I was thinking about webcomics this morning, and thought that in the spirit of my music video post, I'd write about webcomics (but without ranking them). If anything, the inevitable comments will probably reveal a couple of webcomics I ought to be reading--Todd, Shaun, Kurt, I'm looking at you, heh.
I stress that the following are listed in no apparent order...
Unshelved: Every librarian--and non-librarian--should be reading this strip, period. If you enjoy pop culture, weird human behavior, and sarcasm, you'll feel right at home. Oh, and sometimes they talk about books, too!
It's currently the only strip I get through RSS, meaning it's the only strip I read on a dependably-daily basis.
Sheldon: Frankly, I had avoided reading this comic for years, even against the personal advice of Bill Barnes from Unshelved (sorry, Bill, you were right!). I just didn't want another thing to read daily when I was already trying to cut down on my media intake. Also, I didn't realize that the whole geeky, scifi (and in particular, Star Wars) references weren't just the obligatory "here's one for the geek crowd" kind of props. This storyline is a case in point--it gives me a gleeful joy to read.
Also? There's a really cute, sarcastic duck. With a lizard for a son, who only says "squee." I can't run from that.
xkcd: This comic is alternately comically genius and so mathematically complex that I find myself reading maybe every tenth comic, turning my head to the side, and saying, "huh, I bet James (my math-major pal) knows how hilarious that is." The mouse-over comments often cause me to snort aloud, which is why I shouldn't read these in public places. And anyone who's played MarioKart: DoubleDash, give it up for the Blue Shells comic!
Mark Monlux's various endeavors: I also found Mark through Bill of Unshelved (Bill, you really pimp people out on your blog, y'know?), and while I enjoy just about everything linked on his website, what I love best are the Comic Critic movie reviews. They make me laugh about movies I've seen, and sometimes make me want to see ones I haven't. I really like his artistic style--simple and punchy. If I ever have enough sense to graduate from school once and for all and pull those comics out of a drawer and start them up online, I'd be aspiring for a similar style, heavily text-driven. (Only my primary characters are a banana and a kiwi... you can see why I doubt that anyone would care to read it.) Anyhoodle: Mark's stuff = good; you read!
Joe Loves Crappy Movies: One of those comics written by someone who would fit into my group of movie-loving geeky friends just fine. I have to love a comic strip that pokes fun at movies, appreciates the cheesy ones, and provides a complete, text review of the movies under the strip. Heck, yes, sign me up!
Digger: The best comic art that I read online, hands-down. Actually, it's so good, and the storyline so involving, that I have to admit I've stopped reading this one online, and now buy the print editions instead. However, the creator, Ursula Vernon, is so engaging in both her writing and art, that I now daily read her blog and have several of her original prints on my wishlist *ahem* husband needing gift ideas, that was a hint, *cough* *cough.* (I particularly like the Wizard of Tea, fyi.)
Schlock Mercenary: Speaking of comics blogs, this brings me to an interesting category: a webcomic I don't read. I have read quite a bit of Schlock, and find it amusing, but I never feel into the "groove" with it... however, through it I discovered the creator's wife's blog, where she discusses raising four kids as a geek/writer mom married to a self-employed webcomic artist, trying to give her kids a creative, disciplined, Godly, loving home. I end up tagging about a third of her posts as "parenting advice" in del.icio.us to save for when/if I have children of my own. It's full of honesty about being a writer, creative ways to encourage your kids to be their imaginative best, and just plain daily life. I love it.
Penny Arcade: I read this one, again, in print rather than online. This is more due to the fact that in the print editions, the accompanying commentary on the strips is ridiculously funny, sometimes to the point of being funnier than the strip itself. And, I have to admit, much as I love video games, I'm nowhere near the connoisser it takes to be to get some of their jokes--so I appreciate the commentary's elaboration for us n00bs. (Hangs head.)
I am also not reading:
Perry Bible Fellowship (sorry, I just don't get it) or PVP (I dunno). If I look at the comics I enjoy the most, I think this is because these comics distinctly lack a warm-and-fuzzy connection for me (ooo, look at me getting all girlie). Then again, I read Penny Arcade... and xkcd. Hmm. Anyway, I think each of them have enough readers not to care that I'm not reading them, etc etc blah blah please don't send hate email, amen.
I read Dinosaur Comics about once every two months, in a big fat binge of hilarity, but it's just not a daily reader for me. Kind of like reading Strong Bad emails--best done in for three hours on a boring afternoon. Alien Loves Predator I read on about a six-month basis--I just like the story arcs to stack up.
Showing posts with label geekery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geekery. Show all posts
12.06.2008
10.16.2008
(Shakes Head at Self)
I started blogging about my new MacBook, and it somehow devolved into an admission of how geeky Alex and I are, and how this is revealed by our computer naming scheme.
Sigh.
Sigh.
10.15.2008
Getting on the Bandwagon
Yep, I'm joining the Mac Bandwagon. Want to help me decide what I'm getting?
9.25.2008
We Interrupt This Lunch Break...
... for a bit of unscheduled silliness.
I am a computer geek wife, and a bit of a geek in my own right. We had an electronics rack in place of what was our linen closet. I've had to distinguish between typical, non-geek screws and rack screws for nearly eight years now.
So why is it that reading Slashdot over lunch, my brain stopped at the phrase "rack-mount" and won't stop giggling?
Sigh.
I am a computer geek wife, and a bit of a geek in my own right. We had an electronics rack in place of what was our linen closet. I've had to distinguish between typical, non-geek screws and rack screws for nearly eight years now.
So why is it that reading Slashdot over lunch, my brain stopped at the phrase "rack-mount" and won't stop giggling?
Sigh.
5.01.2008
Yet Another "I'mToo Busy to Post" Excuse
...Yeah, as of 7pm Friday I should be done with school for the semester, leaving me to enjoy:
*As defined by many, but most memorably in the book "The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl," which is awesome and hilarious and probably entirely too true.
- MarioKart Wii
- Iron Man, heck yeah, finally!!!
- um, no, I did not rent "27 Dresses..."
- all those ARCs from TLA
- Un Lun Dun
- Eclipse
- Free Comic Book Day this Saturday!!
*As defined by many, but most memorably in the book "The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl," which is awesome and hilarious and probably entirely too true.
2.05.2008
SG-A News
Well.... dude! There are so many details about Stargate: Atlantis Season 5 in this page that I don't even know how to respond.
On the personal front, classes are going well for the most part--I am loving the reading and discussion, and our house gets ever closer to being on the market. I'm looking at my calendar for February and March and trying to take deep breaths. A lot.
At work, we finally got migrated to Outlook as our new email client, which is a welcome change... now if I could only ever finish a single day's to-do list, I'd be more ahead than I have been in months.
And then there are taxes to file... such is life!
But the huge, big, awesome news is... well, actually, I don't know how many people he's told yet, so I'll have to sit on this one a bit. But it's juicy!
On the personal front, classes are going well for the most part--I am loving the reading and discussion, and our house gets ever closer to being on the market. I'm looking at my calendar for February and March and trying to take deep breaths. A lot.
At work, we finally got migrated to Outlook as our new email client, which is a welcome change... now if I could only ever finish a single day's to-do list, I'd be more ahead than I have been in months.
And then there are taxes to file... such is life!
But the huge, big, awesome news is... well, actually, I don't know how many people he's told yet, so I'll have to sit on this one a bit. But it's juicy!
10.10.2007
Geekery
I... want... this.
"...thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates."
That is all.
"...thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates."That is all.
8.31.2007
Weekend O' Fun
It's hard to describe how awesome it was, but I'll try. (I should have allllll the photos up on Flickr at some point this coming weekend.)
Jared drove in from Abilene Friday night, and for once we all went immediately to bed. This is how you can tell how important Star Wars is to us--we all went to bed shortly after midnight on a Friday, voluntarily!
We got up early-ish Saturday and picked up Claire, another friend who just happens to be my GovDocs student assistant, at her home. We all sang along--loudly, if not well--to oldies, thanks to the glories of the Siruis Satellite radio in my Awesome New Ride. (Which, btw, I've named Dreamsicle. It doesn't fit in with my previous car-naming scheme, but sometimes things find their own names, y'know?)
We arrived in Ft. Worth at the Museum of Science and History for their Star Wars exhibit... only to find that the adjacent Will Rodgers Auditorium was hosting a gun show the same day. No parking. Less than no parking. We ended up parking on the grass, crossing our fingers that we wouldn't get a ticket.
Inside, we found... a huge, long line. Because, really, that's what Star Wars geekery is all about. Fans may tell you it's about the imagination or the effects or the really hilariously bad dialog--but when you come down to it, Star Wars is about two things: merchandising, and lines.
Luckily, though, the line moved quickly, and soon we were near the front, where we discovered that the "Special Effects" move at the IMAX was already sold out--primarily because "Harry Potter" had been contracted for four time slots that day, and there weren't enough seats to go around. We groused about it, quickly recovered, got our tickets, and made our way to the exhibit--but we had fifteen minutes before they opened it to our time-slot.
We wandered through an exhibit of the last hundred years or so of the museum's artifacts. Some were neat, some were silly, and some were just plain disturbing. Like the huge display of odd-things-preserved-in-jars. Or the bureau that had a drawer full of neatly-lined-up rodents (aka, my mother-in-law's worst nightmare, neatly encased in the same kind of place that she keeps her socks). We all made appropriately-grossed-out noises and took photos to prove just how inhumane, disgusting, and creepy it all was. I was nostalgically thrilled to see they had a case of phosphorescent rocks with a lightswitch, so you can view them in the dark (well, under blacklight) or the light. When I was five years old, a similar phosphorescent rock exhibit was my favorite thing in the entire San Diego Museum of Natural History. I mean, even more than dino bones, and that says something. (It says something about how extremely nerdy I was as a kid.)
Then, it was the magical time to enter the Star Wars exhibit. It was, all told, a really nice exhibit. It was so gorgeously lit that I hardly used my flash, which made for a few blurry photos, but the atmosphere was worth it. The exhibit blended current/upcoming technologies with the Star Wars equivalents that "inspired" them. They were very hands-on (and therefore fun): build your own levitating Lego car, build/program your own R2-like droid, and this fantastic RTS-like (real-time-strategy game, for those of you who don't Speak Geek--think of Age of Empires) interface. The RTS-like thing had an optical sensor that recognized patterns on cards that you laid out in a table, which represented portions of a city (sanitation unit, water plant, housing, eatery, etc.), which you then laid out to make the citizens "happier" in areas like social, health, etc.
The Star Wars paraphenalia was incredible. There were lots of original costumes, props, and--most fantastic of all--the original models of the vehicles. For all intents and purposes, the "real" Star Destroyer, X-Wing, Millennium Falcon. All four of us had this mouths-open, eyes-wide kind of moment when we saw them. They are simply huge, and so detailed, and... just wow. If you're a Star Wars geek, then you went to this exhibit and therefore you understand. If you're not a Star Wars geek, you wouldn't understand anyway, so I won't bother describing it.
Hours later, we finally pulled ourselves out of the exhibit--and then another hour later, pulled ourselves out of the gift shop. (Remember that second facet of Star Wars culture I mentioned--merchandising?) Alex and I managed to come out only one t-shirt, one bib, and one onesie poorer, which is a tad bit of a miracle (I was sorely tempted by the entire "Infinities" trilogy of comics, though--that is sooo on my wishlist).
We drove back and grabbed some Taco Bell, being starved after all that geeking about. We stopped in downtown McKinney, where we'd planned to attend the Killis Melton Ice Cream Crank-Off... but sadly, they'd already ran out of ice cream and were shutting down. No jalapeno ice cream for us.
Claire and I headed off to Walmart to procure some more traditional ice cream, and other snacky foods to sustain us through the planned Firefly marathon. We all made it through half of the season, but by the end of "Jaynestown" sometime after midnight we had to crash. Claire, the Firefly newbie, was just as enthralled as I'd hoped she would be--the first thing she said after the pilot episode was "Next!" --always a good sign. Then on Monday at work, she informed me she'd already ordered the DVD and soundtrack on Amazon--another browncoat recruited!
And thus was our grand weekend. Rather less ice cream was consumed than was planned, but all in all it was a tremendously geeky good time.
Jared drove in from Abilene Friday night, and for once we all went immediately to bed. This is how you can tell how important Star Wars is to us--we all went to bed shortly after midnight on a Friday, voluntarily!
We got up early-ish Saturday and picked up Claire, another friend who just happens to be my GovDocs student assistant, at her home. We all sang along--loudly, if not well--to oldies, thanks to the glories of the Siruis Satellite radio in my Awesome New Ride. (Which, btw, I've named Dreamsicle. It doesn't fit in with my previous car-naming scheme, but sometimes things find their own names, y'know?)
We arrived in Ft. Worth at the Museum of Science and History for their Star Wars exhibit... only to find that the adjacent Will Rodgers Auditorium was hosting a gun show the same day. No parking. Less than no parking. We ended up parking on the grass, crossing our fingers that we wouldn't get a ticket.
Inside, we found... a huge, long line. Because, really, that's what Star Wars geekery is all about. Fans may tell you it's about the imagination or the effects or the really hilariously bad dialog--but when you come down to it, Star Wars is about two things: merchandising, and lines.
Luckily, though, the line moved quickly, and soon we were near the front, where we discovered that the "Special Effects" move at the IMAX was already sold out--primarily because "Harry Potter" had been contracted for four time slots that day, and there weren't enough seats to go around. We groused about it, quickly recovered, got our tickets, and made our way to the exhibit--but we had fifteen minutes before they opened it to our time-slot.
We wandered through an exhibit of the last hundred years or so of the museum's artifacts. Some were neat, some were silly, and some were just plain disturbing. Like the huge display of odd-things-preserved-in-jars. Or the bureau that had a drawer full of neatly-lined-up rodents (aka, my mother-in-law's worst nightmare, neatly encased in the same kind of place that she keeps her socks). We all made appropriately-grossed-out noises and took photos to prove just how inhumane, disgusting, and creepy it all was. I was nostalgically thrilled to see they had a case of phosphorescent rocks with a lightswitch, so you can view them in the dark (well, under blacklight) or the light. When I was five years old, a similar phosphorescent rock exhibit was my favorite thing in the entire San Diego Museum of Natural History. I mean, even more than dino bones, and that says something. (It says something about how extremely nerdy I was as a kid.)
Then, it was the magical time to enter the Star Wars exhibit. It was, all told, a really nice exhibit. It was so gorgeously lit that I hardly used my flash, which made for a few blurry photos, but the atmosphere was worth it. The exhibit blended current/upcoming technologies with the Star Wars equivalents that "inspired" them. They were very hands-on (and therefore fun): build your own levitating Lego car, build/program your own R2-like droid, and this fantastic RTS-like (real-time-strategy game, for those of you who don't Speak Geek--think of Age of Empires) interface. The RTS-like thing had an optical sensor that recognized patterns on cards that you laid out in a table, which represented portions of a city (sanitation unit, water plant, housing, eatery, etc.), which you then laid out to make the citizens "happier" in areas like social, health, etc.
The Star Wars paraphenalia was incredible. There were lots of original costumes, props, and--most fantastic of all--the original models of the vehicles. For all intents and purposes, the "real" Star Destroyer, X-Wing, Millennium Falcon. All four of us had this mouths-open, eyes-wide kind of moment when we saw them. They are simply huge, and so detailed, and... just wow. If you're a Star Wars geek, then you went to this exhibit and therefore you understand. If you're not a Star Wars geek, you wouldn't understand anyway, so I won't bother describing it.
Hours later, we finally pulled ourselves out of the exhibit--and then another hour later, pulled ourselves out of the gift shop. (Remember that second facet of Star Wars culture I mentioned--merchandising?) Alex and I managed to come out only one t-shirt, one bib, and one onesie poorer, which is a tad bit of a miracle (I was sorely tempted by the entire "Infinities" trilogy of comics, though--that is sooo on my wishlist).
We drove back and grabbed some Taco Bell, being starved after all that geeking about. We stopped in downtown McKinney, where we'd planned to attend the Killis Melton Ice Cream Crank-Off... but sadly, they'd already ran out of ice cream and were shutting down. No jalapeno ice cream for us.
Claire and I headed off to Walmart to procure some more traditional ice cream, and other snacky foods to sustain us through the planned Firefly marathon. We all made it through half of the season, but by the end of "Jaynestown" sometime after midnight we had to crash. Claire, the Firefly newbie, was just as enthralled as I'd hoped she would be--the first thing she said after the pilot episode was "Next!" --always a good sign. Then on Monday at work, she informed me she'd already ordered the DVD and soundtrack on Amazon--another browncoat recruited!
And thus was our grand weekend. Rather less ice cream was consumed than was planned, but all in all it was a tremendously geeky good time.
8.23.2007
Jayne Would be Proud
You know you want to go read this entire week's arc in Unshelved. Just go. Now.
Unless, of course, the strip above made no sense at all. In which case, I pity you. Greatly. Here's some help.
Unless, of course, the strip above made no sense at all. In which case, I pity you. Greatly. Here's some help.
8.22.2007
I'm Now Thinking in Thought Ballooons
I won't reveal it here, but the reveal (and then the smaller reveal on nearly the last page) in Marvel 1602 was... just wow. No other words, really. That whole book was fantastic! Good art, great story, cool setting for us history-nerds... yeah, I don't think there's a way to improve on that.
It's Comics Bonanza week. The library-IT-comics-guy that lent me Planetary a few weeks back dropped off the Authority with me yesterday. I've got the last three volumes of Sandman at home, but never manage to get to them because I've been busy every evening. I usually read comics while I cook (which may explain why my cooking isn't spectacular), but for some reason Sandman never made it to the kitchen. I'm reading volume 1 of All-Star Superman instead, which is ridiculously gorgeous and fun. I love the classic look/feel of it. Giant lizards! Insane arch-nemeses! Jimmy Olsen's annoying Superman-signal watch!! Superman robots in a variety of colors!!!
And yesterday, we got a package from SciFi Book Club--Alex ordered a Star Wars book, and while he was at it, added Trinity and The Dark Knight Returns for his spoiled geeky wife. I read DK almost two years ago, and things like Planetary keep me wanting to refer back to it--that, and the awesome page with Superman (aka Super-Goody-Two-Shoes, according to Mr. Frank Miller) against the backdrop of butterflies and horses, with Ronald Reagan talking about patriotism. That, contrasted against Miller's huge, scary Batman whose sole purpose seems to be to mete out violence upon the wicked. Good times. (And also appropriate timing, since we just watched Miller's bloody-good The 300 on Sunday. Finally, a movie that makes decent use of Gerard Butler.)
And I just had a conversation with another work-geek, who's now going to lend me a Fantastic Four story that follows 1602. Oh, the goodness. And how the geeks do come out of the woodwork at the library... this makes four comic book geeks and... well, I lost count of the scifi tv/movie geeks at about six.
There is work to be done, and more work to be done, and classes to register for, and personal affairs to be taken care of... but I'm really just looking forward to this weekend, when Alex and I and two friends will be geeking out over the Star Wars exhibit, eating odd flavors of homemade ice-cream, and watching the entire season of Firefly. Ah, the good things in life--they're not free, but they are... er... good.
And I just had a conversation with another work-geek, who's now going to lend me a Fantastic Four story that follows 1602. Oh, the goodness. And how the geeks do come out of the woodwork at the library... this makes four comic book geeks and... well, I lost count of the scifi tv/movie geeks at about six.
There is work to be done, and more work to be done, and classes to register for, and personal affairs to be taken care of... but I'm really just looking forward to this weekend, when Alex and I and two friends will be geeking out over the Star Wars exhibit, eating odd flavors of homemade ice-cream, and watching the entire season of Firefly. Ah, the good things in life--they're not free, but they are... er... good.
8.09.2007
Punk Librarian
- Reading audiobooks is not cheating. Read more here. (I know Auntie K's going to back me up on this one.)
- We all knew that Joss Whedon is genius. Yet here he goes, proving it again, and this time in a freely-available-online comic!! Robots! Aliens! Snappy dialogue! Chick bands!!! The glory of it!
- Wait a minute.... scientists can be wrong? Gasp!
- Airplane rides... purple lighting... USB charging stations... mp3 playlists that stick with your travel account--nope, there's nothing I don't like the sound of on Virgin America's new airline.
- I know you all read this already--most of you sent it to me. But just in case you don't read Penny Arcade, here it is ("guybrarian" episode). (And for once, I actually don't have to put a profane warning on this comic.)
- I know you don't really care, but my left wrist hurts. Not five days after I told my dad that my chronic wrist problem from 1998 - 2004 had finally left after surgery. Dangit.
- my usual spiky-hair edgy haircut
- my cool librarian glasses
- funky triangle/circle earrings
- lavendar button-down 3/4 sleeve shirt
- black "Book Club" t-shirt over that
- Vertigo and Batman logo buttons
- banned books bracelet
- "librarian" skirt (funk-i-fied by myself with librarian-themed appliques and some lace)
- awesome tall tall boots (similar to these, without the funky stitching)
- We're in another round of Gilmore-Girls-obsession, which always makes me want to dress like Lane (post-Mrs.-Kim) and listen to the Ramones.
- I have been listening to too much 1980's punk on my sirius radio subscription in My New Awesome Ride (aka the Dreamsicle).
- We're really, really low on work clothes at the moment. Our dryer is, well, not. (Drying, that is.)
5.19.2007
Foto Fun
Thanks to a colleague's gracious sponsorship of my Flickr Pro Account, I've been uploading past photos like mad. Enjoy these tidbits:
And if you putter around long enough on my Flickr page, you'll find more Star Wars photos, library photos, wedding photos, family photos, land photos--and of course plenty of ridiculous photos I've taken of myself (eventually, these will join them). Just because.
And if you putter around long enough on my Flickr page, you'll find more Star Wars photos, library photos, wedding photos, family photos, land photos--and of course plenty of ridiculous photos I've taken of myself (eventually, these will join them). Just because.
5.18.2007
"You Saucy Minx"
This is a crossover post between my professional and personal blogs.... I just got the ARC of The Plain Janes graphic novel (thank you, BookMooch!), which I thought I'd mention was a recent Book Club pick by the Unshelved guys.
And it's one of the first Minx publications, DC Comics' new line for girls. Now, I'm a girl, and I read traditional (read: "non-girl-y") comics, but I'm very interested in this idea. And from the first four pages of this book that I read... I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be fantastic.
And it's one of the first Minx publications, DC Comics' new line for girls. Now, I'm a girl, and I read traditional (read: "non-girl-y") comics, but I'm very interested in this idea. And from the first four pages of this book that I read... I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be fantastic.
3.27.2007
Tuesday Tidbits
I just found out that for $25 (just a little more than you'd pay at Best Buy or Amazon.com), you can get the new widescreen DVD version of "The Last Unicorn" autographed by Peter S. Beagle!!!
Did you have a great past three days? I sure did:
- gorgeous sunshine on Saturday
- attended a friend's wedding shower; enjoyed good company and champagne punch
- saw TMNT (at the theater, gasp!)
- Alex mowed our newly-green lawn (it's already tall again, two days later!)
- watched Casino Royale (gasp!!!!!!!!! fantastic! I hereby take back my nasty complaints about a blond James Bond)
- got to meet a great candidate for the GovDocs head position at work yesterday
- as a result, enjoyed three delicious, free meals (it's great being on the Search Committee!)
- tried shrimp enchiladas for the first time
- enjoyed Beth Marie's fantastic homemade Raspberry Truffle ice cream
- wandered around Recycled Books and found their graphic novel section
- played Rayman with Alex last night (had a bunny dance-off in our bedroom)
3.13.2007
Barefoot and in the Kitchen
This weekend I acted completely out of character by not only baking an elaborate dish (it required 5 pots--and a strainer!), but also by baking two different kinds of cookies from scratch. It's like on Sunday I had a little Betty Crocker Seizure... the lesser-known sister of the Grand Mal Seizure.
Here's a link to the main course recipe on my wiki:
Portobello Mushroom Lasagna
For my vegetarian friends, in particular (Kali, Lilly, pay attention!), this would be a great dish. The mushrooms are hearty enough that they provide a lot of protein. It's provided courtesy of your friendly Food Network and specifically The Barefoot Contessa, a show which I will now have to avoid because it compells me to cook tasty things with a cup of pure butter. Yikes.
By ironic contrast, the cookies were quite healthy. I made several healthful substitutions that, oddly enough, resulted in the tastiest, most perfectly-baked batch of chocolate cookies I have ever made. I started with dark chocolate chips instead of the usual semi-sweet; they're tastier and have more of those "healthy" flavinoids (which is the most made-up sounding substance ever). It was a pear upside-down cake recipe that Alex sent me, that inspired me to substitute applesauce (and a dash of veggie oil) for the butter. Then I got reckless and substituted whole wheat flour for half of the regular white stuff. Then I got plain silly and added a few teaspoons of a fiber supplement and bee pollen (which is supposed to be miraculous for energy and allergies, according to my bee-keeping in-laws).
They were the puffiest, most glorious cookies I've ever made. Now I'm pondering another batch, but substituting honey for half of the sugar.
And in the crossover between politics and comedy...
I can't find the link to the clip from Thursday's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but it was ridiculously hilarious, regarding Hilary and Obama in Alabama. Each, according to Stewart, speaking as if a black person imitating a white person imitating a black person. Ah, politics.
And in geekery...
I've had the Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis theme songs alternating in my head all day. This is no doubt due to the fact that we bought Atlantis Season 2 last week, and as a result, can finally finish watching SG-1 Season 9, since they intersect plotlines. And for the past two days, we've been watching a lot of Stargate.
Life is good... until you get to the last DVD of the season (we've currently got 2 1/2 to go in each show).
3.10.2007
She's Alive!
I know, I know, I've been lax about posting this week. Not that I haven't thought about it and composed at least five posts in my head--but it's been another week or particularly busy work, as well as a TON of personal paperwork... which is related to something that I hope to be able to post about soon. It's all-consuming at the moment.
I've been posting a lot to my professional blog, though. So if you're interested, go check out geeky artist librarian.
I've been posting a lot to my professional blog, though. So if you're interested, go check out geeky artist librarian.
- But while I'm here to say I'm still alive, check out this New York Subway Smell Map.
- No, really.
- Oh, and this Steampunk Keyboard tutorial that Alex sent me.
- To quote Val, how did I miss this? Go, mean green!!
- Just what we all needed (I know Alex and my dad will love this): Donald Duck's family tree.
2.27.2007
Oscars: Not the Grouch
I am a movie geek. My husband is a huge movie geek. However, the Oscars have been so successively boring (and looong) for the past few years, that I almost didn't care to watch on Sunday.
I'm glad I did.
Ellen was an excellent, hilarious host. Now, Chris Rock's shoddy job of the previous year would have made anyone look good, but Ellen went beyond decent into actually funny, something that's been lacking at the Oscars.
I also loved the new stuff they threw in--like the dancers interpreting the movies and the comedian bit with Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly. I thought all the nominated songs were a little lackluster (why did they nominate three songs from "Dreamgirls," but not the title song?), but I did have to laugh at the director bit with Spielberg, Coppola, and Grand Neck (er, Grand Moff!) Lucas.
Before the Oscars, Alex and I spent Sunday getting--gasp!--some actual work done. It was gorgeous outside, and even moving 16' long metal sheets didn't dampen our spirits. In fact, I was downright ecstatic--and this is the gal who detests physical labor with great passion. This goes to prove that Alex and I both are more than slightly affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Fair warning: if you plan on buying a carabine or other short rifle, you may want to take heed and buy it sooner rather than later.
A geek's view of politics: Slashdot's reviews of presidential campaign websites.
We rented "The Prestige," finally, but haven't had time to watch it yet. Okay, we had time last night, but it's a long movie, and there was a new Heroes to watch. I was glued to last night's episode, and it didn't even feature Hiro!! And might I point out that, unlike another formerly hit one-hour drama (ahem, LOST), Heroes is actually starting to answer some questions. Before the first season is up! Gee, what a concept.
Update: Okay, so Dooce didn't agree with me in the least about the Oscars this year, but it doesn't matter, because she wrote such a hilarious riff about Scorcese: "he was very polite and humble and totally ready to be folded up and put in your purse so that you could take him home and snuggle with him later. And then maybe use his eyebrows to towel off after a hot bath."
I'm glad I did.
Ellen was an excellent, hilarious host. Now, Chris Rock's shoddy job of the previous year would have made anyone look good, but Ellen went beyond decent into actually funny, something that's been lacking at the Oscars.
I also loved the new stuff they threw in--like the dancers interpreting the movies and the comedian bit with Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly. I thought all the nominated songs were a little lackluster (why did they nominate three songs from "Dreamgirls," but not the title song?), but I did have to laugh at the director bit with Spielberg, Coppola, and Grand Neck (er, Grand Moff!) Lucas.
Before the Oscars, Alex and I spent Sunday getting--gasp!--some actual work done. It was gorgeous outside, and even moving 16' long metal sheets didn't dampen our spirits. In fact, I was downright ecstatic--and this is the gal who detests physical labor with great passion. This goes to prove that Alex and I both are more than slightly affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Fair warning: if you plan on buying a carabine or other short rifle, you may want to take heed and buy it sooner rather than later.
A geek's view of politics: Slashdot's reviews of presidential campaign websites.
We rented "The Prestige," finally, but haven't had time to watch it yet. Okay, we had time last night, but it's a long movie, and there was a new Heroes to watch. I was glued to last night's episode, and it didn't even feature Hiro!! And might I point out that, unlike another formerly hit one-hour drama (ahem, LOST), Heroes is actually starting to answer some questions. Before the first season is up! Gee, what a concept.
Update: Okay, so Dooce didn't agree with me in the least about the Oscars this year, but it doesn't matter, because she wrote such a hilarious riff about Scorcese: "he was very polite and humble and totally ready to be folded up and put in your purse so that you could take him home and snuggle with him later. And then maybe use his eyebrows to towel off after a hot bath."
2.20.2007
I've Been Flickr-ed
It's weird to search Flickr and find myself in someone else's photo set. Both in and out of costume, I might add! (Yes, still more from the Timothy Zahn signing a few weeks ago.) I'm also pretty sure I found my pal Bryce's pal Ara on Flickr at a similar signing (far left, kneeling).
2.14.2007
As Promised, Geekery
And here's the link to the photos I took at Timothy Zahn's Borders book-signing on 02.07.2007.
So, I never actually wrote about the experience, being as I was busy with a sick Alex, and then busy being sick myself. So here goes.
I walk into Borders a little after 6pm, and immediately upon entering, spot him. Yes, that's Timothy Zahn himself, working at his laptop in the Borders cafe, nobody around to bother him yet. I pause for about thirty seconds, during which he briefly glances up, and no doubt absorbs the goofy "I see a Celebrity of Ultimate Geek" expression on my face. He looks down and wisely pretends not to have seen me. I pull myself together firmly, remind myself that I have been in the same room with this man before, and by golly, I'm not here to make his life a more frustrating experience, and walk off to find a manager or fellow DFWfanforce member.
I find Denise, who's organizing the event, and she shows me where to put my things in the back room--upon which I geek-out again, abeit slightly less so than over Zahn. It's a back room... in a bookstore. Oh, heaven! Then I run out to the bathroom to change into my Pink 7 gear, and come back to find the 501st changing into their armor. Along the way, I run into Helen, one of my fanforce pals from The Line (aka the Bellydancer). Denise gets us to slap stickers on people's books that they brought from home (like my copy of Heir to the Empire). We feel geeky and important.
Jeff, Brandon, and Jonathan from DFWfanforce show up a bit later, and we briefly catch up before I run off to the back room again. Zahn's lining up all the costumed of us to escort him in--I'm placed behind the stormtroopers and in front of Anakin and Vader, who flank Zahn. We all march out to the podium and table that's been set up for him, and all we costumed geeklings form in a V-pattern behind him, like a very, very confused flock of migratory birds.
Zahn talks awhile about what it's been like to write Star Wars EU, then gives a long Q/A session. The length is pretty awesome to listen to, as a fan--but as a gal in a hot costume in a really well-heated Borders, I nearly pass out. Literally--vision starts going and everything. I have to back out of line and sit with my head down while Helen gets me some water--darn that heavy, hot helmet!
I had to leave not to long after that, when the real signing began, and left my books under Helen's protection. I ran by Walmart to get some supplies for the flu-beleagured Alex, and then spent the rest of the evening watching movies with him.
So, I never actually wrote about the experience, being as I was busy with a sick Alex, and then busy being sick myself. So here goes.
I walk into Borders a little after 6pm, and immediately upon entering, spot him. Yes, that's Timothy Zahn himself, working at his laptop in the Borders cafe, nobody around to bother him yet. I pause for about thirty seconds, during which he briefly glances up, and no doubt absorbs the goofy "I see a Celebrity of Ultimate Geek" expression on my face. He looks down and wisely pretends not to have seen me. I pull myself together firmly, remind myself that I have been in the same room with this man before, and by golly, I'm not here to make his life a more frustrating experience, and walk off to find a manager or fellow DFWfanforce member.
I find Denise, who's organizing the event, and she shows me where to put my things in the back room--upon which I geek-out again, abeit slightly less so than over Zahn. It's a back room... in a bookstore. Oh, heaven! Then I run out to the bathroom to change into my Pink 7 gear, and come back to find the 501st changing into their armor. Along the way, I run into Helen, one of my fanforce pals from The Line (aka the Bellydancer). Denise gets us to slap stickers on people's books that they brought from home (like my copy of Heir to the Empire). We feel geeky and important.
Jeff, Brandon, and Jonathan from DFWfanforce show up a bit later, and we briefly catch up before I run off to the back room again. Zahn's lining up all the costumed of us to escort him in--I'm placed behind the stormtroopers and in front of Anakin and Vader, who flank Zahn. We all march out to the podium and table that's been set up for him, and all we costumed geeklings form in a V-pattern behind him, like a very, very confused flock of migratory birds.
Zahn talks awhile about what it's been like to write Star Wars EU, then gives a long Q/A session. The length is pretty awesome to listen to, as a fan--but as a gal in a hot costume in a really well-heated Borders, I nearly pass out. Literally--vision starts going and everything. I have to back out of line and sit with my head down while Helen gets me some water--darn that heavy, hot helmet!
I had to leave not to long after that, when the real signing began, and left my books under Helen's protection. I ran by Walmart to get some supplies for the flu-beleagured Alex, and then spent the rest of the evening watching movies with him.
2.13.2007
We Got the Funk--er, Flu
Seems like I had a bunch of stuff I intended to post last week. Well, Alex had the flu for a solid week, and as of Sunday gave it to me for awhile, so I'm resurfacing from the funk. Perhaps I can get back to the previously intended posts at some point.
For now, I'm going to leave you with a few brief things, and then get myself back to sleep. This whole sitting-up-in-bed thing is remarkably draining.
I had a great email from work today pointing to this YouTube video, March of the Librarians. It's a documentary-style parody of ALA Midwinter 2007, and it's good for a giggle. Here are my favorite parts:
And for those of you fortunate (and wise) enough to be a part of the Wii craze, the Homestar Runner guys have ported several of their games for the Wii--just point your Wii browser to http://www.videlectrix.com/vii/ and have at it! (I'm looking at you, Jared.)
For now, I'm going to leave you with a few brief things, and then get myself back to sleep. This whole sitting-up-in-bed thing is remarkably draining.
I had a great email from work today pointing to this YouTube video, March of the Librarians. It's a documentary-style parody of ALA Midwinter 2007, and it's good for a giggle. Here are my favorite parts:
- "fabulous facial plumage" sported by male librarians
- a stormtrooper and jedi make an appearance
- the necessities of life--"coffee, food, and email"
And for those of you fortunate (and wise) enough to be a part of the Wii craze, the Homestar Runner guys have ported several of their games for the Wii--just point your Wii browser to http://www.videlectrix.com/vii/ and have at it! (I'm looking at you, Jared.)
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