Castle Season 6 Premier Party

It’s very rare that I run into someone that is as obsessed as I am about. . . well just about anything. So imagine my surprise when I saw on my Facebook newsfeed a Castle themed party that rivaled my Hunger Games party last year. It was thrown by a friend of a friend. . ,of a friend so I totally became that stalker Facebook person that looks at all the pictures and “likes” photos that it’s somewhat creepy that she was looking at to begin with. Since I’d already been mostly a stalker I went all out and private messaged her to get the full scoop.

The lovely lady (aka insanely huge Castle fan) is named Becky Bird and unlike me, she has been a fan since the beginning. I didn’t stumble upon Castle until I marathoned Firefly and Serenity a couple years ago and then decided I needed more Nathan Fillion (which then led to weeks of watching Castle every chance I got). However, it’s been the opposite for her. She heard about Firefly on Twitter after become obsessed with Castle and watched it to see some more of Nathan Fillion (after all he’s amazing– it really is necessary to watch everything he’s in– even if it’s a Percy Jackson film).

Becky says that the promos drew her attention, but she says stuck around because of “the incredible writing, the humor, the on-screen chemistry of the cast. I love the “bromance ” of Ryan and Esposito, I especially love the blossoming romance between Castle & Beckett. The intricacy of the plots holds your attention throughout the whole show.” I have to say I agree with her whole heartedly on all of this. We may have approached these fandoms from opposite directions, but we both agree that this series is golden.

This is her second Castle party and has converted a bunch of people into becoming fans (which I read as harassed a bunch of people to watch it until they caved and realized how awesome this show is– or at least that’s what I do with Supernatural). But I have to say she does know how to throw a premier party.

Her predictions for the new season are that after Beckett accepts Castle’s proposal she will go to DC, but will eventually return to the NYPD. She will return because she misses her team at the NYPD, Castle in particular. She feels that her departure will make it somewhat uncomfortable when she comes back because they will have adapted to her not being part of the team anymore.

We will see soon enough and kudos Becky for showing me that I’m not the only one that get crazy obsessed about shows or books!

Nathan Fillion Reflects on Castle’s Past, Eyes the Future: ‘You Tend to Want for a Fairytale, But….’ (tvline.com)
Castle First Look: There’s No Mystery Here – The Season 6 Cast Photos Look Good (tvline.com)
Nathan Fillion and His Many Roles (movies.answers.com)
‘Castle’: Beckett reacts to the proposal! (insidetv.ew.com)

Robin Hood and Maid Marian: A Journey from Sherwood Forest to Hollywood

September 22, 2013September 23, 2013ANerd Aside Cosplay Tags: Costume, Disney, Errol Flynn, Halloween, Halloween Contest, Handmade, Hollywood, Maid Marian, Marian, Robin Hood, Simplicity 5520, Tennessee, The Hub 4 Comments

So I have shown you how big of a nerd I am when it comes to cosplay and that I’ve dragged my family into it too (more than once). Therefore it shouldn’t be surprising to you to know that I’m quick to throw together a costume for my kids with the slightest provocation. A few weeks ago my son had me come running into the living room expecting a broken bone, swarming bees, or at least a large spider. When I got there it turns out he was just screaming because he was so excited about The Hub’s new Halloween contest and we had to enter. Not only did we have to enter, but we needed to win because he wants that $25,000 for a new Bruder truck (evidently an expensive Bruder).

After reading all the rules I realized that of course none of the costumes that I made for Dragon*Con qualified and I would need to make something new. After much deliberation I decided on doing Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Not the Disney version so much as the Errol Flynn.

While I was making it I had to continually show Langley pictures of this Robin Hood to let him know that it was OK that he wasn’t wearing green from head to foot (once again he stressed me the importance of winning). What do you think?

Doesn’t he look like a stunning Robin Hood? The boots and bow are from Amazon, the white undershirt and pants from Target, but the arm guards, vest, green undershirt, hat and quiver I made. It is very loosely based on Simplicity pattern 5520, but I made many many changes and additions to it. The hat I made just messing around and the quiver is a wine gift box covered in fake leather. I was really happy with the results.

Now on to Gillian’s. Her Maid Marian is 100% Simplicity pattern 5520. Well by 100% I mean 95%– I added a gold circlet crown, made the arm bands wider and made it a little more fitted (but it is somewhat adjustable so it will fit her as she grows). She picked out the fabric so it’s a little gaudier than I was looking for, but she loves it. And by she loves it I mean that she would wear it every second of every day if I let her. Which It wouldn’t surprise me if we made a few Target runs in it. Whatever. I spent that much time making it, I should let her get as much wear out of it as possible.

I don’t have to WIN to make Langley happy, I just need to get to Hollywood. That means I just have to be better than everyone else in Tennessee. I don’t know that mine is better than everyone’s over all, but I really really hope that no one else in the Volunteer State put this much time or effort into their costumes. The Hub’s website lets you view the other entrant’s costumes and I would say that perhaps only 15 or so are this fabulous, so here’s hoping that all of those people are good Midwestern folk. Or perhaps Yankees. Either is fine with me. I have my fingers crossed and have a feeling that if we don’t make it to the semi-finals that I might be buying a broken hearted boy that new Bruder truck he’s been wanting.

Our submission

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Medieval English Literature: Robin Hood (djsenior2014.wordpress.com)
A Brief History of Robin Hood Pictures (movies.answers.com)

Shirley Temple Inspirations

September 22, 2013September 22, 2013ANerd Cosplay Tags: Baby Take a Bow, cosplay, Costume, costuming, Halloween, Handmade, Malland Photography, Shirley Temple 1 Comment

I’ve always loved Shirley Temple. Like as long as I can remember I have thought she was the most amazing person ever and I don’t know that my has opinion has changed at all over the years. I still cry every single time her mom dies (yes it happens every movie) and smile when she sings and dances. My Shirley Temple obsession + giving birth to a blonde little girl+ my love for costumes inevitably led to this photo shoot:

Inspiration:

Homage:

Inspiration:

Homage:

Inspiration:

Homage:

All my homage photos were taken by Malland Photography who I am heartbroken is moving to Louisiana, but am so happy she squeezed this shoot in before her relocation. I am a little jealous that my baby got to pretend to be Shirley Temple for a few hours.

The Mortal Instruments, Good Young Adult Fiction?

September 5, 2013September 5, 2013ANerd Book Reviews Tags: Brandon Sanderson, City of Bones, Clary, Harry Potter, Homosexuality, Incest, Jace, Mistborn, Mortal Instrument, Murder, Sex, Shadowhunter, Simon, The Mortal Instruments, The Wheel of Time, Twilight, Wheel of Time, Young-adult fiction Leave a comment

I’m a sucker for a movie based on a book. So when my close friend (who runs this awesome blog) recommended that I read The Mortal Instruments series and I saw that there was a movie about to come out I couldn’t resist. I hurried and read it finishing it just before the movie came out.

My thoughts? The books had promise. I had hopes that the author could develop the story line into something pretty good. I wasn’t hooked like with series like Harry Potter, Mistborn, The Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire or even, ahem. . .Twilight. (Confession time: I included some of those series in my list to let you know I don’t always sit at home reading sappy young adult love fiction).

The movie however, as happens most of the time, was not on par with the book and I wasn’t super impressed with the book. There were quite a few painful moments and times when the ferocious shadowhunters didn’t seem too bright (I mean really? You froze the demons and then tried to squeeze past them instead of stabbing them with your demon killing angel blade?) It still was better than the first Twilight movie. Having a lead actress with more than one facial expression probably helped. So I trudged on.

The rest of the series was a quick read. I averaged about 3/4 a book a day and I was genuinely interested to find out what happened. Time and again though I was disappointed in where the author took us. It started out as a dark mix of Harry Potter (a young person finds out that they are part of a magical world– not only part of that world, but an important, slightly famous, part) and Twilight (girl falls in love with bad boy with a soul and their love is dangerous). Although it was somewhat an obvious plot line I thought it had promise. The author tried to tackle more adult subjects than I expected in YA fiction: homosexuality, premarital sex, incest, murder. However, she approached them in such unrealistic and immature ways it ruined the attempt.

Homosexuality: OK, Alec is gay. That’s cool. OK he hasn’t come out yet. I’m sure he’ll work up to it. OK he does that and gets in a relationship. I’m even cool with the fact that he became obsessive and basically the worst boyfriend ever. I’m not cool with the fact that the author felt the need to shout “DON’T FORGET THEY ARE GAY!” every chance she got. I totally hadn’t forgotten.

Premarital sex: THIS is the subject that bothered me the most. None of the characters had a problem with having sex. In fact almost all of them WANT to have sex, but conveniently something happens to stop it. Somehow it’s never morals or parents that stop it, but “I just want to make out a cuddle” ’cause teenage boys TOTALLY go for that. Do I think it’s a good idea for a bunch of 15 year olds to be having sex every chance they get? No. Do I think unsupervised 15 year olds will have sex every chance they get? Most definitely. So don’t pretend they won’t.

Incest: Is it just me or did Clary and Jace have more sexual tension when they thought they were brother and sister than after they found out they weren’t related? It was almost as if once they found out they could have a relationship they weren’t that into each other anymore. That only works in A Song of Ice and Fire. The Lannisters were messed up enough to pull it off; Clary and Jace, not so much.

Murder was really just brushed upon. Jace murdered while he was under a spell so it’s all cool. Clary only kills demons and Simon just almost killed someone so once again we’re all good.

Do I think these books are worth the read? Yes, but check them out of the library and read so many other series first. OK here’s where I’m going to say something that will piss many of you off. I think Twilight is a better series. The characters are developed better, the villains are scarier, and the love story makes more sense. So if you’re looking for a YA cheesy love story pick up Twilight again or if you’re looking for a YA series that has a little more meat to it read the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson.

How do I think this series could have been saved? If it had been written about Simon. Simon was the only realistic character. He dealt with issues like a real person would, I wish he (and all the other characters) had been at least 5 years older than they were to make all of their independence believable, but he was the most real character in the book.

So I’m sorry if I blasted your favorite book. If you disagree let me know why. Back up your argument. I didn’t hate the series I just got distracted by what I saw as unrealistic events or circumstances (no I’m not talking about portals or magic, I’m talking about unsupervised teens running around New York or teens in charge of their hormones).

Once again if you have an argument that could change my mind– throw it at me.

Become A Star For A Day

September 3, 2013September 3, 2013ANerd Aside Cosplay Tags: Captain America, CNN, cosplay, Costume, Disney, DragonCon, DragonCon 2013, Once Upon a Time, Raphael Sbarge, Snow White, Superhero 1 Comment

DragonCon is over. Another year of costuming, staying up too late, getting up too early, exposing my son to something that is somehow both awesome and inappropriate at the same time, and what is most amazing: feeling like a star.

I had someone ask me why do this. Not just why I go (even though I think that they had doubts about that as well), but why I spent so much time and money on making costumes for this event. At the time I didn’t really know the answer. After seeing the amazing creations last year I thought that I had the ability to create something amazing so I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. That may have been my reason for starting, but I know my reason (and I think other’s reason) to continue. It was amazing to have people stop me in the halls and ask for my photo. It’s what I would imagine being famous feels like, except at the end of the day I got to shower and turn into myself again.

OK so Steampunk Supernatural went over well. I had more people “get” it than I thought I would (I think a whopping 10 people that didn’t have to ask who we were– which was about 8 more than I expected) and had a lot of compliments just on the general awesomeness of it. I got recognized by someone who reads my Tumblr which made my day and then I also got to do a CNN photo shoot about rule 63.

However, it wasn’t until I was dressed as Snow White that I began to feel the awesomeness. No explanation was needed here. In a sea of Ariels, Auroras, Tinkerbells and Cinderellas it was easy to stand out of the crowd. It took me twice as long to get anywhere, I got called the wrong princess’ name numerous times, but I loved every second. While on the Walk of Fame I even had “Once Upon a Time” star Raphael Sbarge ask ME for a picture! Yeah that was pretty awesome.

When I walked by small children I could hear there excited whispers and I watched them gather the courage to talk to me. It truly was magical. To them I was Snow White just like for my son every Spider-Man or Captain America we passed was, in his eyes, THE superhero. It’s an amazing feeling and I can see why people go to numerous cons a year and spend thousands on costumes. Do I think it’s as competitive as “Hero’s of Cosplay” portrays it– no, not for the average congoer, but it’s crazy the things people can construct. create and imagine that makes cosplay special.

So if you still don’t understand why I recommend you hit up the nearest con (a larger one to guarantee that you’ll get to see some awesome costumes) and do some people watching. Maybe you’ll get it then.

Check out some of the highlights of my weekend: