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Weekly Nerdom: February 2, 2013

Published on February 2, 2013, by Samantha in Weekly Nerdom.

Happy Saturday everyone!

I hope you all had wonderful weeks, and that your weekend is off to an incredible start.

As with my Throwback Thursday post this week, I am adding another new weekly (hopefully) category to my blog: Weekly Nerdom!

In these weekly posts, I will recap and recount a few awesome and nerdy things I found that week.

Since this is my first Weekly Nerdom Post, however, this one may include awesome and nerdy things I found this month (or this year)…

Alright, here we go!

Doctor Who and the Tardis by Craig Hurle is an AMAZING Doctor Who Facebook fan page that is maintained by ELEVEN (get it…Eleven?) moderators around the globe. The page is constantly updated with the most amazing Doctor Who artwork, internet memes, episode reviews, cast photos…you get the idea. If you have a facebook page, go check them out NOW and subscribe to the page. You will be glad that you did.

Geek and Sundry is a commercial YouTube channel that was launched as a part of YouTube’s $100 million dollar original channel initiative. The channel features an incredible line up of nerdy, adventurous, and hilarious web-series including the hit show, The Guild. I am ADDICTED to The Flog. I find in very down to earth and pretty hilarious. I basically die laughing every time actress and host, Felicia Day and her brother play retro video games. The website also has an interactive community to explore, as well as shows from Wil Wheaton and Dark Horse Motion Comics. Go check it out. You will probably be on the site all day.

Journey Quest is a fantasy web-series developed by the clever nerds who brought you “The Gamers,” and “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (both of which are amazing and should be added to your Netflix cue ASAP). I have known about these guys fora long time, but only found the web-series a few nights ago when my husband suggested we watch it. Two minutes into the first episode and I was hooked. There is a bard writing a great epic, and a cowardly wizard, and blue Orcs and a creepy dungeon! It is just so prefect and everything you would expect from a great fantasy epic all wrapped up in a little comedic bow. The show is made possible by the support of their generous fans, so go take a look. The production value is great, the actors are hilarious and the script is great fun!

This Doctor Who Themed Wedding Inspiration almost makes me a little sad about my upcoming Harry Potter themed wedding (almost). The stylists really nailed every single detail from the table settings to the outfits, and even the vows are so beautifully Doctor Who. I can’t actually do anything but gush about this wedding (featured on Green Wedding Shoes) so I will just let you see what I am talking about with this sweet video from JakPhoto Films.

Speaking of nerdy weddings, I updated the wedding page today! Go take a peak at how the planning is going for our Harry Potter themed Shindig!

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15 Days of Comic-Con Posts: #5 – Tales from the Heroes Who Went Camping in Line

Published on July 24, 2012, by Being Fans in 15 Days of Comic-Con Posts, Adventures in Nerdom.

**Today’s 15 Days of Comic-Con Posts comes to us from the lovely ladies of Being Fans, the awesomest Being Human Fan-site on the web. These ladies will probably contribute to Necessary Nerdom again in the future, so look out for them. In the meantime, check out all the latest in Being Human news at www.beingfans.net.**

The Quest: Acquire Amazing Seats to Saturday’s Being Human Panel.

With an unwavering resolve, our heroes ventured out into the night, knowing only the bitter cold and the uncomfortable earth awaited them. But they were given a mission, and, by Odin, they would not fail.

We thought maybe this sounded like a much more interesting way to describe how five friends who met on twitter decided to spend the night outside of the Hilton Hotel in San Diego California for the Being Human panel at Comic Con.

We, Kristi and Dana Hahn (Being Fans Fansite) have Comic Con veteran status. Mari had been to Dragon*Con, and was no stranger to the crazy that came with conventions. Jess and L arrived as Comic Con virgins. Even with that mixture of experience levels, none of us dreamed sleeping outside would appear on our TO DO list for our con trip this year.

Comic Con is always busy; nothing that should shock anyone about that statement. But this year…Comic con defined BUSY. As in, “if you want to get into your panel of choice, you’ll be spending the night outside” kinda of busy. By Friday in the early morning all of us had felt the defeat of being denied panel goodness. We knew Being Human wasn’t in Hall H or Ballroom 20, but we also knew it would still draw a huge crowd, and we really wanted to get great seats for our favorite monsters. And thus, the choice became the plan. We would spend the night.

Outside.

In line.

Like crazy fan girls.

We can say, looking back, it isn’t something we’d necessarily want to do again. It also didn’t have the horror we’d envisioned. On the negative side, it got MUCH colder than we thought it would, and we weren’t extremely prepared. Jess spent the night in her giant comic con swag bag looking a touch on the homeless side.

We scrunched up into a Kingdom Hearts snuggie that came generously donated by someone in line who felt sorry for us. Poor L didn’t get a wink of sleep, unlike the gentleman right in front of us in line who must’ve taken a bottle of sleeping pills because we’ve never heard someone snore that loudly in a COMFORTABLE bed, much less in a sleeping bag on the concrete.

Despite some discomfort, the wait contained some interesting moments. We arrived at around 11 PM on Friday night, and spent the first few hours trading time inside the hotel lobby to charge our various phones, cameras, and laptops (not that it mattered being that the hotel had a HORRIBLE wifi/and 3G network). Dana watched a VERY beardy Johnny Galecki (of The Big Bang Theory) go down the escalator with a drink in hand only to turn right around at the bottom and go back up. Mari pointed out Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop on Fringe) as he was leaving the hotel. A few minutes later he came back in and started going up the escalator and Dana yelled out “Hi Joshua Jackson” and waved. Surprisingly, he waved back and smiled. She then proceeded to yell, “I love your show! Fringe I mean!” to which he ignored, and rightfully so.

About 3 AM, Dana woke up literally shivering and decided to go into the hotel lobby and sit on a couch to get warm. Funnily enough, the air conditioning blasted on full, so it didn’t quite warm her up. However, as Dana sat shivering, she looked up to see Matt Smith, her Favorite Doctor (Kristi’s being Tennant), being a nice guy and taking a picture with a random fan. L and Dana watched as he hurried off, and reappeared a moment later with a pretty female. He started on his way out the door when a security guard stopped him and told him he wasn’t allowed to have an open beer in the lobby. Mr. Smith didn’t seem pleased, but handled the little disagreement with taste and manners…and then he left with the beer and the girl.

The Comic Con employees were kind and let us all inside at 5 AM, an hour earlier than they promised.

Once inside, we also realized we’d been standing in line with two girls from the VRO, an internet radio show that has interviewed quite a few awesome celebs. It was awesome to get to meet them (and exchange business cards).

The Being Human panel started at 3PM, so we had a long day ahead of us, but it was worth it.

We got ourselves right in the front of the panel.

Even though we would’ve definitely made it inside for the panel regardless, we would not have had a shot at getting such great seats. In thinking back to that view, the wait doesn’t seem difficult at all.

The five heroes wearily trudged back to their homes, though they felt elation in their hearts as they had conquered their foe. It was a long battle, fraught with laughter spurred on by delusion and desperation for coffee, but they knew they had devoured victory. And they even looked cute doing it.

Tags: 15 Days of Comic-Con Posts, 2012 Comic Con, Being Fans, Being Human, Being Human Panel, Camping in Line, Comic-Con, David Tennant, doctor who, Felicia Day, Hilton Hotel, Matt Smith, San Diego, san diego comic con, wil wheaton

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WonderCon: Day 2 – It’s Easy being Green

Published on April 10, 2012, by Samantha in 2012, Adventures in Nerdom, Comic-Con, Uncategorized, WonderCon.

Part I – WonderCon: Day 1 – The Couple and the TARDIS

I have discovered that the effects of a two day hangover are somewhat nullified when I am excited about something.

Wondercon Day two brought a mild headache (my fault), rain, bitter cold, and lots of green. Yay St. Patrick’s day!

We woke up around 8:45/9:00 on Saturday. There were four of us who needed to shower and eat, and we had high hopes of making some panels at 10:30.

Nate wanted to learn how to build his own R2 unit, and I wanted to attend a panel called “Goal Setting for Creative Types.”

After a small continental breakfast (all of our stomachs were a little too effected by vodka to eat too much), we headed to the hotel lobby to call a cab. By SoCal standards, we were in a veritable downpour (but not by Florida standards). The shuttle driver for Disney was about to leave, however, and he offered to give us a lift to the convention. It was a good thing, too…

The rain made LA drivers idiots. It took us 45 minutes to get the 1.8 miles to the convention center. We could have walked faster, and the cab cost would have been exorbitant. Still, we tipped the nice driver ten bucks for his trouble.

We sloshed through the rain, and Nate and Kara decided to try for the R2 panel despite the fact that we were late. I, however, decided that showing up to a goal setting panel 15 minutes late probably showed a lack of planning. So Mark and I walked the floor.

Almost immediately I ran into a group of people with the seriously coolest Dr. Who costumes on. And the group also contained the last centurion.

After that, Mark and I pretty much decided to scour the place for food. We were both starving and the convention center food had failed to impress us the day before.

This is where I express my dismay Wondercon and the Anaheim convention center

The geniuses that run the Anaheim Convention center decided that since they have so much space they would book THREE events for the same weekend. THREE. And…the events did not really match.

1. Wondercon
2. State Ladies High School Volleyball Tournament
3. State Middle School Cheer-leading Tournament

WTF?

Because, ya know…Jocks, Nerds, and Cheerleaders always got along so well?

Honestly, that wasn’t the problem. While the cheerleaders were a bit daft (I overheard one who couldn’t figure out why everyone was wearing green….uh, really? St. Patrick’s day…no?) The volleyball girls were cool. Most were super excited to get photos taken with the awesome costumes at the Con.

The biggest problem is that the Anaheim convention center is situated around three hotels…and that’s it.

Comic con is in the Gas Light district in San Diego. At any given moment, there are like 150 choices for food, and drinks….and they always have a TON of food trucks lining the road.

However in Anaheim, you have the food at the convention center, and a few hotel food court options. That’s it. We had to wait 20 minutes to order, and then another 20 minutes for our food because there were sooooo many people between the con and the sporting events.

I was flat out angry by the time we ate. Just…don’t triple book the convention center if there are not enough places to eat. Really? And I blame the people at WonderCon for not setting up for some local food trucks. How hard would that have been? I mean really.

Grrrr.

Okay, so that was my rant. We ended up finally eating and hooking back up with Nate and Kara. Nate found another panel I might like, since I missed the first one.

It was pretty cool, actually.

It was called “Where Do Ideas Come From.” It was really about overcoming writers block and learning to meet deadlines. The speaker was Barbara Randall Kesel (New Teen Titans, Meridian, Hawk and Dove) and her advice was invaluable for this aspiring novelist.

After the panel, Nate was thrilled to meet Tom Servo (From MST3K)…but I think he liked me better.

St. Patrick’s day Chewbacca was maybe my favorite of the day. Check the little hat. Love him.

We wandered around the expo for a while after that. Nate and Kara ran off to another panel, this one on cartoon voice overs, but Mark and I have never had much of a problem just hanging out looking at stuff.

Its basically why we get along so well.

We love looking at stuff.

After a while though, I got a bit anxious to do some shopping, so Mark placated me with an early birthday gift.

Its an awesome TARDIS phone charm that flashes and spins. We dropped everything (literally) to figure out how to attach it to the phone. It makes me pretty happy.

The last few hours at the expo was just spent looking at stuff and taking pictures of the awesome costumes. Everyone went all out with the masquerade that night.

I even got to see Felicia Day signing autographs. She is so lovely and seemed so genuine and nice to all those around her. I love to see that.

We ended the expo for the day by getting to see the massive group from GI Joe that we had seen walking around separately all day. It was beyond awesome.

We headed back to the hotel early, around 5:30 to wash up, eat and nap before heading back out to the masquerade.

We walked back and by the time we got inside I was so cold it took a 20 minute super hot bath and a cup of tea to even begin to feel thawed out.

While I bathed, the boys went to taco bell for grub. Tacos are Irish, right?

After we ate, everyone else took naps, but I was too keyed up to sleep. So I finished reading “The Hunger Games.”

Right as I finished (totally epic right?) It was about time for everyone to wake up.

We had a few drinks while we got ready. Mark and I applied our star wars tattoos (gifts from Nate).

I’m sad to admit, the masquerade was a bust. I thought it would be this cool party where we all mingled and had refreshments and judges would roam around judging the costumes.

Eh, no. The “refreshments” advertised, turned out to just be water…that got knocked over early on and was not replaced.

The masquerade was a costume contest where people performed or just walked out in costumes. The room was black and quiet.

It was pretty lame as social gatherings go, though some of the costumes/performances were pretty cool. We missed most of it however, and left soon after the little short star wars film festival started.

I did get a pic with Optimus Prime (the coolest costume) before we left.

We headed downstairs to the hotel bar for St. Patty’s day foolishness where we found my good friend Cary, from Dungeon Master.

We all had a pretty good time, despite the lack of bar selection. It was nice to be with friends and at midnight we all gathered around to celebrate the official kick off to my birthday.