Sunday, March 30, 2014

Series 8 Updates and Ratchet and Clank

Sorry I missed last week.  But I'm back now!  Sadly I also haven't had much time to work on my Dr. Horrible costume, but my mom just got a new sewing machine so as soon as I learn how to use it making the lab coat will be a snap.
Any way, this week is just going to be a quick little blurb.  First of all I found a few new pictures and some videos taken on the set of Doctor Who!









This is going to be one of the new creatures the Doctor and Clara face.  I wish I knew more about classic Who.  I'm not sure if this is based on one of the older monsters.  I've been tracking down as many of the old episodes as I can, but let me tell you it is tough!
I found these videos on YouTube but it couldn't find the link when I tried posting them on here, so I uploaded them from my computer, so if for some reason you would like to watch it on YouTube instead of my blog I will post the link to the actual video below it.


(And this one ^ you should watch on YouTube
because they added in subtitles of what they're saying)


Side note: If you know where I can get complete seasons on dvd of any of the classic Doctors please let me know in the comments!


And for you video game enthusiasts guess what movie is scheduled to come out next year?
If you guessed Halo...
Sorry, but no.
Actually it's Ratchet and Clank!
This was one of my favorite video games as a kid.  And just recently I found this:


It does seem a little dreamworks / pixar-like but then again it's not like the games were geared toward adults, it was all little kid-ish humor.  I don't mind but I was hoping for something a little more action adventure-ish.  I haven't heard much more about it, but if you're interested they do have a website (and facebook page?) that you can get updates from.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Dr. Horrible Cosplay Part 1

Just a day or so ago I got a hold of a copy of guess what?


This is one of the only low budget musicals that I actually like.
If you haven't seen it yet I have to warn you it is slightly cheesy, but it was actually supposed to be like that.  What other movie has a evil genius going up against a super-jerk and they break out into song every two minutes?  ... and it's written by Joss Whedon so it's gotta be good!
Slight spoiler: I watched it for the third time in a row yesterday and was crying like a baby, again.  So by the end of the movie you're doing this:


Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm not just here to talk about the movie.  I'm working on a project.
My family cringes and there is a collective murmuring of: "Oh no.  What now?" when I say those five words.
I got the movie so I could use it as a reference for my Dr. Horible... um, that's spelled with two Rs.  H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E.  (That was an actual spelling error and I was going to correct it but how could I resist. *wink, wink*) ...costume!  That's right!  I love cosplay and who better to impersonate than Dr. Horrible?
I've put together quite a few costumes from my other fandoms (mostly lot's of Doctor Who characters), so why not Dr. Horrible?
I just purchased some of the materials today, so I don't have any pictures yet.  But I'm hoping by next week I will have a few of the things complete and I will post instructions ASAP.  The goggles will probably only take a few hours... basically I just need to paint them.  The freeze ray looks easy enough if I can just find all the supplies... but the stun death ray, and the coat are going to take some time coming.
Right now I'm going to be focusing on the white coat that he wears for the majority of the time but I'll save the pattern and eventually make the red coat of horribleness.


Pictures will be coming soon!
See you next week!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Save a Fandom!

Just recently I became acquainted with the tv show Almost Human.
It's set in the near future, 2048, but we've had a lot of technological advancements.  Due to all these new technologies crime has gotten way out of hand and the only way the police can even begin to cope with it is by pairing each human cop with an android partner to double their man-power.  After a near death experience, partly due to an android, police detective John Kennex is partnered with an older model android, which had been decommissioned due to emotional problems.  The thing is this particular model of robots had been copied so closely to replicate human emotions that sometimes they had unexpected emotional outbursts... just like us.  So they get teamed up and John eventually starts to get over his dislike for at least this particular android.  Together they go around solving crimes that you could only get away with doing in the future, getting into lots of shoot outs with bad guys, and a few car chases.



In all it's a really great show: lots of action, and a plot!

The only problem is a lot of critical questions go unanswered in the first season, and because of low viewings there may not be a second season.  I don't even care so much if the mysteries from season one never get answered (I can write fan fiction and make it up), but I really think fox should give this show a second chance.  Maybe if they played the show in order it would have got some better reviews (apparently they got them a little out of order when they aired, but I just watched them on iTunes so I wouldn't know), also the season finale, unlike most other shows was just another episode, it didn't really give any answers like I was expecting it to.
I just realized I made it sound like it sucks...
But it doesn't!  I would highly recommend it.
Any way the main reason I'm writing this is to spread the word and let people know to start watching it.  If this suddenly becomes a huge fandom overnight I think they might get the hint and give us another season.  I'd rather watch this any day over sparkly vampires or twenty-zillion (non)reality tv shows.
The truth is great shows like this especially made in America (sorry U.S.) with good plot are kind of hard to come by.  Well, there are a few...
... but it seems like they have a very limited lifespan.  And I don't want to see the same thing happen to this like it did to Firefly.  At least Almost Human just came out, there's still a chance they could renew it.  And right now actually they're only talking about not bringing it back, but there hasn't been a lot of chatter about the second season either, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
So people, spread the word!  Keep Almost Human going!
You can either share this or just say it in your own words but please start letting people know about this on whatever social media you're in to while we've still got a chance.  Please!  Other Firefly fans I'm asking you specifically to help out because you know the pain of only getting one season when there is potential for so much more!
Please check it out!  You can either buy the episodes on iTunes or watch it on fox's page @

Sunday, March 2, 2014

My Favorites: List of Books

While most of the fandoms that I've talked about so far are movies or tv shows I realised I haven't talked much about my favorite books.  I could read all day... and night, and into the next day... and, you get the picture, but it seems harder and harder to find a good series of books to read, so I'd like to list some of my favorites, with a brief description of what they're about so you can pick the best sounding ones to read if you haven't read them all ready.


Sherlock Holmes (the original books and short stories)
by Sir Aurther Conan Doyle

I really don't think I need to give an explanation for this, except that if you haven't read them yet, you should give them a try.








The Chronicles of Narnia
by C.S. Lewis

Quite different from the movies.  In case you haven't seen the movies it's about several children that find a door to another land filled with fantastical creatures, where they battle evil.
Also if you don't have time to read these I highly suggest the dramatized reading of the books produced by radio theatre (very high quality).
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/radio-theatre.aspx











The Edge Chronicles
by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

A fantasy world revolving mainly around the character Twig.  The series takes place in a land known as the Edge: a large cliff where several cities are built that juts out over a bottomless abyss and later the regions behind the edge.  Filled with strange new creatures, flying ships, and knights that chase after storms to collect a precious substance known as storm frax from lightning in the ever treacherous twilight woods.

I have to admit the first book doesn't seem to go anywhere very fast but the second, and every book after that really picks up the pace.



The Missing
by Margret Peterson Haddix

Jonah thinks he's just a normal kid, well a normal adopted kid.  Until he finds out that he was one of 36 children that were kidnapped out of time.  Their kidnappers crash-landed in the 21st century were the children were found and given up for adoption to regular families, having no idea their children were stolen from a different time period and that all of time and space is now in jeopardy without them in their proper place.




The Shadow Children
also by Margret Peterson Haddix

In the future population laws only allow couples to have two children.  Luke is the third child in his family and has to stay hidden from everyone else otherwise the population police will take him away.  When he is nearly discovered Luke is forced to run away from home to keep both him and his family safe.










100 Cupboards
by N.D. Wilson

Similar to the Chronicles of Narnia (especially to the first book The Magicians Nephew) but a little darker.
The story revolves around Henry York, who, after moving in with his Aunt and Uncle discovers 100 cupboard doors hidden behind a wall of his room.  Each one leads into a different world.  Henry must save these worlds after accidentally releasing a terrible evil on them.












Alex Rider
by Anthony Horowitz

A 14 year old, British school boy is thrust into a world of espionage, spies, and assassins after his uncle is killed by a Russian contract killer.












I'm sure this isn't all of my favorites.  I read quite a lot but most of these are just some of my more recent reads, so they were on the top of my mind.  I'll make another post later when I think of the rest.
Have any good books to suggest?  Tell me about them in the comments.  If I like them I'll add it to the second part of my post.

Happy reading!