriously awesome photobomb)

    While on the Floor I headed over to the DC booth to visit Tre’ Ridings, a fabulous photographer who I met at WonderCon and have kept in touch with. If you haven’t yet, check out DC’s We Can Be Heroes campaign. While there Eddy and I got our pictures taken.

    Eddy got a bit saucy This made me LOL I stuck with good ol’ fashioned badassery Take THAT Lex Luther!

    I’m an insanely devoted Trekkie and have been collecting signatures in my TNG The Continuing Mission book for about 15 years now starting with John de Lancie. So I was super excited to see Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton at Comic Con! But super sad that I didn’t have my book on me. I got their signatures and pictures with them anyways.

    The next day I brought my book but Brent was gone. So I’ve added LeVar’s signature to the book. Hopefully Brent’s won’t be far behind!

    From top to bottom: Rod Roddenberry, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, John de Lancie, LeVar Burton

    My sister-in-law and I ran into Colin Ferguson from Eureka on our way to the Roddenberry After Party. He was super nice.

    Lou Ferrigno was huge! And also very nice.

    Todd Stashwick is officially my new favorite celebrity. I didn’t recognize him at first with his hat and glasses. He was there promoting the printed trade paperback of his online comic book The Devil Inside and we started chatting it up about all kinds of random stuff like Chicago and the Secret Service. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes into the conversation that it even came out that he was an actor (trust me, you know who he is). We ended up talking for quite a while and I left with a copy of his book and a promise that I’d return the next day to show him my Thor costume and get Dennis Calero’s signature on my book.

    Some other randomly awesome stuff from the Floor:

    KITT…

    And Michael from Knight Rider.

    Awesome Indiana Jones booth complete with live snakes.

    Optimus Prime is the shit.

    Trolls!

    Zombie mobile from The Walking Dead.

    I don’t know why but the Batpod looked kind of small to me in real life but looking at it in comparison with the people in the picture it looks like a decent size. Weird.

    Troi is obsessed with zombies.

    Who’s scruffy-looking??

    The Captain’s chair was blocked off but they let this guy take a picture in it. Love the Roddenberry folks!

    Troi got the greatest LEGO set ever for my brother and my nephew. It has working electronics. Frak, I’m jealous.

    Time for costumes!

    We were behind some Avatar: The Last Airbender fans in a panel line.

    And also ran into some Legend of Korra peeps.

    My best guess is GI Joe. Correct me if I’m wrong!

    Saw a ton of Poison Ivy’s and Harley Quinn’s per usual.

    This guy was a big hit with Troi.

    Alicia Hunt?

    A towering inferno of physical perfection.

    Awesome AT-AT.

    Remember this girl?

    Her name is Jennifer Landa and she’s super sweet and she put together another spectacular Star Wars costume, this time of the Millennium Falcon.

    Everyone needs a little bit of Tusken Raider in their life to keep them on their toes.

    This Prometheus promotion calmly and silently walked through the Exhibition Hall while his lovely ladies passed crap out.

    Best. Penguin. Ever.

    What’s up Doc?

    And a couple after my own heart.

    It’s Picard and a female Geordi! How awesome is she?!?

    At the end of the day we headed over to Fluxx for the Roddenberry Trek Nation Party. (Friendly reminder that my interview with Rod Roddenberry will be coming to you soon!) On the way there we ran into the zombie walk. Depending on how long you’ve been reading you may or may not know that zombies are my biggest fear. Needless to say, I snapped this picture and then walked very briskly to the next street over.

    Me and Mom waiting to be let in to Fluxx. Apparently I was supposed to go through the Media/VIP line. Oops. I’m still getting used to being considered Media :/

    At the club we met up with friends Joy and Darcy (yes, he’s really that tall).

    And watched a circus performer lady.

    There was a super creepy Tron dude who just stood there and never took his motorcycle helmet off.

    Hanging out with Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment. He’s super awesome.

    This was some kind of Jägermeister concoction that Geek Outlaw ordered for me.

    Whatever. It was delicious.

    Goofing off with Troi, Mama Jedi and Geek Outlaw

    We left the party at 10:00pm (around the time the geeks left and the usual clubbers started showing up) to try and get some sleep before Day 2 of the Comic Con craziness.

     Stay tuned for “Part 3 – Saturday Shenanigans” in the next couple of days!

  • Happy 35th Anniversary Star Wars

    The quality of George Lucas’ film making skills have been the subject of much debate for the past decade. But no one can deny the fact that 35 years ago today he changed the world as we know it. Star Wars was a tour de force and geekdom will forever be in his debt. Thank you George Lucas and a very Happy Anniversary to you.

  • 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]
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
  • 
		
		
    
			
			
    Best Nerdy Cakes Ever
    
			
    How did I manage to get in this predicament?!
    

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

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

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

    

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

    Oh no! The Klingons and the Borg!
    

    Phew! Our heroes are here to save the day.
    

    

    And then, of course, there’s this:
    

    Not creepy at all Data, not creepy at all…
    

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

    

    And these:
    

    

    You want to see some Doctor Who? Ok fine:
    

    

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

    

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

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

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

    And one for the Harry Potter crowd:
    

    And an epic tribute to Dungeons and Dragons:
    

    Are you a gamer?  Here you go:
    

    

    Or if you’re really old school:
    

    

    Or if you’re really REALLY old school:
    

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

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

     
    

    And my personal favorite:
    

    

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

    

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

    

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

    

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

    

    Heroes in a half shell!  Turtle power!
    

    

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

    You're welcome.