Splinter Cell

Recently I made an interesting discovery.  I've read all of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell books which weren't written by him and I've played all the Splinter Cell games.  I've also read probably at least one from each different series Tom Clancy wrote including most of the Jack Ryan books.

I was just looking through the library's collection when I decided to google which book Sam Fisher (the main character in the Splinter Cell novels) first appeared in.  I was looking for the Splinter Cell books Tom Clancy actually wrote.  The first few searches resulted in list of the books somebody ghost wrote for Clancy and the games, nothing about his actual books.  After refining my search I come to find out he never actually wrote any Splinter Cell books, Sam Fisher or otherwise.

I feel like I've been lied to.  Why does it have Tom Clancy's name on it if he never wrote even one?!!??  I guess in the end I'm glad it did because I might not have read it thinking it was another penny dreadful.

Another Cosplay

Hello again!  I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting frequently again (it's hard with a job).  :(
But I do have some things I've been meaning to talk about.

At the end of this month there's a local cosplay picnic that I will be attending (of course), so I wanted to have something good made for then.  I really wanted to go as Chell from Portal, but not only am I stuck on portal gun trying to find something good to make the white shell out of, not just foam, and then how to attach it, plus I haven't had a chance to finish the electronics, by the time I get done with that I would still have to make the long-fall boots.

So I needed something quick that I could do that would still be amazing.  I decided on Hawkeye.

At first I was thinking this wouldn't work either because I don't have anything for the costume started at all.  I was looking at pictures of his suit to see if there was a quick and easy way of making it, like my Star Trek Next Gen. shirt.  I didn't think of any but I did find a good looking cosplay for sale online (see it here).  It was kind of pricey for me but then I started thinking about it and realized if I were to make the whole thing by the time I had bought all of the material it would probably be about the same and there is no guarantee it would come out looking that good, so I ordered it and it is on it's way.  To me this feels like cheating but then I realized that loads of people don't hand make their cosplays from scratch, so I'll let it slide this time.  Pictures and review of costume to follow.

Meanwhile I still needed an arm guard, glove, quiver, arrows, and bow.  I used to do archery when I was in 4-H and my dad still has some equipment, but as luck would have it, none of it would work for this.  I could have painted one of the bows but I don't think my dad would be to happy about that.
On worlds best learn-anything-you-could-possibly-ever-want-to-now-and-never-even-thought-of site a.k.a. YouTube, I found out how to make a bow out of PVC pipe, it's quick and easy, and it can be used as a real bow.  One video their PVC bow had about a 60 pound draw, however for cosplay events I'll be using a "fake" string so that it can't be fired really.  I haven't started on the bow yet, I figure it will probably only take one to two afternoons to accomplish and then give it a few coats of spray paint.  The quiver and arrows are coming along nicely.  The quiver is my main concern, I figured that would take some time to do.  Here is what I've done so far:

Cutting PVC pipe into the correct shapes.

"Skeleton" and pattern.

I used 1/2" PVC for the middle and left over scraps

with a bolt through them as spacers, the larger pieces

are 3" PVC.  I drilled holes through them and zipped

tied them all together.

Pattern traced on to foam

(I bought a cheap camping bedroll for this).

Foam cut out and checking the fit around the PVC skeleton.

Just to compare this is the main picture I'm using for reference:

^ This is what I'm aiming for...

get it? "Aiming"

Right now the arrows are just dowel rods I've painted

black, and cut to size, I will probably be putting the

vanes on them tonight.

I will not be putting tips on them for safety reasons

as these are for cosplaying only, not to be fired.

Even if I did want to shoot them in a safe area I

wouldn't, as cheap dowel rods coming out of a 60 lbs

bow, could potentially make them explode.  If any of you

intend to make your own bow and arrows please consult

someone trained in the area first, because anything could

go wrong.

Age of Ultron is AMAZING!

I know it's been a LONG time since I've written anything on here but life happened.
Yesterday I saw Age of Ultron, and without revealing any spoilers I am just going to say WOW!  Marvel's still got it.  This is the best Marvel movie since the first Iron Man movie!
When the first Avenger's movie came out I was super disappointed, not that it was bad it was just average.  After all that time they had been hinting at doing it in the scenes after the credits of their other movies I was thinking it was going to be the greatest movie of all time, and everyone else who saw it before me said it was so my hopes were high.  I really think they were rushing to get it done.  With the second one now that they took their time it turned out a LOT better.  Two words: character development.  It felt like all of the Avengers were a main character, you were able to see inside of them a little more, and with this many people in a movie as main characters I can imagine it was no small feat to pull off.  This in a nutshell is one of the two main reasons I believe the second Avengers is so good.  The other reason was the story goal and threat was revealed much earlier in the film (I won't say anything more than that in case you haven't seen it yet).
I believe the main problems with the first movie is what the second got exactly right:
In the first they spent the majority of the movie arguing like a classroom of kindergartners, in the second from the very first you see them working as a team.
Loki wasn't a big enough threat in the first movie, if you think about it, Thor by himself could have taken him out by himself leaving the rest of the Avengers to take out the aliens, which by the way seemed kind of cheap, the aliens I mean.  What I mean by that is they've got nobody to fight through out nearly the whole movie, so they fight each other, then just so you can get your fill of action they throw in a random army of cannon fodder aliens for a big end fight scene.
Sorry, I'm just still sort of upset about the first movie.
End rant.
The point is if you haven't seen Age of Ultron yet: DROP EVERYTHING!  GO NOW!

Half-Life and Ant Man

Hello everyone,
apologies again for not writing in a while.  This is just going to be be a quick one.
So I started work on another fandom theory not to long ago after getting both Half-Life games from a Steam sale.  I didn't remember all that stuff about G-Man when I played the first game years ago, but now that I have played through both of them I just had to know more about this mysterious character.

A quick google didn't yield much.  YouTube let me down pretty bad too as far as a decent theory on even who this guy is.  Since there haven't been many good theories with very clear evidence I have embarked on the quest to unravel this (nearly) three decade old mystery.  This might take some time as I have to do a lot of research, and have to look for the tiniest easter eggs in the game (a lot of the time not even knowing what I'm looking for).  I would appreciate any suggestions or even theories of your own, or if you were playing Half-Life and you noticed anything strange or unusual (even if you don't think it has anything to do with G-Man).  Just comment below.

Also during my search I watched quite a few short fan made movies and I have to say: the Half-Life fandom rocks!

Out of all of the fan movies that I have watched so far I have not yet seen a truly terrible video, in fact most of them were very, very, well done, even the acting wasn't super cheesy like it is in a lot of home movies.  You can really tell that these people put a lot of time and effort into them and that it was something that they cared about, and really enjoyed doing.  I may put together a playlist on my YouTube channel later of all these great videos that I keep finding.

I just had to say that because last night I found another video and as I was watching it I was thinking how fantastic and epic this opening sequence was.  Then when it went to the credits, well, just watch it.  If you're a fan of the game you will get it right away.

If you've played this game... admit it: you have pressed the buttons on the microwave at least once.  I nearly died laughing watching the security cam part because this is exactly what everyone does that has played this game or other similar games.

Marvel has finally released a trailer to the public for the movie Ant Man.  Ant Man is coming out in July and the Avengers II in May so I'm still not sure how they're going to work Dr. Pym into everything going on with Ultron and what not, but whatever.

I'd just like to say right now though: I think they just redid Peter Quill's Star Lord costume minus the jacket.  Is Marvel really getting that cheap?  Don't get me wrong I love Star Lord's outfit.

Age of Ultron Trailer Review

If you haven't seen the trailer yet.  Here you go.

You're welcome.

I prefer the extended version of the trailer 'though because of the beginning.

It seems to tell a little bit more of the story of what's going on.  I'm assuming Tony started tinkering and didn't know when to stop and that somehow made his suits / computer go power crazy and take on a life of their own.

Just for your information I do know my comics and yes I know Ultron was originally created by Dr. Pym, but when has any of the new Marvel movies stuck exactly with the original story?  Even the first Iron Man movie there were differences.  For one Stark was Iron Man for some time before coming up against Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger, Obadiah actually owned a different company before that and renamed Stark International as Stane International when he did, and when Iron Man did defeat Iron Monger Stane blew his own brains out.
But enough about that.  I just wanted to prove I knew what I was talking about.
Back to discussing the trailer...
THE HULK BUSTER SUIT!  *drool*
This is one of them that I wondered if they would ever get around to doing.  I also really hope it's in it for longer than two seconds like all the cameos of all Tony's suits in Iron Man 3.  I mean come on.  Each suit can only handle one punch and they burst into a million pieces, just because the guy was kinda hot?  And yet before that an older suit was able to withstand and actually absorbed a lightning blast from Thor?  Why didn't it fry everything?

Also when watching the extended trailer, in the beginning scene, something I realized: the only one who came close to lifting Thor's hammer.  I realized it wasn't because of Cap's super strength that he budged the hammer, strength has nothing to do with it, but remember why he was chosen to receive the super soldier serum?  It's because of his good, worthy, heart.  Just giving someone super powers is not a thing to be taken lightly.  You would want to chose well: someone who wouldn't abuse their new powers and use them for evil, but instead someone who would always use them for the good of others and to protect the innocent.  That's why Steve was able to move Mjölnir.

This geek moment brought to you by the Phantom.

Bonus:

And I have to say just the music playing in the background in context with Ultron, this made one of the creepiest Marvel trailers I have ever seen.

My Fandom Predictions are the BEST! Sorry but they are, and this proves it!

This weeks Doctor Who episode Dark Water.  Wow.  I knew I was good with my theories but wow.  I didn't realize I was that close!  I so called it!  But even then.  What a plot twist!  Good work Moffat, I really wasn't expecting that but now that I see how close I was and the whole name thing I don't see how I couldn't have seen that one coming.
For those of you who haven't been following my blog, back in September after the first two episodes had aired I had written a post on theories about who Missy was.  Read the post here.
When it got to this:

Dread filled my stomach and I just prayed: "Please don't let it be Susan.  It can't be Susan.  It can't be like this."
As much as I would love for Susan to return I don't think I could handle it if she had turned evil.

So here we are at the last of the season.  I can't wait to see what they're going to do for the finale and I'll be waiting very impatiently for season nine.  My little brother was a little bit worried and started to worry me too when he asked: "they're not going to kill off the Doctor again are they?"  I said no, but then I started thinking about it and thought: you know I have no idea.  It would be just like them to pull off a surprise death and they only had planned on having Capaldi be in just the one season and they've already got somebody new picked out.  While I hope that's not the case it is a possibility.  Christopher Eccleston only had one season.  Paul McGann only had the movie even though they had planned on that just being the introduction to a reboot of the series and he was going to take over as the Doctor for a while on TV.  Sadly this never happened but I'm glad it turned out just how it did.  Still I would have liked to see my first Doctor (8) in more than just the movie and short show.

Star Trek TNG Cosplay

This week my work is having different themed costume days so of course I can't turn down the opportunity to cosplay, EVER.  Well one of the days is 80's themed, but of course with my geek back ground and my ability to think outside the box... I'm going as a star fleet officer.  I wanted to do a Next Generation uniform since that came out in the eighties and it is my all time favorite Trek series.  But the Next Gen uniforms are a little more complex than TOS (the original series, for those of you who don't speak in acronyms).

  VS. 

While the original may be much more simple and easy to throw together I still really wanted to go in Next Gen uniform.  Well I believe I found the solution how to make the uniform cheap and it will only take a little bit longer to make than the other.  It would probably only take one night.  I intend to find out just how long it takes.  I've already gathered my supplies in one trip to the store and am going to put it all together as soon as I get home.  I'm hoping to do it in a video tutorial which I will also be posting to YouTube some time within the next week.

Also while I was searching the internet getting good details of the uniforms for my costume I stumbled across this:

I found it on Etsy for $20 and had to buy it.  I'm going to make this later when I have more time but for now I'll work on the quick, easy, and cheap one.