Spirit Animals and Girl Crushes

As I was watching How I Met Your Mother all the way through for a second time, I realized I have come to appreciate it more than my first watch through.  It’s hilarious, smart, funny and really sticks to consistency/continuity better than most shows in recent memory.  It really is just like Friends,but Friends never struck a cord with me like HIMYM did.  Friends is my mom’s thing, HIMYM is my thing.  Totally different.  I digress.

But as I was watching, I find myself yo-yoing between completely relating with Ted’s romantic wishes and wishing I were Robin Scherbatsky (played by the beautiful and talented Cobie Smulders).  She’s awesome, a duel citizen of Canada and America (originally 100% Canadian), she’s got a feminine side but she will totally kick your ass over hockey, eh. She doesn’t want kids and she loves dogs.  Sometimes I’m not sure if I want to be her or date her a la Jenna Marble’s Girl Crushes video.  Maybe she’s just another spirit animal.

My first spirit animal is Anna Kendrick.  I love her.  She’s talented, smart, gorgeous and funny and I would love to be able to have even half her talent and beauty.  Her tweets tell true stories about life and I sometimes find myself thinking, “OMG we’re the same person.”   Yeah, right.  In my dreams.  Emma Stone is up there too. These ladies make me jealous and sexually confused.  Can i just be a combination of all three of you? Can we hang out? No? That’s creepy? Fine. *le sigh*  What can you do?  I guess I just have try to capture a tiny bit of that awesomeness from the screen.

I think we all have spirit animals and/or girl/guy crushes.  That would certainly explain the popularity of all the personality tests on the internet.  We identify with celebrities, characters or cartoons and suddenly a part of us would feel validated and super satisfied if we just got our favorite character as a result in that personality test your friend posted on Facebook.  Maybe that’s just me, but I see comments that would suggest some people get upset when they don’t get the results we want.

Maybe these spirit animals, cartoons and characters are embodiments of traits we’d like to see in ourselves.  Whether we actually have the intention of changing to be the kind of person we’d like to be is debatable.  Perhaps it’s better just to be “yourself,”  especially cause you really don’t have the option of being someone else.  But I do think our mindset, our paradigm, can change with hard work and desire to change.  Maybe if I want to be that awesome, I just have to work at it.  I can’t fix my face though.  Ain’t nobody got the time or money for that.

Do you guys have any celebrity, character or cartoon spirit animals or confusing crushes?  How many of you want to be Batman?  Let’s just be honest here.

-Gretchen

FNAF 4: The Hype

For the past several months, I’ve been had the fever: The Five Nights at Freddy’s fever.

It’s not as scary if you image he has Mario’s voice.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Five Nights at Freddy’s is an indie, survival-horror game quadrilogy created by the super talented Scott Cawthon.  On the surface, it centers around a Chuck E. Cheese-eque pizzeria with you playing as the night guard who has to survive the haunted animatronics until 6 a.m. for 5 (or 6 or 7 if you are brave enough) nights.  As those who have read my Comic-Con blog know, I’m a big fan of Markiplier.   It was his Let’s Play of the series that initially got me hooked.  At first, it was just the jump scares and his reactions that reeled me in. However, as I learned more about the story through subtle clues and as new consecutive games came out, I was hooked.

I started watching MatPat’s Game Theory videos and other Let’s Plays and reading fan theories on Reddit.  When it came out on mobile, I downloaded it and played it for myself.  It scared me and it fascinated me.  The hidden secrets and story beyond just the main premise of the game intrigued me.  I love murder mysteries or mysteries of any kind.  Give me a good “who dun it” story and I become obsessed until I know all the answers.  And I expect all of them to be answered.  None of this Inception ending crap.  Tell me what happened at the end; don’t leave it up to my imagination/interpretation.

When FNAF 3 came out, we all assumed that it would be the final installment into the series. But it wasn’t long until FNAF 4: The Final Chapter was announced on Scott’s homepage for Halloween 2015.  Scott isn’t really good with release dates though.  Just a few weeks ago he announced that the game would be coming out early on 8/8 with free DLC on 10/31, but then the actual game just came out Thursday, July 23rd.  It was unexpected, but it brought at lot of hype.

Per the norm, I’ve already watched 4 different people play, beat and analyze the game.   I’m still watching and waiting for the entirety of the playthrough from Markiplier and the final theories from MatPat, but that will keep the buzz going.  Once the DLC comes out, which I suspect will be out before 10/31 if the main game is any indication,  we will finally (hopefully) have the full picture of the horrible and scary things that went on in the Freddy Fazbear’s Entertainment establishments.

The release date is a lie.

I won’t say too much in case you fans out there haven’t gotten a chance to see or play it yet, but I will say that the bite of ’87 is involved and there are lots of easter eggs in this game for fans of the series.  You just have to look and listen closely, much like the mechanics of this 4th game.  It’s unlike any of the 3 games before it. It’s more intense, frightening and in a setting we haven’t seen from this series before.  The game is packed with more story-filled minigames  and a minigame that can give you a leg up on the next night, if you are skilled enough to beat it.

I cannot wait until this drops on the App Store.  I wish my computer could handle FNAF on Steam, but (sadly) it cannot.  For me though, the fun comes not from the jump scares and the actual playing of it, but from the community and story that surrounds the game.  It’s morbidly magical, fun and always interesting.  How often do you have to scour teaser images and videos for clues?  How often do you have to ‘inspect element’ on a website to find out secret hints about the game’s release, setting or theme?  I love that stuff.   I look forward to the DLC completing the story, but I think I’ll be sad to see it end.  Hopefully, some other super awesome game will come along and snatch my attention.

Until then… FNAF 4!!!!!!!!  Woooooo!

-Gretchen

Ant Man Review

So I went to see Ant Man over the weekend, and if you are wondering where it ranks (at least to me) on the Marvel list of movies, well you have stumbled upon the right blog post.

I will say that I didn’t get the full movie experience of this movie because the theater I saw it at was having a few technical glitches before the movie started, and while it did eventually get rolling, it never really was at 100%. What I mean by that is that the computer running the movie decided to crash and so we awkwardly sat waiting for the movie to start. The wait isn’t so bad, but when you sit in a theater and everything is awkward, it is a breeding ground for people to yell out comments trying to be comedians. This isn’t even so bad, but it continued after the movie actually started and it really tends to take you out of the movie for someone to go “NICE LANDING BRO.” Seriously, if you are one of those people, do that shit at home. People paid good money for those seats. Also, the screen was slightly fuzzy the whole time, and I felt like I needed to keep cleaning my glasses but it was definitely just the screen.

Let’s get to the nitty gritty of this bi-atch. Okay, if you are just a casual fan like myself, I think whether you will like this movie will come down to how much of a fan of Paul Rudd you are. I personally love Paul Rudd, so I was stoked going into the movie that he was going to be a super hero. Especially since my favorite Marvel movie is Guardians of the Galaxy and I figured his performance would be on par with Chris Pratt’s. Don’t get me wrong, I like super heros and the avenger films do have their silly moments, but its so surrounded by non-stop action that its lost a little bit. I think Paul Rudd and his group of buddies (T.I., Michael Pena, and David Dastmalchian)

I’m not so sure on the whole lore of ant-man, so I can’t comment too much on it. If you haven’t picked up from the trailers, you have Michael Douglas playing Dr. Pym who made the ant-man suit. (Side-bar real quick: there is a flashback at the beginning of the movie with a young looking Michael Douglas, and it is freaky to see him young. Idk if it was CGI or what, but when it shows him present day its jarring)

Action-wise, this movie is pretty stacked. Because of how small ant-man is, the bugs that he is around are almost like giant beasts in his army. Also, when he is dodging bullets, its almost like dodging cannon fire. What really sets this movie apart, however, is a fight scene that occurs on a train set later on in the movie. With all these movies recently where the final battle is like New York or Chicago where you have a billion aliens flying around destroying the city and the universe opening up, its amazing to see a fresh new set. Even just watching the commercial and seeing the dramatic scene where the bad guy is hit by Thomas the Train, it made me have that feeling of being a kid again, and very few movies have done that. Seriously, for that scene alone, it is worth seeing the movie.

The thing about movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant Man is that casual movie goers like myself who have never really read the comics can go and enjoy the movie without worrying about if it fits accurately within the universe. I understand (as a transformers fan) that sometimes not following the original story can be a little aggravating to fans. If you have read Ant Man and it disappoints you as a comic fan, I am sincerely sorry. However, if you haven’t read the comics, I say stop what you’re doing and go see the movie right meow.

In terms of where I rank this movie in the marvel universe, I can’t put it above Guardians of the Galaxy right now. If I re-watch the movie without hecklers behind me yelling like idiots it might be a better experience. I will say I liked this movie more than Avengers 2, so it comes in at a solid 2nd place. If I had to give this movie a number I’d say a strong 8/10. I hope if you go see it, none of the problems I ran into get in the way of the experience.

Remake vs. Remasters: Why the Final Fantasy VII remake is both exciting and terrifying

The image that caused a billion nerdgasms.

In recent years, it has become very popular to remaster classic and/or beloved games.  Great titles like the Uncharted series, The Last of Us, Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy X and X-2 all got the remastered treatment.  “Remastering” isn’t necessarily new; it’s essentially porting the game to a new system.  In fact, porting has been around since the early days of video games, even the Apple II had ports of games from the Atari.

However, as you undoubtedly heard due to the internet exploding, Sony and Square-Enix announced in their E3 conferences that the classic, ever-popular Final Fantasy VII was getting a full-on remake.  It’s not really a surprise as the remaster of a game that old just wouldn’t work.  We’ve already seen FFVII ported as a classics title to the PS3 and Sony portable systems and, even with the PS3’s smoothing features, Cloud’s polygonal hair will stab you right in the eyes until they bleed.

To be honest, I never finished FFVII.  I didn’t even play it as a child.  I didn’t make through the first disc, once I finally started playing it in college. My first Final Fantasy title was Final Fantasy IX followed by Final Fantasy VIII (my personal favorite) and Final Fantasy X which were all gorgeous games.  So, going “backwards” to Final Fantasy VII felt like a downgrade.  I couldn’t focus on the game without the graphics hurting my eyes and the battle system getting on my nerves.   I had gotten really good at using the Final Fantasy VIII and IX battle systems, but, for some reason, the materia system never really made sense to me. Maybe I made it more complicated than it actually was.  Wouldn’t be the first time.

Not to defend myself, I should have given it a fairer shot.  I was far too busy in college with all the new games coming out to really give this title a chance. Going off the graphics alone is no reason to set a game aside. It’s got a lot of hype as a game; hopefully, that’s not for nothing.  I own the game. I’ve seen the movie. I’ve even played spin-off games.  I pretty much know the story without ever having played.  It’s interesting to me and I think I would like it.

Which brings me back to the remake.

I was super excited to hear that this would be remade.  The rumor mill surrounding this had been going for years.  It seemed like every E3 since the announcement of the PS3 was speculating about a potential remake of this iconic game.  I blame the tech demo;  I was also super excited about the FFVIII tech demo back in the day, until I realized it was just a demo and not a remake of one of my favorite games.

This year they gave us the fan service we wanted. It’s about time too; Square-Enix has been steadily climbing the ranks of my shit list since Final Fantasy XII and the continually delayed games like Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, now know as Final Fantasy XV, don’t help.  Remaking Final Fantasy VII is something that might just turn the tide and get them back on my good side.  I’ll finally get to play Final Fantasy VII on a modern console and it’ll look pretty!  That’s awesome! Sign me upI I am down.

However, it’s important to understand that a remake is very different than a port/remaster and Square-Enix has already stated publicly that they intend to make changes and improvements to the game.  This is where the terrifying part comes in.  I’m totally down for the graphical improvements and even adding elements of the spin-off stories to the game to give us bonus content and a more complete picture.

Cloud is equally passionate about keeping this scene in the game. Just look at him.

But what exactly are they changing?  Will the battle system change to be more like the Final Fantasy XIII model? I don’t want that.  Will these improvements be like the “new and improved” label on your favorite cereal?  (you know that shit isn’t gonna taste better; they ruined it) Will they censor the game? I want to see Drag Queen Cloud in all his high-definition glory go in that hot tub and enjoy it.

I’ve seen the “Western effect” on Japanese creative before.  My favorite, Dragonball Z, became more and more censored in Japan as it went on.   We went from seeing full on holes in people’s chest to just bruise marks in Dragonball Kai.  I just don’t want to see the story and its fun easter eggs taken out because of “the children”.  I’m sure they see far worse things; remember Hard Gay?

Hard Gay. Giving children nightmares since 2005.

This remake could also go incredibly wrong if they delay the game for as long as they have other titles.  Just because they announced that they are making it, doesn’t mean it is coming out in the next 10 years.  With SE’s current track record, we might not see the game until the Playstation 7 is released in 2077, just so they can say FF7 is on PS7 (all the 7s).   I’m hoping that SE knows their ass is in the fire with this one.  I don’t expect it out next year and I do want them to take their time and do it right, but I don’t want it to become the clusterf@#% that is Final Fantasy XV.  Granted that game looks awesome, but they announced it back in 2006, under a different title.  It has almost been 10 years.  I don’t want that to happen to this remake; some of us will die of old age before it comes out.

Despite the terrifying aspects, I’m going to remain optimistic that SE will deliver a solid remake on a reasonable timeline.   With the Tokyo Game Show coming up in September, I fully expect Square-Enix to make some more announcements about the game.  We may not get a release date, but maybe we’ll at least get the official title.  It will be interesting to see what develops and even more interesting what they will have to say about it at next year’s E3.  Until then, we just have to do what every Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Square-Enix fan is used to doing: wait.

Are you excited for the Final Fantasy VII remake?  What are some things you’d like to see improved or added? What are somethings you hope they keep the same or take out?

-Gretchen

Dragonball Super Episode 2: Review

I’m going to try to do this as spoiler free as possible.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Dragonball Super began airing on July 5th in Japan.  I was pretty pleased overall with the first episode and I mentioned that I was excited for the second episode since it centered around one of my favorite characters, Vegeta.

More specifically, the first half of the episode it focuses on Vegeta and family on a vacation.  That’s not a spoiler, that’s literally the episode description.  Anyone who is familiar with the character can imagine the hilarity that ensued during this “vacation.”  Even Trunks and Bulma were surprised how well Vegeta managed.

The second half of the episode focused on other characters for the most part, but I felt this episode was even stronger than the first.  It’s definitely starting to shape up to embrace the events of Battle of the Gods. I’m hoping this indicates a bit of a time jump or something that will bridge the gap between Battle of the Gods and Revival of F. They almost have to at this point.

It is still unclear as to if they intend to keep Dragonball GT as cannon or use this series to overwrite it, kind of like Days of Future Past did for X-Men III.  So far there isn’t time travel in this latest series that would change the course of events, but Toriyama is notorious for ignoring cannon and/or forgetting characters.  Technically, Toriyama didn’t have much to do with DBGT, so maybe that’s why they decided to build on to the end of Z instead. That and it’s not like GT was anywhere near as popular as Z, for good reason.

I’m very much looking forward to the next episode which, unfortunately, doesn’t air this weekend in Japan due to special broadcasts. Despite FUNimation claiming there are not currently working on or have anything to do with Dragonball Super, I’m really hoping that they will announce something soon and make it more readily available to the North American audience. Perhaps they are waiting to see how well it performs in its home country.   It took a little bit before Kai was brought over as well.  Let’s hope the partnership between FUNimation and Toei remains strong so we’ll get things even quicker this time.

What are you hoping to see from this series?

-Gretchen

Halo: Master Chief Collection (Pt. 1)

So me and my co-host on radio are starting to replay all the Halo games now that they are remastered on the Xbox One. This will be an interesting experience because I haven’t played the games in years, and he doesn’t know the story very well. It’s also interesting because my play style is very centered around the way that me and my sister played back in the day, as well as how I currently play Bungie’s newest creation “Destiny”, so friendly fire has created some funny situations.

First thing’s first, the game is an HD remaster so the game looks really good…for the most part. You can’t expect perfection, so some minor glitches, graphic pop-ins, and frame rate drop are just expected at this point. Other than that though, what we’ve played of it so far (Halo: Combat Evolved) has looked as good as Halo 3 was on the xbox 360. Yes, Halo 3, not Halo 4. There isn’t a huge gap between those games graphically, but I’m just not blown away yet. It IS interesting to see the old environments updated though, and I distinctly remember taking time to stop fighting and look up at the sky box. It’s not Destiny-impressive, but I still love their sky boxes.

Second, the gameplay on this installment feels just like it did on the original xbox. That’s fine, except with the updated graphics, the floaty nature of how you walk, and especially how you jump, it feels sloppy at times. I guess back in the day I wasn’t so picky about how the game feels, and truth be told its been a long time since I’ve even played Halo 3 or 4 but I feel out of control while going around corners, and don’t even get me started on the ice rink you are on in the Warthog. With that being said, it is humorous to walk super slow because if you are playing coop, you characters legs still look like you are running at top speed, you are just sliding really funny. If you throw a grenade while running, your legs just stop moving altogether. I’m criticizing, but when it comes right down to it, I’m still having fun, and that’s the point, right? (I’m looking at you, people who play only for gamerscore and bitch about the slightest glitches)

Hey, this looked amazing back in the good old days.

Finally, me and my co-host play in a different way than me and my sister. Me and Gretch used to kind of play where one of us would lead and the other would provide covering fire and fall back when inevitably the person in front bit off more than they could chew and got WREKT. On the other hand, me and my co-host both try to play like alphas and go balls to the wall. i think our playing of destiny also makes us want to punch enemies a lot too, which means I could be throwing a grenade into a group of like 10 enemies and blow up my co-host, who is in the middle of them swinging left and right. I guess my old thinking of the game where one of us would fall back, combined with my old approach to staying back and letting the gun do the work (except to finish off elites), means that I use grenades to thin the herd. I don’t usually say “grenade” because one, its been a long time since I’ve played a game with friendly fire, and two, I use them so often that it would get ridiculous. That game, real talk, is built to spam grenades to avoid being overrun, and this will be even more apparent when we get to the flood.

Right now we are just trying to get back the feel of the game. Eventually me and my friend will put up game-play and go through all 4 games and provide commentary (all that good stuff). I will provide links to that as available. Sorry again for being spacey with my blogs as far as consistency. I work in radio and fairs have added to my schedule, but I put in my two weeks there and will be starting a new job soon, so maybe that will free me up.

-Dave

Woah It’s Wednesday: Randomness

Wednesday really snuck up on me.

I’ve been in a daze the past few days just trying to recover from Comic-Con.  The hangover has been real.  It also doesn’t help that I have to be super on top of everything at work since I was technically on vacation for 4 days, so people expect me to be rested somehow.  Yeah, that’s not how a vacation works.  At least not for me.

It seems as though I’m not the only struggle bus this week though.  Technology seems to be failing all over the place.  Maybe it’s just me, but people around me, work and previous work locations have all been experiencing various technical difficulties this week:  everything from power outages to server crashes.   Is “Mercury in retrograde”? Is NASA shutting down all other signals except the Pluto Flyby? What is going on? It’s probably just me.  One of those every day occurrences that I just happened to notice this time.

However, it does make me realize how dependent we are on even the simplest technology.  How did people get work done before the internet and email?  Did it take weeks to get anything done?  I’ve been born into a world where I’ve never really been without a computer.   I remember having dial up internet for the longest time, but it was something. I’ve been so spoiled with computers, calculators and the internet all at my finger tips for the vast majority of my life.

Although, I am amused that there are children who will grow up not really understanding why the save button on Word is the shape it is.   I grew up with floppy disks, but they didn’t.  Should we expect them to know?  I’m sure there are things, like 8-track tapes, that our parents were amazed that our generation wouldn’t be super familiar with. I’m getting old. Ridiculous.

I can really tell I’m getting old when I get frustrated by new social media.  I feel like grandma over here just trying to work SnapChat.  It’s not user friendly at all.  Just let me use Instagram!! It makes sense to me.  Oh well, times are changing and so must I.

This blog didn’t really have a point, but that’s why it’s called “Randomness.” Tomorrow I’ll follow up with something really cool. (Putting a lot of pressure on myself to think of something) Until next time!

-Gretchen

SDCC Adventures: Day 3 & Day 4 — Awkwardness & Enlightenment

What up, Chewie?

During my last blog, I mentioned on day 2 that I was running back and forth during the end of the day to make it into the panels that really were fun and totally worth it.   Well,  during that time, I saw a Twitter alert from one of my favorite YouTube celebs, Markiplier.  He was at Comic Con! Not only was he at Comic Con but he was signing comics for fans and taking pictures at the Red Giant Entertainment booth!

By the time I got this update though, the showroom floor was already closed.  I had probably walked right by that booth several times and just had no clue.  I was internally kicking myself.  Why didn’t I plan better and keep better tabs on social media? Why was I a bad millennial? Had I missed my chance?

I tweeted at him asking if he would be there all weekend.  Of course, I don’t get a response. One of millions of fans tweeting at you constantly? I wouldn’t reply either.  But I look up the booth number and location and told myself that I would meet him on the 3rd day.

However, I also had other people I wanted to try to meet.  Not the least of which was Stan Lee.  Yes, THAT Stan Lee.  The father of Marvel comics as we know them. The guy is like 92.  I wanted to meet him while I still could.  So I told myself that, since I knew for sure where the autograph line was this time, I would immediately go there and attempt to get his autograph first thing.

Dino Security: Sleeping on the job

Well, if there is one thing I’ve learned for certain.  I will never try these limited signings drawings ever again. I stood in line for nearly 3 hours just to be able to pull only 1 raffle ticket and then, if I wanted to try again (for the same person OR someone new) I had to go back to the complete end of the line and wait until everyone else had gone through before I get to try again.  I tried once and said f@#k it.  Everyone and their mom (literally) was in the stupid line.  I didn’t have a chance and I decided right then and there that it was a waste of my time.  Never again would I stand in line for a chance at a raffle ticket.  What a bunch of balls.  No, thank you.

So I remembered my original plan, I needed to meet Markiplier.  I wasn’t sure if he was going to be there, but darn it I was gonna try.  I had failed meeting the living legend, but maybe I could actually meet someone if all I had to do was stand in a line.  So I navigated to the Con floor and sought out the Red Giant Entertainment booth.  And there he f’ing was at the corner of one of the tables.  I had a fan girl moment, collected myself, and asked the nearest booth attendant where the line ended.

This is where if got tricky.  OF COURSE he’s super popular.  OF COURSE the line to meet him was capped, but it was only capped to a certain distance so every time people moved up, other people could get in.  I talked to the volunteer manning the line cap and was informed that if I just wander around the area, she would keep tabs and prioritize those who were talking around instead of just standing around like vultures.

So that is what I did.  I circled the Entertainment Earth booth about 1000 times just waiting to get my chance to stand in line to meet a YouTube star.  There was definitely a moment where I thought that I wouldn’t ever get in the line and that, like all my previous attempts at meeting famous people, this would also end in wasted time and disappointment.  Fortunately, after I had been circling the area for a good 20-30 minutes, I was finally allowed to stand in the line.  Success! Sorta!  It was probably at least another hour before I was finally at the booth and had my chance to meet him.

Let me just say that it was worth it.  Even if I didn’t get to say all that I wanted to.  I’ve mentioned before that I’m a socially awkward person.  I’ve actually gotten better in recent years, but I’m still really freaking awkward.  This was made worse by the fact that I truly admire Markiplier as a professional.  As I mentioned last blog, I really would like to do the type of thing he does: play video games on YouTube and entertain people.   I’ve also been watching his channel for a few years now and since his great “Draw My Life” episode, I’ve been really touched by how far he has come as a person.  It is amazing how humble he is and how much he cares about his fans, even at over 8 million subscribers.

I really wanted to mention all that, thank him for his works of charity and ask him for advice as someone just starting out.  But, of course, because I’m awkward (and, let’s be honest, starstruck), I only managed to get out some awkward comments about how I had been waiting for years to meet him (I meant literally since I started watching the channel, but I’m pretty sure he thought I meant time spent in line).  I also mentioned the GameGrumps and asked him to give them myself.  He denied knowing them. Haha!  Then we took some pictures together, so I have proof that I met him.  That’s cool, but I do wish I had said something a little more meaningful. He’s literally my age and so nice.  There was no reason to be so nervous and awkward… Maybe next year.

After I got over the Markiplier encounter, I wanted to try to hit up the Funko booth.  I really needed more Funko figures in my life, but my dreams were shattered by yet another arbitrary ticketing process. It just wasn’t in the cards for me, but I wasn’t done yet.

I roamed the floor and came across the booth for the awesome guys behind the webcomic Cyanide & Happiness. Needless to say, they were amazing, I bought two of their books, a plush and a “Doctor Whom” grammar Dalek print.  Because of this, I got a giant sketch done by two of the guys.  Since I didn’t have a preferred topic, they ended up drawing “two halves of the same character”.  What it ended up being was a hilarious drawing of a half dinosaur, half elephant with boobs and a vag.  It was quite the masterpiece (I hung it on my wall, as you’ll see below). Of course, they were pretty cool dudes so they signed my copy of the books as well.

But that’s not all! Since I was at Comic Con, I felt I had one last thing to do before I was truly fulfilled in my adventures.  I needed to buy a comic.  Not just any comic.  I wanted to buy a comic I knew nothing about.   I wanted to find an artist and comic creator who I had never heard of and give it a try. But I did have an idea that I wanted it to be about a badass woman.  Surprisingly, it didn’t take me long to find a comic that caught my attention.  It was Valentine: Reloaded by Daniel Cooney.  The story was described to me as “a female assassin with a heart of gold struggles with her choices and career path.”  I was sold.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to read through it completely, but I’ll be sure to share the verdict when I’m finished.  I’m really looking forward to this one.   Daniel Cooney actually was at the booth when I purchased the comic.  He was super awesome and even drew me a sketch on the inside cover of the comic and signed it too!

With that done, I roamed the halls one last time, taking pictures of awesome costumes and checking out some of the game demos again, but a sense of completion came over me.   Here I was midday through Day 3 and I felt done, complete, content, finished.  I had done all that I wanted to do at Comic Con and I was ready to head back to my hotel and rest before I headed back to L.A.

I did experience the brief wave of guilt that I wasn’t staying as long as I possibly could, but I had scoped out everything I really wanted to see (apart from the impossible Hall H and autograph signings).  I wanted to leave Comic Con on a positive note and with a positive number in my bank account.  I had achieved Comic Con enlightenment.  So I left with peace of mind.

Fact: I achieved enlightenment when I climbed through Buddha’s nose hole in 2010.

I had a great night’s sleep in my hotel and left early the next morning to drive home before traffic got too bad.  I got home so early, that I was able to spend most of the day at the beach and even got a tan/burn.   I have no regrets.  I loved my time at Comic Con and I can’t wait to go back next year.   I’ve definitely learned that I will: a) take the train,  b) sign up to volunteer, c) try to get a hotel closer and d) never wait in line for Hall H or limited signing drawings.   I also really want to cosplay next year, something simple.  I have a full year to think about it.   I will definitely be returning July 21-24, 2016.  Until then, I’ll just enjoy the Comic Con additions to my geek shrine.

The Geek Shrine (top half)

-Gretchen

Pentagon Wars

One of my good friends challenged me to watch this 1998 dark comedy called The Pentagon Wars.   When I started this film, I didn’t realize it was based on a true story and book of the same name, but that realization is, quite frankly, terrifying.

I do realize that the movie as a whole is not entirely true.  Artistic license was definitely taken. But the underlying message of this 1950s – 1980s period when production was more important than human lives is quite disturbing.   Sadly, it doesn’t surprise me.  When you make war a business, it is only good for weapons manufactures.  It’s the troops that suffer.  It makes me wonder just how much of that is still going on today: total disregard for human life for the sake of a paycheck or promotion.  It probably happens a lot more than we can even imagine.

The movie itself is great.  Kelsey Grammar, Cary Elwes, John C. McGinley, Richard Schiff, Clifton Powell and Tom Wright all give really great performances.  I wanted to punch Kelsey Grammar’s character in the face most of the movie, but he was great at playing that role.  The Pentagon Wars is morbidly funny, smart and shows the ridiculousness of high ranking military officials deciding what to add to this M2 Bradley vehicle like little 12 year olds trying to design a dream tank.  It would be truly hilarious if it weren’t based on a sad, sick reality.

I enjoyed the movie greatly and I highly recommend it to anyone.  If you have HBO (or are “borrowing” your friend’s HBO GO account) check it out.  It’s on there right now.  It’s an older movie, but I think the themes and the humor withstand the test of time.  If you’ve seen this movie before, what did you think of it?  Did you view it as just a dark comedy? Or were you also bothered by the more true aspects of the story?

SDCC Adventures: Day 2 – Best day ever!!

Portal: Comic Con Edition .. and some dude’s head

As I said at the end of my Day 1 blog, just because I had a series of disappointments and mess ups didn’t mean I wasn’t determined to enjoy Comic Con completely.

Unlike Day 1, I decided to give up on any of the big panels and big celebrity autographs. I had become content with the knowledge that it just wasn’t going to happen for me and the best thing I could do was enjoy the other, numerous things that Comic Con had to offer.

So I took to the floor once again! Truly exploring all the booths and in a particularly Dragonball themed mood. As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, not only is the Resurrection/Revival of F movie coming out but the new series, Dragonball Super, has really triggered my passion for the show.  So I dubbed this day the search for the dragon balls.  Of course Dragonball related items were not hard to find.  I ended up purchasing a scouter and a set of the dragon balls for … you know… nostalgia. I also got some of the exclusive Funko pop figures: Vegeta with shiny armor and Golden Freeza with the red eyes.  They were partially impulse buys, but since I already collect those types of figures and I love Dragonball, I figured I’d give myself a pass.

Dragonball wasn’t the only thing on my mind that day though. I also finally caved and bought one of Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half books.  I was somewhat recently introduced to her blog and I think she’s brilliant and absolutely hilarious.  I also heard she might be at Comic Con, so I also bought it just in case I were to make it into her panel (Spoiler: I didn’t).  I also got some cool geeky T-shirts, checked out Super Mario Maker, Street Fighter V and some of the other demos on the floor.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get close enough to play, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching others play.

After lunch, I decided I was going to try to get into the “All New, All Different Avengers” panel.  I wasn’t really sure that I would have a chance to get in, but I actually did make it in.  I got to see some of the authors and artists of these new comics talk about the upcoming “not-so-reboot” of the Marvel Universe. I think some really exciting things are coming our way very soon.  I, for one, am definitely going to jump on this Lady Thor bandwagon.  She sounds awesome and the next story arc sounds like it’s going to be a doozy.  I’m down.

Since I had made it into that room, I decided to stay where I was to see the next two panels. The first one after the Avenger’s panel was the “Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate” panel featuring the director and the lead actors for the game.  The moderator was a British comedian who definitely kept it super funny.  To be honest, I’ve never really gotten into the Assassin’s Creed franchise before, but after seeing that panel and hearing them talk about the game and show clips from the game, I honestly want to play this game now.  Seems pretty badass.  Who knows.  Maybe I would actually love the entire Assassin’s Creed franchise if I just gave it more of a chance.  I certainly plan to do that now.

The final panel in that room was “How to get a job in video games.” In case it isn’t obvious from the eclectic topics I decide to blog about, I absolutely LOVE video games.  I want to be surrounded by them, I have applied and interviewed at different game companies and I just know that it’s something I want involved in my life.  I briefly had a not so successful live stream show and a YouTube channel that I would really like to get off the ground some day, hopefully, in the near future.  It’s my dream, even if it’s a long shot.

However, as I sat there and listened to the awesome people in the industry talk, I realized that maybe I didn’t want to take the marketing/advertising/production department route into video games.  Would I still take a job at a game company if offered?  Absolutely.  But at the same time, I felt like I wanted the freedom to enjoy games, review games and share my love for games with others.  It’s been done on the internet, maybe even over done. But, even if it’s just a hobby and I’m never successful beyond my mom watching, I want to try.  It really made me want to brush the dust off my YouTube and Twitch channels even more.  I definitely plan on launching them again in the next month, but I digress…

After that panel was over, I took off down the halls to the opposite side of the building where the Dragonball Z Resurrection of F panel was going to take place.  Though I haven’t watched the dub in a while, I still have respect for FUNimation and I know it is thanks to them that Dragonball was such a big part of my life.  Also, I’m just super excited about that new movie.  Believe it or not, I haven’t actually seen it illegally on the internet, so I’m looking forward to the domestic release when I can finally see what this blue-haired Goku and Vegeta is all about.  Also that new squiggly symbol on their outfits:  WTF is that about?

Sadly, I didn’t get the answer to that question. But I did enjoy the antics of Justin Cook, Chris Ayers, Chris Sabat and Sean Schemmel.  Together they speculated about Vegeta joining the Scooby Gang and enlightened us about their favorite Goku/Vegeta bro moments.  It was fantastic and definitely one of the best panels I had been in.  They also, unfortunately, announced that FUNimation isn’t working on Dragonball Super at this time.  That’s a bummer, but I feel like it’s probably inevitable at this point.  They have to bring it over, right? I certainly hope so.

Still on the Dragonball high, I ran (again) to the other side of the convention center and actually made it into the Rotten Tomatoes panel.  That panel, let me tell you, was super fun.  If you ever find yourself at Comic Con and that panel is available, please go! It’s so much fun.  It’s audience vs. the panel of critics.  It gets really rowdy and really passionate (because movie options make people emotional), but it was sooooooo much fun.  Right after the Rotten Tomatoes panel, was the Screen Junkies panel.  The first half was mainly about their Honest Trailers series: they showed an exclusive Comic Con honest trailer and the dude with the epic voice was there, using his epic voice.  The second half was about Movie Fights, but I won’t tell you about that one.   You can watch it on their channel here.  You can actually see the back of my head in one of the frames! It’s like I’m famous! haha

That’s where the most amazing day 2 ended.  Day 3 will be up soon!  Enjoy!

-Gretchen