'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' and the Politics of the Perpetually Aggrieved

I have not yet seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I have no opinion about it yet. There are people who I respect who love the movie, and there are people who I respect who hate the movie. So far, I've managed to keep my backside firmly planted on that fence in the middle - purely because I haven't seen the film yet. Though I will say that I haven't been quite so religious in avoiding spoilers. Still, without context or seeing it on the big screen, it doesn't really matter that I kinda, sorta know what happens.

But this post isn't entirely about Star Wars or any fandom in particular. This post is an observation about society in general and how it seems like everybody - and I do mean everybody - is always spoiling for a fight over the most idiotic stuff. Not only looking to fight, but to make these fights personal. Like, if you don't agree with someone on a particular topic, you are somehow morally obligated to insult them, their mother, their dog, their car, their ancestors all the way back to Adam, and the single-celled organisms from which their lineage spawned.

Really, people? Really?

I'm sure you've seen the posts about "How to Handle Your Crazy Uncle Who Voted For [Insert Political Candidate Here] At Thanksgiving." I mean, we're letting politics dictate how we associate with family members. Politics. Something run by people that are complete strangers, but for their presence in the daily news, and that demand our unswerving loyalty because... voting or something. Hell, I don't know. But politics makes people lose their freaking minds and I'm sick of it (I include myself in that assessment. I'm really trying my best to stay out of it these days).

Here's a newsflash - whether you love the person in charge or hate his stinking guts (and it doesn't matter which "he" I'm referring to - there have been 45 of them. Pick one. The ones from my lifetime have been kind of crappy, truth be told), the president is not God. No politician is. No politician has  have the power to completely ruin your life or give you the most perfect existence in this mortal coil. I would appreciate it if people on both sides would stop acting like it.

I know, I know. I'm asking for waaaaaaay too much. I'd have a better chance of Santa Claus bringing me a sparkly purple unicorn that farts $20 bills and vomits ice cream.

Somehow, all of these online political fistfights have taken over pop culture as well. Somewhere along the line, it became virtuous for celebrities to voice their political opinions and make their fans feel like crap if they disagreed. Same with directors, writers, etc. Then there were the big-name fans who like to rub it in because it inflates their egos and they're getting paid to props these other egos up as well. And some fans took it to heart. Maybe they boycotted the movies. Maybe they went into the movie expecting it to be horrible and then they'd be justified in their hatred of it. Maybe they went on to create stories that similarly shoved overly-preachy message fic in our faces, just in the other direction.

Personally, I hate that pop culture has to be saturated with politics. I go to movies and read books to get away from that insanity. Call me a wimp - but maybe I just don't have the mental fortitude for 24/7 outrage (probably why I lost my COTR job - I just couldn't fake being angry at everything in the whole freaking world like my co-workers always seemed to be). I do like to take a break once in a while (or permanently). Turning my brain off to watch two-and-a-half hours of space battles and lightsaber fights is infinitely more preferable to watch two pompous blowhards yell at each other on TV and pretend they're debating anything of value.

This is what I say to that (and anyone else telling me to pick one side or the other) -



I have come to hate the phrase "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." Like paying attention to every little stupid thing that happens is what I should aspire to. Guess what? I don't want to pay attention. I want to ignore the news. Being "informed" has become a hindrance, rather than something useful. For all of Facebook's insistence on constantly changing their interface because they have nothing better to do, I wish they'd give us the option to turn off that idiotic "Trending News" box. I don't give a crap what news is "trendy." I never cared about trendy stuff when I was a kid, what makes you think I want to know about the trendy news now that I'm an adult?

Sigh... anyway... where was I with this? Oh yes - Star Wars.

Look, I know it's become cool to pick apart things that people like. Even "fans" of Star Wars pick it apart. First, it was that the prequel were bad - the original trilogy was the only thing worth watching. Well... except Return of the Jedi had those goofy Ewoks. And in A New Hope, Luke's super-whiny. But Empire - now THAT is Star Wars. That movie is PERFECT.

Wait... doesn't Leia kiss Luke in that one? They're siblings! HOW COULD THAT BE???

See? Picky, picky, picky. "Fans" seem to be more about picking things apart and hating on everything, rather than enjoying what you love.

It's fine to acknowledge flaws and missteps. It's even good to recognize that there's room to improve. But when you do that at that expense of also recognizing the good things they did, then you're just beating the dead horse alive (yes, that's what I meant). It's why I like this Nostalgia Critic video -



And the YouTube channel CinemaWins is a great one for this as well. Finding the mistakes in anything is easy. Finding things to praise and be complimentary about has become a lost art.

Which brings me around to that pesky political topic. Leave aside any political parties or even politicians (they're all scum anyway) - think about your friends and family. Are you going to throw away valuable relationships over a political disagreement? Unless your relationship is purely based on political views (and that is a pathetic thing to base any sort of personal relationship on at all), it's not worth alienating people you care about just because they voted for X and you voted for Y and someone else voted for Z.

For the record - I don't consider that I won or lost in the last election. I knew it was a losing prospect for me to try either way, so I took a third option. Both the main choices sucked and I was doing the best I could with what I was given. In my former day job, I wrote to represent my employers, since speaking my honest opinion wasn't something they seemed to be interested in (to put it mildly). Dishonest? Probably. I didn't enjoy it. The pay was good. There is good money to be made in feeding people's outrage. But clearly, my tactics didn't work. Judge me as you will - everyone else already has. I learned my lesson. I'm staying out of it. I'm just praying it sticks.

I'm not saying you have to give up your viewpoints if you don't want to. Just because I'm washing my hands of the whole mess doesn't mean you have to. But realize there are other things in life than politics. Same goes for pop culture. Not everything has to be dripping with political campaign messages. Luke Skywalker is not a stand-in for [Insert Favored Politician Here]. He wouldn't even know what Earth politics are like - he's never been to Earth! He's got bigger problems to worry about than who is running Washington DC, anyway (it's rough being the last Jedi in existence, I'm sure).

This plea is probably falling on deaf ears. Being angry and yelling on Twitter at people that you don't even know can be a lot of fun in the moment. It's even cathartic to vent on social media. You've probably heard some variation of the phrase "Anger is the devil's cocaine." It's addictive and it's easy to be mad all the time, even though it doesn't feel all that great. Being happy and positive feels better, but it's more work. A prominent leader in my church once gave a talk called "The Canker of Contention." I would highly recommend reading his talk, whether you're religious or not.

What I'm getting at is that I'm sick of all the fighting. Whether it's over politics or Star Wars or anything else. There's enough trouble in the world without going to look for it where there is functionally none. And honestly, whoever you're mad at probably didn't even mean to be insulting. What happened to giving people the benefit of the doubt? I worry that I give that benefit out too much, and when it comes time for me to be granted the same, I'll have to deal with somebody who refuses to cut me any sort of slack. Doesn't mean I won't stop.

There is contention in this world, true. But we don't have to participate in it. Instead of looking to famous people to be our role models, why not be the role model you'd want to see? That's so much easier to control.

And now it's late and I have things to do in the morning (and a baby that will probably be awake in a few hours). Sure wish my brain would stop having ideas so late at night...

The News Of The Day Sucks, So Have A YouTube Video

I had to take a break. Everything being reported on today in the news is terrible. Luckily, there are gloriously intrepid YouTubers who do stuff like this and it helps me keep my sanity (and I don't give a shit about how long this video's been around. It's still funny) -




Yes, I'm still around and still blogging. But since I blog all day every day for my job, sometimes the last thing I want to do of an evening is write more about my opinions on things - even if those things are wonderfully happy geeky things that I don't get to spend quite as much time on. Sometimes, I just want to stop thinking for a while and let something/someone else do the talking so I can listen.

The Preemptive Critic - "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Duh -



What do you think?

Calm? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Christmas needs to be, like, yesterday.

(I preemptively love this movie)

The Five(ish) Fangirls Podcast Episode 2 - My Dad Is #1

New episode of The Five(ish) Fangirls is up and ready for your listening pleasure! This week, in honor of Father's Day, we discuss some of our favorite dads from pop culture. Also, news of note and feedback!

Thank you all for your wonderful comments and support! It means a lot to us!



Click Here for Show Notes and MP3 Download of the Podcast

A Comic Con in My Own Backyard - FINALLY!

I've had a day to recover and recuperate and now it's time to give my full-on report of Salt Lake Comic Con 2013!  I had the opportunity to share my experience throughout the con via Traveling the Vortex, who were gracious enough to allow me room on the podcast feed to share some updates and if I haven't thanked them enough for that, let me thank them just one more time.  It was so much fun and I enjoyed it very much (and I hope the other Vortex listeners got something out of it too).  Here are the links to those updates:

Day 0 - Preview
Day 1 - Vendors Hall
Day 2 - Line Dancing
Day 3 - A SHATNER-day Morning

And here is a link to all the pictures I took at Comic Con. I wanted to post them all here, but that's a LOT of pictures for one blog post.  Thank goodness for Picasa Albums!)

If you've listen to all of that and you STILL want more (or you just want to read about it), buckle in because here we go!

Vader encouraging people to sign up for a library card. As all good villains do.

Thursday, I was actually at the con for work (how many people - who aren't celebrity guests - can say they were paid to go to Comic Con?)  Salt Lake County Library and Salt Lake City Public Library shared a vendor booth in the Exhibit Hall and I got to take a shift for the entirety of that day's convention activities.  Thing is, the booth we had wasn't big enough to have four people there all the time, so we took turns wandering around the Exhibit Hall (which I mistakenly called the Vendors Hall in my podcast update - sorry about that).  Thursday was very not-busy, so I pretty much got to see everything I wanted.  I'd only planned on scoping out the area and planning my strategy for getting autographs and making purchases. But there were so few lines, that I decided it would be better to get the autographs I wanted now, rather than risk having to wait in monstrously long lines later (this proved to be one of my best ideas in the history of ever).

Blue was the theme of Thursday, apparently.

I met David Yost, who played Billy in the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (the Blue Ranger has been a personal favorite of mine since age 8) and that was a real treat for me to start out with.  David was so kind and very gracious, even though I was a bit flustered about meeting him (I will say that I was not as flustered as when I met Frazer Hines at Gallifery last year).  Then I went down the Autograph Alley a little further down and there was Simon Fisher-Becker, who was Dorium Maldovar in Series 5 and 6 of Doctor Who and someone I would have made a point to meet on principle, even without the encouragement from the Vortex Boys (Shaun had met Simon at Gallifrey One the year before last and Simon also came on the podcast for an interview soon after).  Simon was very personable and very gracious and remembered meeting Shaun and Mel at Gally.  He was very kind to provide me with a bumper for the podcast and I would have stayed to talk to him longer, but there were a few others who had come up behind me in line and Simon's handler/assistant/saleslady was anxious for the line to move (this lady was a pro - she nearly had me convinced to buy a $50 poster for Simon to sign, but I was on a budget for this con).

My Vendor Badge - that I had to give back at the end of Thursday *sad face*

That was Day 1, pretty much.  I talked a lot about it in the podcast and I don't want to repeat myself too much here because there were some stories from the second day that I forgot to tell.  So, I'm just going to launch into that now.

Manu Bennett in the Hobbit panel

William Kircher sneaking in the side door.

Day 2 (Friday) was very different.  For one thing, I was there as a regular con-goer, not as a vendor.  And it was even more busy the second day, which I decided was going to be my panel day.  I got in to the Unofficial Sneak Peek of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which was run by the guys from TheOneRing.net, which is a JRR Tolkien fansite.  They were there along with Weta Workshop, who are the geniuses behind the props and models and prosthetics in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies.  It's very difficult for me to pinpoint exactly who or what I was the most excited about having at Salt Lake Comic Con, but Weta Workshop was certainly on the list of Things To See.  I'd seen the Weta display the day before, and I took lots of pictures which would tell the story a million times better than I ever could and this panel was fantastic as well.  The guys from TORn (as they've shortened their site name to) had a whole presentation ready to go, but then Manu Bennett (who played Azog the White Orc in An Unexpected Journey) crashed the party and they let him have the floor for a while.  He talked about doing motion capture work and his initial thoughts about the concept design of Azog.  Then, William Kircher (Bifur the dwarf and Tom the troll) came in and talked for another twenty minutes and that was tons of fun to hear him talk about his experiences.

They sees us, Preciousssss!

By the time Manu and William had to leave, there wasn't a whole lot of time for the TORn guys to do their thing, but they got the important stuff in there.  One thing that I find interesting (and as a bit of a PSA) is that the studios aren't terribly thrilled about doing the Extended Edition DVD/Blu-Rays for The Hobbit.  This surprised me because I thought the Extended Editions were a hit for Lord of the Rings (but maybe that's because I'm a Tolkien nut and I get a kick out of that stuff).  They said that the Extended Edition for An Unexpected Journey will have over 15 hours of extras.  But if it doesn't sell well, the Extended Editions for the next two movies will only have about 2 hours of extras (which, I call that a standard DVD release, not an Extended Edition).  So, if you're a fan of the Extended Editions, here's your call to buy the EE for An Unexpected Journey and to make it a success! (if you're not a fan, well... buy it anyway and give it as a gift to someone you think might enjoy it).

Ray Park with some guy from X96 (forgot his name - sorry! But he was a great interviewer)

The next panel I went to was one I was not intending to see.  I wanted to see the Power Rangers panel at 3:00, which was going to be in the Main Stage ballroom.  I went to see if there was a line for that, but the doors were wide open and there were empty seats in the back for the Ray Park interview (Ray Park played Darth Maul, as well as other characters).  I figured that would be worth seeing while I waited for Power Rangers (better than sitting out in the hall, I guess).  Turned out Ray Park was one of the highlights of my day!  I think I enjoyed it precisely because I wasn't expecting to, but he is someone that I wish I had made time to go meet.  He was a fantastic interview - just listening to all his experiences from how he got into martial arts and physical acting to playing villains like Darth Maul and Toad from X-Men.  And he was so funny!  He said that at one point while shooting The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul was supposed to die by Obi-Wan slicing his head off, but they decided to change it because there was a chance that Darth Maul could come back in the next movie and they didn't want to have to explain how he got his head back.  Then Ray goes, "Everyone else has fake body parts - why couldn't Maul have a fake head?"  It was probably funnier when he said it.  If you're ever at a con and Ray Park is on the guest list speak, I highly recommend making time for any panel or interview he's in.

The only picture I got from the Power Rangers panel - told you I was enraptured by these three!
(the interviewer here didn't have a whole lot to do)

I already talked about my little run-in with miscommunication and misdirection between the Ray Park interview and the Power Rangers panel and I don't want to get into all the negativity with that (I've already left a comment on the Salt Lake Comic Con website and it doesn't need to go any further than that - if you really want to hear about it, it's on the Day 2 update on the podcast).  We were all seated and ready to go for the next panel and when the Power Rangers theme song came over the speakers, we all went nuts!  The audience looked like it was mostly made up of people like me who watched the show when we were little nippers and it was pure nostalgia to have these guys here.  The panel was made up of Cerina Vincent (who was the Yellow Ranger in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy) and, of course, Walter Jones and David Yost (the Black Ranger and the Blue Ranger, respectively, in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - or, as I called it in my updates, The Original Power Rangers).  And I was glued to everything these three said.  The one thing I regret now is that I didn't take notes or tweet the memorable moments, like I had for The Hobbit or Ray Park panels.  I'm blaming my inner nine-year-old for that one, but I was just so excited to see these guys on stage and I couldn't bring myself to have my face in a notebook or on my iPhone for this. There were a few specifics I do remember.  One started with a question from someone in the audience asking Walter and David how it was acting against a blank wall where post-production would put Zordon's floating head in later.  David said something to the effect of "You hit your mark, say your lines, and you get paid" (he said it much better than that)  Then Walter went on this thing (in his joking, cheerful manner) how it was kind of tough to imagine how they were going to realize this giant floating head giving them instructions and he had to tilt his head and squint at the piece of paper tacked on the wall for them to look at and it was kind of a funny bit.  Then David, who had been the straight man to Walter's comedic persona through this entire panel, completely deadpanned "Well, it would be much easier for a better actor."  And the room roared with laughter because Walter had been completely had by that and it came out of nowhere.  It was like these two had a routine down pat, after doing so many conventions through the years.  Cerina had some good moments too, but I'm not as familiar with her, though now I want to go find some of her episodes because her character sounds pretty interesting (she's sounds a lot like Leela, though less of a warrior and more of a [quote] "hippie, nature chick" from another planet).

SHATNER! (my iPhone kept auto-correcting his name like that, which was hilarious)

That was pretty much Day 2.  Day 3 was my quest to meet William Shatner and get his autograph for my friend Brittany, who'd asked me and I was more than happy to do that for her (and my dad said that I ought to, with him having been a fan since he was a little kid).  I spent about 3 hours in lines waiting for a 20-second encounter, but it was so worth it!  I basically tweeted and took pictures of cosplayers during this time (and I talked to a lot of really nice people while we waited in line.  I mean, what else are you going to do?)

A Wreck-It Ralph family - this taken was on the fly as the line was moving into the Salt Palace

Full shot of the homemade Dalek - Instagram kept cropping out parts of it

With this being Saturday and the final day of the con, I think this day came the closest to re-creating the San Diego Comic Con experience for Salt Lake City - tons of lines, tons of people, the completely inability to move anywhere on the convention floor.  When all was said and done, I think at final tally, it turned out that there were 70,000-80,000 people just on Saturday.  I know when I left at 2:00 pm, the line was wrapping around the block (which, the Salt Palace sits on a larger-than-average city block with Abravanel Hall) and was well on its way to the Gateway Mall (I didn't stick around to see if it got down that direction).  Apparently, they even ran out of badges at registration and they finally had to turn people away because the building was at capacity.  There were some complaints about it, but I think the con organizers really didn't expect this big of a turnout (this being a first-year convention and Utah's geek culture not really being at the forefront - that's a whole different discussion that I could spearhead later).

Allons-y!

The funniest thing I heard when I got home was from my roommate, who was telling me that a group of people from my church were thinking about going down to Comic Con yesterday because they heard there was Sci-Fi Speed Dating and they wanted to check it out.  I laughed out loud because (A) These kids had NO idea what they were getting into by going to Comic Con in the first place and (B) By that time, there was ZERO chance of them getting in the convention anyway.  My roommate and I got a good laugh out of that one.

Thor and Loki and a bunch of demigods from Camp Half-Blood

Even with the hiccups and glitches, I think Salt Lake Comic Con was a huge success.  When I very first heard about it, I was hoping that there would be a good enough turnout to make this an annual thing.  But now, I think this could be a premiere convention in the country.  There are so many cons back east - DragonCon, New York Comic Con, C2E2, WorldCon (yes, I consider Texas to be back east.  If you're east of the Rocky Mountains, that's back east) and not a whole lot out here in the Intermountain West.  We're sort of the big empty hole right before you get to California that everyone ignores.  So many people I talked to that were from other states said that they would love to go to San Diego Comic Con, but it's so expensive and always so full - but they could certainly manage a trip to Salt Lake City.  And lots of them did.

Hope this TARDIS really is bigger on the inside!

For me, it's just nice to finally be acknowledged in my own backyard.  I like sports and I don't mind the outdoorsy people (but the froofy scrapbookers and bridal shows, I can ignore) - but I can't really say how much it means to me to have a sci-fi/geek convention in town.  Not only have this convention, but have it be a huge success and shatter all kinds of records.  I honestly don't know what'll happen when this con outgrows the Salt Palace because I think that's the largest convention center in the state (luckily, they still have the other half of the building that they could very well use next year - and they could expand into Abravanel Hall if they needed to - there was another conference going on there while Comic Con was running).

Can I be "Carriage Man" you guys?

I think the success of this convention could be summed up in one last story that I kept forgetting to tell, but it's such a good one.  When I left the convention Friday night, I saw a group of cosplayers being stopped by a guy who was driving one of those horse-and-carriage tours that go around downtown Salt Lake.  The guy had his camera out and was asking them if he could take a picture of them.  He was asking how the convention was going and thanked them for the picture.  And I thought that was a great moment of the convention mixing with the rest of the city.

So, until next year peeps!

Deadpool, out!

May the Fourth Be With You!

Seeing as it's Star Wars Day (officially? unofficially? doesn't matter), it's time for some Piano Guys action!

This video never gets old -



Also - it's Free Comic Book Day at the library and I've already given out a ton of comic books this morning (plus I snagged one for myself).  And my roommate and I are going to see Iron Man 3 tonight AND there's a new episode of Doctor Who later today.

If I get to heaven and it doesn't resemble today at all, I will be severely disappointed.

I Didn't Realize Tatooine Was for Sale!

In a move that is only surprising because nobody was really talking about it, Disney purchased LucasFilm and ILM for a substantial chunk of change.  This means that the House of Mouse will now be sharing studio-space with Yoda and Darth Vader and a bunch of Jedi - WHEE!!

Personally, I am excited about this.  If only because I was tired of all the requisite bitching about "Han Shot First" (which, now that I've seen the original footage, I'm calling bullshit on George's shenanigans) and, really, how MANY times are you going to tweak the original trilogy??  It's been out for THIRTY FREAKING YEARS!!  It's like George has this scab that he won't stop picking!  I'm sick of hearing how this next Super-Duper-Extra-Special-Snowflake Release is the DEFINITIVE version of Star Wars.  And honestly - I'd be okay with some new material that isn't cobbled on to something that's been around for years already (which, it sounds like we'll be getting sooner than we expected.  2015 - OMG, YES!!)

Say what you will about Disney, they do take care of their intellectual property (we've agreed to ignore the glut of crapquels that were only done For the Money).  Especially something as iconic and historic as Star Wars - I have no doubt that everyone's favorite Galaxy Far Far Away is in capable hands.  Also - judging how Disney and Marvel have been playing so nicely together, I'm excited to see what this new partnership brings.

(And I would LOVE to see the original Original Trilogy in a DVD/Blu-Ray set.  My first exposure to Star Wars was the 1997 Special Edition in theaters and I've only seen the original Star Wars on VHS - never Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi.  What can I say? I'm a young'un).

PS - I am happy about this WITH ONE CAVEAT - in the event that I make it back to Disneyland, I do NOT want see a Disney Cast Member dressed up as Jar Jar Binks taking pictures with park guests.  Let's just relegate that upon the dungheap of bad ideas, shall we?

PPS - John Scalzi (who I'm still not sure who he is, but he matters to Geekdom at large, so I'll go with it) has an excellent post about Why This Is A Big Deal. I can't argue with his logic and he managed to put it better than I did, so there you go.

I swear the universe is conspiring against me...

I'm having to go out of town this weekend for some family things and I'll be out of commission for a while - and all these awesome things are happening!!! ARGH!

Real quick - here's what's going down -

1. The Avengers movie is kicking ass and taking names. I hope to see it next week sometime (but if I can sneak away to a movie theater today or tomorrow, I will jump on that opportunity).

2. May the 4th Be With You - Happy Star Wars Day, y'all! (The first of two, since the Star Wars release day anniversary is May 25 and is also considering Geek Pride Day).

3. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day at the library (and other places too. But mostly the library).

4. The cover for A Memory of Light, the 14th and final Wheel of Time book, was released yesterday. I'll have further analysis later, but suffice it to say that this is the first cover of this series (that isn't an ebook re-release) that actually says to the potential reader "READ ME! I'M AN AWESOME BOOK!" (too bad it took until the END OF THE FREAKING SERIES to finally get such a cover /rant)

5. The Vortex Boys are watching "The Mark of the Rani" tonight for Friday Night Who. Seeing as this is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories (not just a favorite Colin Baker story - a favorite Doctor Who story in general), I'm miffed that I have to miss it.  I'll certainly watch it on my own before they review it on the podcast, but Friday Night Who is my ritual. *sadface*

Universe - next time I have to attend to personal stuff, try not to do anything new and exciting while I'm gone.  Just... make it a boring "Everyone go do yardwork" weekend, mmkay?

Things in the Past 24 Hours That Have Made Me Happy

I've just found a bunch of random things that have brought a smile to my face and I wish to share them with you. There's nothing really specific and no set theme.  Just something to enjoy on this chilly Saturday -

1. "What About Everything?" by Carbon Leaf



The first video I found with this song was actually one by Babelcolour and was posted by Traveling the Vortex. But I discovered that BC was inspired by the one above, which was done a few years back, and it is no less impressive.  And the song itself is quite inspiring - I got 10,000 (or so) words written on my NaNoWriMo yesterday just from listening to it over and over again.  I believe I have a new theme song for myself and a new favorite group.

2. Pandora Radio

I've since quit listening to the regular radio for music because (A) They never seem to be playing songs I like and (B) They always go right to some idiotic commercial just as I'm tuning in.  And I can't stand commercials anymore (I am becoming my dad in this regard).  However, I keep missing out of fantastic new music (like Adele) because I just listen to what I have on my iPod.  For whatever reason, I'd never used Pandora before last night (even though everyone's grandmother's canary has), so I decided to give it a shot and it was brilliant (well, so far).

3. "Help Me, Doctor! You're My Only Hope!"


Untitled by ~nrrrdy on deviantART

Okay, so I unofficially gave it that title (it was one that was suggested on the Doctor Who LJ forum), but that it really funny.  I really can't say anything more than that.

4. My Niece Doing Something Amazing

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're all saying - everything these things do at four months is amazing to their relatives.  But guys, Jay-Boo is reading! (Well, really, just looking at the pictures. Or deciding which page to drool on next).  You all can be as skeptical as you want, but this is my niece and I am a librarian and I couldn't be prouder of the kid (and her parents).  And this is my new cell phone wallpaper.

5. I Hit 20K In NaNoWriMo!


I meant to mention this earlier, but I'm taking on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) in which I'm writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, starting with November 1 and (hopefully) finishing on or before November 30.  I was on a pretty good track until I had a couple of days where I worked eight hour shifts and I didn't get anything written.  And if you don't write at least 1,667 words a day (on average), you get behind.  Well, yesterday I had the day off because of the holiday and I sat down and wrote my little fingers off.  I found a really good plot thread to go along with and I made it past the 20,000 word mark!  I was quite pleased with myself over that one.

Happy Saturday, y'all!

I'm Famous!

Well, I'm in the Utah Library Association October newsletter, at least.  Check it out!

Click to Embiggen

Here's the link to the entire October issue, but I figured people would just want to see our article instead of having to search until page 11 for it.  All I can say is that I'm glad the picture they used is from the first day we were in the country.  We all look fresh and happy (and like our clothes had been washed in a washer rather than a sink in our hotel/dorm/thingie).

And because I promised I'd post them and I haven't gotten to it yet, here are some pics of some of the Serbian night life.

Yes, that's Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper walking down the street with some Monty Python guys.  I wish I'd had my camera more at-the-ready, but I was in the middle of having dinner and was lucky I got the backs of them.

To Stroke My Ego (plus video-spam)

Quick post, just to show that I have not forgotten this blog.  Life has been busy of late - had a crazy 4th of July where your humble correspondent was obligated to come out from behind the computer screen and socialize with family members and friends.  But I must say, the food was good - not to mention the fireworks.

School keeps me busy, as always.  I have a paper due tomorrow that I am feverishly sprinting to complete.  But I have decided that since I've kept all these articles from my past classes, I might as well use them.  I often am required to quote from other articles, which I just think is a pain because why do I want to write a paper using other people's ideas instead of relying on my own?  I mean, sure it's good to know what's out there and what others have written does help you formulate your own thoughts, but I'd much rather share my own ideas.  I usually just quote a line from each article I find and then just prattle on about my own thoughts in a convoluted-academic-smart-people-sounding way (academic writing is really wordy, which also bugs me).  Which is why I ended up creating this "Reference Librarianship in Star Wars" video - it's creative and information and really entertaining (if I do say so myself).



I actually forgot to mention this here, but I used that video in my last class weekend for a presentation and my instructor liked it so much that she asked if she could use it in future trainings.  By the way, my instructor is the assistant director for the Utah State Library - not the USU library, but the library for the State of Utah.  Oh yeah - who's awesome?

I also managed to finish the 2009 "Doctor Who" specials, which were an emotional roller coaster on steroids (It's official - I am a Tenth Doctor fangirl, but Eleven is making a convincing case).  If I can get so involved in a story after just one month, then that's something.  This is what I was talking about when I was lamenting the lack of books that kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning - but who knew I'd find that kind of mileage in a TV show of all things?  I'm almost happy that "24" was canceled (almost) because then I wouldn't have had the desire to find something new to squee over.

And thanks to "Doctor Who," I have also become a David Tennant fangirl - I'm now on a quest to find other shows and movies he's been in.  Before "Doctor Who," I knew him from his role as Barty Crouch in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but that was it.  But since then, I've found other (smallish) things he's done and it's simply marvelous ^_^  My next plan of attack is to find the version of "Hamlet" he was in (it should be no secret that I love, love, LOVE "Hamlet" *points to blog subtitle*).  I've seen a few clips on YouTube.  When I actually stop to think about it, I feel a little odd drooling over David's delivery of the "To be or not to be" soliloquy because it's basically Hamlet contemplating suicide, but the giddy fangirl in me just can't help it.  Seriously - if you have any interest in Shakespeare at all, you owe it to yourself to hit the big play button.



Bottom Line - Shakespeare = Win.  Hamlet = Win.  David Tennant = Win.  David Tennant as Shakespeare's Hamlet = So Much Win that the Universe Explodes (good thing we have the Doctor in the house ^_^)

Also in the realm of stories that keep me up at night - Shannon Hale.  Ahem - Shannon Hale!  Is amazing.  I've finished all the "Books of Bayern" and I have to say that I have a writer's crush on her (meaning that I am in love with her style of writing).  The last one, "Forest Born" was simply brilliant.  After three books of having part of the focus being on romance (which, you'll never hear me complain too much about that) it was nice to have Rin come to grips with her people- and tree-speaking abilities.  Rin is an absolute delight.  The others were good too (if "The Goose Girl" hadn't have been so good, I wouldn't have read the rest) and I have gone on to "Book of a Thousand Days," which is lovely.

So, that's what I've been up to lately - school, reading, fangirling, being generally awesome, you know the usual.