I die.



Fan-made and fantastic.

2:40 to around the three minute mark, I had goosebumps THE WHOLE TIME, and I don't even like Matt Smith's Doctor.

Moffat, make it so!

Getting All Up in ComicCon, First Time Styles Edition

Can you believe with all my Star Trekking and comic-booking and nerd love fangirling that I've never attended ComicCon in San Diego until this year?

A good friend who attends on industry passes invited me along this year, and I jumped at the chance to go to geek mecca.

Also, I heard a little show called Sherlock would panel this year.

Oh girl, it was ON.

We packed up and made the 6 hour trek down from the Bay to pit stop in Los Angeles for a few days prior, down Interstate 5. Usually the flats are a wasteland, we were lucky it was an unusually GORGEOUS drive. We're cool like that.

A few days of shopping and dranks and shoring up sleep in LA, and we headed to the Con.

We arrived.

It was MADNESS.

(This is like, 1/8 of the floor.)

And we had a great time. I could go on and on about the displays (BBC America's Doctor Who fashions over the years was stellar), or the cool orgs tabling (Kirby Museum! Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!) or the nice artists we chatted with (Brom!) but what I was really struck by was not only the sheer massive volume of geekery on display and in conversation, but at how absolutely wonderful we geeks are. It's not merely a back-patting, it's the truth. In an enormous mass of excited and sometimes bulkily-attired people, every time I was bumped I received an "excuse me" or "sorry." On several occasions we were witness to expensive electronics being found and turned in immediately. Everyone was stoked to be with their people, and I must say I was so impressed with the camaraderie and friendliness and willingness to talk about nerd love in a rational (and may I say, Vulcan-like, even!) manner that was displayed over my 4 days in geek heaven.

Ah, and alas, the Sherlock panel was not to be on my agenda as it looks like any panel of extreme note (this one had Stephen Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and Sue Vertue) required overnight campouts in line. And when it comes to that kind of fangirling, saudade does. not. play. Also of note: Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch sent their regards via video, but they did not attend -- something I was a bit surprised by given not only Sherlock, but their current roles in that bastion of geekery, The Hobbit, AND Cumberbatch's roles in both the recent Star Trek and as Julian Assange in the upcoming The Fifth Estate.

So, yeah...I was a bit taken aback at the underrepresentation of Sherlock at the Con, given there was a significant panel, A-list star profiles/projects, and a growing American fanbase (my own recent Cumberbatching may have influenced this as well, but STILL, c'maaaaan). Even the BBC America booth only had what looked like a hastily put-together and half-assed t-shirt (which, ok, yes, I attempted to buy but it was sold out in my size. What?! I am that person.)

Anyway, I'm still a bit high from the nerd love holiday I just experienced. Lovely, lovely time, and I am definitely planning on attending again next year.

Happy PRIDE!

Happy Pride!

P.S: That adorables gif choice is no random googling accident; I just now started watching Sherlock because it was recommended to me and it is AMAZEBALLS.

P.P.S: And ugh, file this under nerdgirls are easy -- predictably, irrevocably (and as per usual, totally late to the party): Benedict Cumberbatch's brilliant turn on the BBC as Sherlock (okay, for real, it's also those thick. black. curls.), mind-blowing performance as bizarro reboot Khan in Star Trek, Into Darkness (okay, for real, it's also that. body.), and (just in case you're insane and didn't click on that Khan link) good lord sweet jesus his baritone, sex-oozing voice (gurl, for real, that. voice.). And so here we are, hook line sinker: one more for the man harem. If he stays away from man harem lifetime member James McAvoy's odd career choices he has a shot at a Paul Newman or Laurence Olivier caliber career.

The internets also pinky swear that Cumberbatch is, essentially, perfect: not merely satisfied with being talented, and handsome in that alabaster alien meets sexy ginger Keebler elf way, he is rumored to also be highly intellectual, modest, witty, polite, charming, and kind. He claims to love both his mother and reading books. He supposedly rides a motorbike, is OK firing up the occasional smoke, and speaks Latin. Holy hot hell. He's also remarked that he desperately wants to breed, so OK, baby daddy dealbreaker aside, he's almost my perfect man harem piece. But, since I will never really know any of those more intimate details for sure, better to stick with the basics, non? Can't go wrong with possessing documented talent AND teh sex (unless you're a rumored jerkface *cough*Fassy*cough*); most signs though point to his likability and general good guy-ness as fact. Cumberbatch is first string, lifetime member material all the way.

Seriously, click on that voice link. Do it.

This guy.

Nathan Fillion Reveals Why He's Hooked on Books

Let me get this straight: he loves reading -- especially nerdy adventure, fantasy, sci-fi and comic books -- gives serious props to his English teacher mom, and was not only creepy priest on Buffy and Joey Buchanan on OLTL, but BOTH Captain Mal and Captain Hammer? This is a man who knows how to work his audience into a steamy mess. Hot damn.

If I didn't already have my handsome, smart, talented, and awesomely nerdy hubby, I would be all over this and moving to America's hat, stat.

One of the best I've seen all day, from me to you.

Proud to be an American

Holy badass.

steampunk laptop

Really?

Amid Hard Times, An Influx In Real Superheroes

Mr. Ravenblade, Mr. Xtreme, Dark Guardian and hundreds of others. Some with elaborate costumes, others with haphazardly stitched outfits, they are appearing on city streets worldwide watching over the populace like Superman watched over Metropolis and Batman over Gotham City.

As people become disillusioned from financial woes and a downtrodden economy and look to put new purpose in their lives, everyday folks are taking on new personas to perform community service, help the homeless and even fight crime.

There are apparently even organizations that encourage folks in this direction and offer support, like Superheroes Anonymous.

Whoa.

When I first read this article, I did give a little chortle. But in the context of helping others, if this is what gives people purpose and encourages community activism, why not?

Okay, I suppose the "why not" might involve people becoming unrealistic about what their new personas can and should be doing in the community. And not to go all Watchmen on you, but adding anonymity to the equation could further those problems.

But forget about trying to deconstruct the political and social implications behind such things. I'm such a killjoy! Let's just say we live in interesting times. Now to think of a superhero name...

Whoa.

Getting Their Kirk On

I love Star Trek as much as the next nerd, but I think someone insisting on having one of these in my living room would be a deal-breaker.

Speaking of, Trevor and I were walking home from dinner last night and what did we see illuminated inside a small garage down a long, dark driveway in tony Rockridge? A boys room -- compete with a fooseball table, Guinness pool table lamp, computer, flat-panel teevee, various sports jerseys (meh), and a bar. With taps. It was really something. We were drawn like moth to flame.

Someday.

Weekend wrap-up...

Trevor's reading Friday at Pegasus for Rarer and More Wonderful was fantastic! Many thanks to the friends and other folks who came out to support his first book, and for extending the celebrations later on at Jupiter.


















For folks who couldn't make it, you can pick up Trevor's book at Scrambler Books. And there will be more reading dates to come!

Saturday was Adrienne and Tobin's wedding at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. Bride was stunning in a strapless corseted wedding gown with a lacy dress train. With pearls in her hair, she was reminiscent of a mermaid. Groom walked in to the Imperial March, cello-style. Nerds! The wedding was gorgeous and brilliant, just like the bride and groom.














Sunday was to be a day of rest, but lo, Chris' siren's call of BBQ and beer in the afternoon was too much to resist -- as was the requisite game night, now with pad thai.

Good friends, good times, good living, here in the Bay.

Home now. Going to bed.

Better late than never: a few pics from Wednesday's Red Sparowes show at Bottom of the Hill.



























As to be expected, it was superb. Recorded, Red Sparowes are really impressive, but live they're epic.

The show itself was amazing, but the crowd a little trying, as it was again an all-ages show. Don't get me wrong, I am all about the all-ages show and give mad props to venues and bands who swing this way, because it can be a pain in the ass to negotiate. But it's been a long time since I was in high school, and as you can tell by that first shot I had to relinquish second row and beat it to the back as I dislike being reminded of what teenage boy smells and acts like, especially when multiplied by 200.

BTW, can you tell what a sausage party this was? I think I was one of about 10 chicks in attendance. Too bad, because this is monumental RAWK that should know no gender lines.

Dig it that both the man and I, unbeknownst to each other, were oddly annoyed by the bass player, and upon conferring afterward realized it was because we both thought he looked like Gaius Baltar. Nerds!

I also have a new favorite, opening band Russian Circles from Chicago. Check this band out now, yo, before they are super-huge.














Their bassist was the fucking man. He brought the dirty fuzzy and the epic metalscape with equal badassity. Plus, cute beard!














Russian Circles at Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, 3.25.2008

I think my sweetheart posted the most fitting and honorable tribute to the late D&D creator, Gary Gygax, that I've had the pleasure to read.

The poem he includes, by the magnificent César Vallejo (and translated by the incomparable Clayton Eshleman), bears reposting here.

RIP, Gary Gygax. May your modifiers be plentiful, and your dice always come to rest 20 up.

The Eternal Dice

My God, I am crying over the being I live;
it grieves me to have taken your bread;
but this poor thinking clay
is no scab from your side:
you do not have Marys who leave you!

My God, had you been a man,
today you would know how to be God;
but you, who were always fine,
feel nothing for your own creation.
Indeed, man suffers you; God is he!

Today there are candles in my sorcerer eyes,
as in those of a condemned man--
my God, you will light all of your candles
and we will play with the old die...
Perhaps, oh gambler, throwing for the fate of
the whole universe,
Death's dark-circled eyes will come up,
like two funeral snake eyes of mud.

My God, and this deaf, gloomy night,
you will not be able to gamble, for the Earth
is a worn die now rounded from
rolling at random,
it cannot stop but in a hollow,
the hollow of an immense tomb.

Drunken truths:

1) Zombies are the most blue collar of all the monsters.

2) "Raised by Women" would be a kickass band name.

3) The Knights Who Say "Nerd": 20 Pop-Cultural Obsessions Even Geekier Than Monty Python

Yes, I know someone who knows what "Next time we run MC, sheep one of the core hounds while I rush in and pull aggro. Damn, I wish they hadn't nerfed paladins" means. I sleep with him. Proudly.