New Post on C2E2 (kinda)

Hey lovelies,

Check out my C2E2 post on GirlsGeeksBoobs.wordpress.com ----> http://girlsgeeksboobs.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/c2e2-a-naugthy-review-pt-1/


I'm doing double duty on blogs now and will be AWESOME at it. AWESOME I say!!

Love, Peace & Booties ;)

XO

AM

[AG:] An Update and a bit of Philosophy

Greetings, programs!

AG here with a little update and some thoughts that have been stirring for a long time. First, the little update.

AM is a busy little bumblebee these days -- a busy little bumblebee that is made of glitter and shimmies a lot -- and doesn't get much time to blog. Also her computer recently died and was brought back to life, so, cut her some slack. She's rehearsing for Superboobs where she will be playing BOTH (yes both) Harley Quinn AND the Joker. What's that you say? IMPOSSIBLE, YOU SAY??? Maybe you should just go see the show and you'll see how it's done. I'm personally terrified to go. Happy as usual to see my best friend shake it in front of strangers, but also terrified. She sent me some teaser pics of her makeup for the show and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it. It's probably going to be amazing. Just saying. Our dear AM will then be choreographing a Power Rangers based burlesque, as directed by our friend Bobby (@Haberdasher9k on Twitterz). It will be AMAZE. Totes amaze.

I myself am about to go into tech rehearsals for The Cherry Orchard at Piccolo Theatre which has preview March 9 and opens officially March 16. The run continues through March and April until closing on May 5. I am super happy about the production overall and have been having an utterly smashing time with everyone involved... The icing on the cake has been how NERDY everyone in the cast is. We spend our five and ten minute breaks screaming and flailing about Battlestar, Doctor Who, comic books, and everything in between. It's been completely joyful. I spent an evening with several of them watching the new release Justice League: Doom... which was fab. We are all making plans to be at C2E2... currently discussing costume possibilities. So far I'm thinking I'll be bringing back my Lady Steampunk Eleventh Doctor ensemble from TeslaCon, but I'd like to do something more comic based too... Still thinking. ;)

Also, I am pretty sure I haven't said this yet here but I've said it on Twitter... one of my dearest friends in all the world, James Tynion IV, is currently working with Scott Snyder on the New 52 Batman. NOT JOKING. James is a SUPER legit human being, a great writer and he is wildly passionate about comics, so I can't wait to see what the finished products are. Once some of the stuff has been officially published/announced, he has kindly agreed to do an interview with the Lady Nerds, so look forward to that! :D HUZZAH!

Okay, so that's the update.

The other thing I wanted to talk about was a conversation I had with my boyfriend the other day about "the state of the world" and what the real issues are. Obviously, our dear Amurrkuh isn't exactly well-balanced right now. We started talking about politics and the Occupy movement and the wars and all of the big garbage we're all dealing with these days, and he startled me by remarking how obvious it was that I was a passionate science fiction nerd. I asked what was obvious about it -- knowing that he didn't mean it as an insult -- and he repeated a few things I already said, indicating how clear it was that science fiction had influenced my worldview. I've always been aware of it, but more in a "taking-it-for-granted" kind of way. So here I am, to tell you what I think in a vague sort of way, with direct connotations to my beloved sci-fi stories/authors/examples.

***SIX THINGS I BELIEVE (THANKS TO SCI-FI)***

1. The destiny of mankind lies in the stars. This comes from the introduction of Star Trek. "Space: the final frontier." Space is the final frontier. I mean, yes, there's the bottom of the ocean, the inside of the earth, and even the inside of the human body if you're going to reverse the spectrum, but then there's all that STUFF going on out there that we can only see a teensy part of. There's so much beyond us and our tiny world and our ridiculous problems. So much creation and destruction and STUFF happening. In what way does the existence of all of that beyond us mean that we are NOT meant to explore it, see it, experience it? True, maybe we'll never understand it all. That's probably a good thing. But I absolutely believe that the future of our species lies in space travel and exploration. We're smart enough to do it, even if we're not smart enough to fix our own economies or stop fighting wars or heal the sick. We are smart enough to figure shit out EVENTUALLY. And when we do, we'll go to the stars. I mostly just refuse to accept that this species was crazy smart enough to make all of the technological advances we made in the last 100 years only to hang out on the moon for a little while and then SHUT DOWN the space program in favor of a shitty economy and more international conflict and death. We'll be back. We have to. Otherwise, what the fuck is that shit there for?

2. The only option for human beings to survive must be to cease international conflict and unite as one planet. Again, Star Trek. If we keep bombing the shit out of each other, we're going to destroy any chances of further advancement as a species. Maybe that's for the better. I'll go ahead and quote the new Battlestar Galactica:

"It's what you said at the ceremony before the attack, when Galactica was being decommissioned. You gave a speech, it sounded like it wasn't the one you prepared. You said that humanity was a flawed creation, and that people still kill one another for petty jealousy and greed. You said that humanity never asked itself why it deserved to survive. Maybe you don't."

So that's pretty fucking grim, right? But unless we get our SHIT together -- on a national, and then a global scale -- it's a valid point. Like, if aliens come calling and find out we're this stupid, they'll either A) abandon us permanently (or at least till we evolve again) or B) destroy us. Okay. Also, economy/politics/war aside, we are eating away at our planet like termites, and you're an idiot if you think global warming isn't real. I repeat what I said before: we are smart enough to do this. We just aren't doing it. Which is almost worse. 

3. Time travel is possible but really messy and may be beyond human technology altogether. Obviously. This is a little blurry/vague, because I want to believe in time travel. Don't take that away from me. I think it's possible but it's way advanced shit and the aliens probably know how to do it properly. :D

4. The only way to change things is to become less self-interested and more aware of our own history. I read something about kids in elementary, middle and high school being polled to see what they wanted to be when they grew up. I remembered my own childhood pursuits, which included archaeologist (Indiana Jones), paleontologist (Jurassic Park), astronaut (Star Trek, Star Wars, Contact) and then later on, writer/actor/performer of stuff. This poll that I read about current students' ambitions was shocking. I wish I had the link but I don't, so I will grossly make up the statistics, but just be aware that the real numbers were just as shocking as this misinterpretation: something like 80-90% of the students cited "celebrity" as their chosen profession in life. Now, we all know that "celebrity" isn't an actual job description. Some of the students were also aware of that, and therefore cited "American Idol" or "reality TV star" as their directives. It broke my heart that nobody said "President," "scientist," "artist" or "teacher," but it really got me that nobody said "astronaut." I feel like when I was a kid, EVERYONE wanted to be an astronaut and EVERYONE wanted to go to Space Camp. It was like, the coolest possible thing that could happen to you as a child. Now, not only do kids not know who the Presidents are, when America won its independence, or how many states there are, but they don't give a shit about the fact that we've been to the fucking moon. De-press-ing. Devastatingly depressing. We have to fix that, seriously. SERIOUSLY. How is it "cool to be a geek" but not cool to want to be anything better than a vapid, self-interested, dispassionate body with no connection to the other human beings around them, let alone the human beings that came before them and will come after? It's horrifying.

5. Aliens exist. This is sort of a given. I think maybe I could have clarified this earlier, but I'm 100% positive they're out there somewhere. There's more shit going on that we even know. Period. There could be lots of them, there could only be a few. But they're there. I'm not convinced we've already made contact -- I'm not a Men In Black conspiracy theorist, but it's fun to think there's conspiracy. At least then there's something going on down here that isn't just war and money. But yeah. Aliens. Yep. Ahoy. Live Long And Prosper.

6. Magic is real. I don't want to get into this in detail here because it's complicated and partly open to interpretation and steers dangerously into the realm of religion. But like I said before, there's a lot of stuff going on out there that we aren't even conscious of. Hamlet says, "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Duh. Duh, Hamlet, duh. Exactly.

I would make it seven things, and talk about the Zombie Apocalypse and how I think the possibility of it actually happening relates to the tendency of mankind to fall prey disease/plague/the fucking common cold/pneumonia mutations... but AM doesn't like zombies. So I won't talk about it.

Anyway. Small update, small rant of exposition and belief. Hope it wasn't too tiresome. Stay tuned as always for more fun, and bother us on Twitter if you're bored.

LLAP,

AG

[AG & AM:] Happy Nerd Year!!!

Hello Nerdlings & Happy New Year. We decided to be a bit lazy and do a short video blog (in our, well AM's pajamas nonetheless). So here it is!

 

...well. Sorry. Let's do that again.

...there we go.

Please go ahead and check out our awesome host Elliott and amazing musician Jess! Also bravo to Challengers Comics for hosting the shindig. They had a great space and awesome stuff, so check them out if you're in Chicago.

A very happy New Year to you all! Cheers!

~AG & AM

P.S. THIS is what followed the construction of this post: 

[AG:] Who, Hugo, and Holiday Wishes!

Greetings, programs!

A very Happy Christmas/Hanukah/New Year to you all! I'm writing to you now from sunny Milwaukee, WI where I have just opened all of my presents and am now sitting and watching BBC America (with a fez on) as the hours count down to the new episode of Doctor Who... like ya do on Christmas Day. I have been meaning to post for weeks but December got pretty hairy at the day job and so it hasn't been easy to get time to actually construct thoughts into sentencey-things on the blog. But anyway, I digress.

Last time you heard from us we were in Madison, WI for TeslaCon 2: 20,000 Leagues Beneath The Aether.  In case you missed it through Twitter, here are the two video blogs we filmed while at the con:

First video: Nov 19, 2011

Second video: Nov 20, 2011

I have to say, going to TeslaCon was the SINGLE GREATEST THING WE EVER DECIDED TO DO TOGETHER. A while back, sometime last year, we saw that Gail Carriger had announced on her blog/Twitter that she'd be appearing as guest of honor at TeslaCon 2, and so we did some poking around to see what the word was. Once we found out it was in Madison and not terribly expensive, we agreed to go. We marked the dates on our calendars and moved hell and high-water to get there. It was well worth the effort. We experienced steam punks of all walks of life and level of costuming ability, we listened in on intriguing panels (shout out to DJ Doctor Q for his wicked "steampunk in comics" panel!) and met fantabulous people (shout out to Krisin of Bionic Unicorn, Samantha of Blasphemina's Closet, Syntheia Finklepott and Kevin, the Airship Ambassador). We had delightful teatimes in the Tea Room and we danced like crazy at the official ball. Beyond all of the regular delights of a convention, TeslaCon is the brainchild of Lord Hastings Bobbins III (Eric Larson), the first steampunk immersion event of its kind. During the course of our weekend journey on the H.M.S. Trident we met the Aquilan Ambassador, saw the signing of a peace treaty, were attacked by the evil Doctor Proctocus, saw a fashion show, witnessed the kidnapping of dear Lady Bobbins (GOOD HEAVENS!) and discussed the prospects of next year's TeslaCon 3: A Trip To The Moon.

That's right. We're going to the FLIPPING moon next year.

If you're interested in conventions, steampunk, or just want to have a deuced good time, you should really consider buying a ticket and coming along for the ride next year. It's going to be so much bigger and grander than this year, and seeing how good this year was makes my brain rattle with the actual possibility of next year's con. This year's theme was inspired by Jules Verne, of course, but next year is a nod to Georges Mélies.... and SPEAKING of Georges Mélies....

...have you read "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" yet? Have you seen the movie? If you haven't read it, good luck tracking down a copy, because it's selling out like CRAZY now that the movie is in theatres. But definitely try to track it down, because it's a marvelous book and author Brian Selznick is totally innovative. It absolutely deserves the Caldecott Award it won. You should also go see the film, though. And although I'm usually very much against 3D movies -- headaches, you know -- this is one film I highly recommend you see in 3D if you can. It's just so beautifully done, and it's made to be seen in 3D. It's a love letter to Parisian urchins, clockwork automatons, and silent movies. It's incredibly well cast and gorgeously filmed. I spent most of the film hugging my knees and grinning joyfully because it's so damn beautiful.

Trailers are fun!

Aaaaaand while we're doing trailers... go ahead and watch The Hobbit trailer again. Because it's also flipping amazing.

Yyyyyyyyep.

In the meanwhile, wishing everyone a very happy holiday season... does anyone have their New Years Resolutions sorted out yet? The few thoughts I've had so far include the following: 

1. Finish playing Pokémon: Black.
2. Read more comics.
3. Read more MARVEL comics (since I'm mostly DC).
4. Play Arkham City (DUH).
5. Continue writing and get a short story published.
6. Go to more conventions.
7. BLOG MORE.

...any thoughts? Oh, and by the by: AM and I got the green light to start writing our Doctor Who burlesque script for Gorilla Tango... Keep your eyes open for more on that this year!

Off to open more presents; my extended family has arrived. 

Live Long and Prosper, and huzzah!

~AG

Tesla*Con (Post One: Thursday) .......it's late :/

HI all!!!


Alex here! So as you probably know from our tweets we're at Tesla Con 2 this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. Our posts are coming a bit late because SO much has happened in the last two days alone that we just needed a bit of time to process. Today we'll put up a video blog detailing what our first official day at the Con was like but while Aly gets ready I thought I would write a little pre con blog.

So after Aly and I arrived at the hotel in our Steambug! we settled into the hotel and decided we wanted to go out for drinks and sushi. Because, well, we're very posh like that. And as we are staying in a hotel further away from the Con (SO MUCH CHEAPER!) we didnt have any new friends to revel with. We got dressed up in our Pin-Up best, naturally, and headed to over to a cocktail bar downtown named Opus. Side note: On the way we passed a bar named Woofs which we will forever make fun of in a Midwestern dialect "Hey, Imma, Imma going over to Woofs. Ok?"  We settled at a table surrounded by pictures of old movie starlets and were promptly waited  upon my a handsome gentlemen in a bowtie. Sitting in the chichi bar surrounded by what could only be politicians and their mistresses (the bar is across the street from the capital) we had cheap sushi, chocolate fondue (which I spilled on my dress. That's why I wear black gentlemen!) and for me far two much champagne. Champagne is my natural nemesis; so welcoming and bubbly, so deceptively strong.

Tipsily we made our way back home. Popped on our vintage bathing suits (naturally) and sat in the hot tub giddily laughing until we were too tired to spa (as if). Back at the hotel I promptly passed out (instead of writing this blog) and Miss Aly finished her novel for NaNoWriMo!!! yay!!

It was a good, relaxing pre con day. And thank goodness for that cuz Friday was nuts!

Goodies: Here are our "passport" photos for the Con. It's an immersion con so we built characters. Here I am as Estella & Aly as Alice. We'll post some character blogs in the future!

[AG & AM] Eleven Eleven Eleven: The Lady Nerds Hail the 11th Doctor!

[AG:] So, you’ve got your fez, jacket and bow tie ready to go for Friday? We do.

Yes, friends, this upcoming Veteran’s Day also coincides with a once-in-a-century numerical coincidence: the eleventh day of the eleventh month, on the eleventh year of this century. That’s a lotta ones! (Insert binary joke here.) But seriously, the internets are a-buzzin’ with fans of everyone’s favorite Time Lord prepping their cosplayin’ best for Friday in anticipation of what bloggers are calling Eleventh Doctor Day.

[AM:] Normally we don’t participate in silly internet life-memes* like “Change your Facebook status to what color your bra is in honor of (insert cause here)” or “Repost if you support (insert cause here)” or “Wear blue to (insert cause here)” because let’s face it they don’t really accomplish anything and are mostly annoying. We’re not saying support (insert cause here) is a bad thing, but mostly they are silly and ineffectual. (Though we both count May the 4^th as a national holiday). That being said in light of recent news regarding the potential eminent departure of our beloved Eleventh Doctor we have come to view this day as a way to honor, remember and have fun.

[AG:] Join in by paying tribute to Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor by wearing a fez, a bow tie, a tweed jacket, suspenders, or any combination of said items to work, to go out to the bar, or wherever you may be on Friday the 11^th.

Tweet or email us pics of your Eleventh Doctor Day encounters and we’ll post them on the blog!

[AM:] P.S. For those of you who would like to point out that it is also Veteran’s Day and what we are doing is unpatriotic, etc., etc., there is no reason why we can’t support the Veterans and love our Doctor. My dad’s a Vet so lay off.

P.P.S. Binary jokes are always funny.

*We just made this word up.

[AG:] Ex Post Facto: Joining Fandom After 'The End'

Hey y'all! AG here with some thoughts on something that I hadn't even realized was such a big part of my life and my exploration of geekdom.

That's right. I've been doing it for years but hadn't really noticed until recently, and I know others do it too: say there's a show, or a series of books, which is a big deal while in syndication or in publication, and then it ends, and you haven't read or watched it at all. So you pick it up and settle in to watch from episode (or chapter) one, all the while others have already lived and experienced it all. And then, inexorably, you find yourself drowning in obsession and fandom while your friends are generally already standing on dry land on the other side, having forded the river successfully without their Connestoga wagons tipping or their oxen drowning.

Oops.

Examples of Retroactive Fandom : I recently read The Hunger Games trilogy, a whole year after the final book ("Mockingjay") was released. I watched the first three seasons of Heroes before its fourth season was confirmed, which is a modified example, of course; and then season five was canceled, which was utterly devastating, don't get me started... Most recently, however, I was suckerpunched into watching the reboot of Battlestar Galactica (the giver of said suckerpunch was Miss Alex, of course, with help from a number of our friends) and that journey finally came to an end for me on Tuesday.

Those of you that have watched BSG know that when I say it was a "journey" I'm not kidding. I started watching it last winter but continued on and off until this month, because of other various life things that got in the way of me totally focusing on the survival politics of Galactica's crew and their toaster allies and enemies alike. Taking my time with the series did not lessen the impact of any of the incredible twists and turns along the way, especially those late in the game. I was floored. Totally floored. I'm still floored; my brain is still half-functioning because I'm trying to reconcile my worldview with the final reveal of the fourth season. I absolutely consider myself a fan now, despite the fact that I didn't join up till several years after the series ended. I loved how gritty it was, how unexpected it tended to be in spite of your tendency as a viewer to try and predict things before they happened. I loved the characters, the growing and changing relationships and interactions they all had, and even the religious subplot and mysterious undertones of the otherwise 'realistic' storylines (that is, realistic for a universe which precludes other planets than can support life and sentient artificial intelligence). It was fantastically written, in my opinion, and fantastically performed by a wonderful cast.

A lot of people might say that unless you watch a show in syndication, you're not a real 'fan' of a series, but it has been my experience mostly that nerds and geeks are more willing to allow latecomers into the fold, as long as those latecomers are fully versed in the canon and haven't skipped any details. AM has a favorite defense mantra, which goes something to the effect of "I didn't become a nerd till later in my life but it doesn't make me any less of a nerd than you." Where once the true test of a geek was how long one had been a fan of something, now it seems that there is more room for those who are young, or younger, or have only discovered certain things recently, but are fully committed to the fandom in spite of their tardiness. Another example: I am still in the process of watching The X-Files beginning to end, because I did not watch it in syndication (I was busy with DS9 and Voyager, kthx) but I consider myself totally invested in the series; X-Files is a passion for those who truly love it, and I absolutely love it. Again, I am taking my time finishing it -- I've still got season 8 and 9 left, and I'm terrified for it to end, even though I've seen both of the full-length movies. But that's all stuff for another day... I'm just saying.

My incredible cosmic Emily made this for me last Xmas. MADE IT. With puffy paint.

What I'm saying, really, I guess, is that experiencing a series ex post facto is still an experience, and that anyone who says it's "less" of an experience is absolutely wrong. All that matters is your personal experience and reaction to a show, a book, a movie. Whatever it is. If you love it, that's what counts. I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone I know who has already seen BSG (which is almost everyone) and kept the big surprises secret from me for all this time. It made a huge difference. I'm in Steven Moffat's camp, y'all: nobody really likes spoilers except people who have no true passion for storytelling. I would love to give my rabid thoughts about the end of BSG, but because the surprises were so fresh for me, I'd hate to throw anybody else under the bus, however unsuspecting. I'd also like to take this opportunity to say that I thought my dad made up the word "frak" as a cute alternative to the f-bomb. I grew up with him saying it, and subsequently have said it myself for years. Flash forward to the first episode of BSG -- I heard them saying it left and right and had a huge epiphany. My dad didn't invent "frak." Original!BSG did. And my dad loved original!BSG (as well as new!BSG). But that's the thing -- everything nerdy in my life goes back to the source: my father. He is the bringer of new things and the encourager of all that is geeky. Therefore, my dad is awesome.

Right?

So say we all.

-AG


Coming up soon: Reflections on prepping for conventions, costuming, and the Bristol Renaissance Faire (I know it was months ago, but I still have feelings about it!). ALSO: this Saturday, AM and I will be attending the fifth annual Doctor Whoniverse photoshoot in Chicago... expect pics! Currently reading "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" by Cory Doctorow and watching the animated "Batman: Year One"... whee!