May The Force Be With You.

 By Geeky Gem

You may think from the title of this blog that this might be about Star Wars. However this is not about Star Wars but about 4 Geeks that came together to start a blog.

 

 

15 months ago Hmsbeefnuts and myself came together and decided it was time we hit the internet with of own brand of fun and geekness. Along the way bloggers have joined us, Kirkie Chick with her fabulous take on gaming for girls and her weekly top 10. Caelrona joined us and she brought a mix of anime and manga all the way from America. We even had guest blogs from Ammzzy who told about Wolf Grit by Anne Rice and few choice other things.

We’ve had a lot of fun, from KirkieChick, Ammzzy and Myself spending the weekend at the SFX Weekender to my trip to Hogwarts. You’ve enjoyed Hmsbeefnuts own brand of blogging and had some great stuff from across the sea with Caelrona. I am guessing by now that you may know where I am going with this. So I guess I better get to it.

With the increasing lack of time that myself and Hmsbeefnuts seem to have lately we can now longer give All Geek To Me the time it should have. So it is with a heavy heart that we have decided to close All Geek To Me down. It’s a very sad time as after 15 months and 90,000 views we have to go. Which is a shame we have worked very hard on the blogs you have all come to read and we thank you all very much if you have ever read, commented or liked anything we have done.

I hope you have enjoyed all we have had for you to view here at All Geek To Me.

But for the last time this is good-bye from us and thank you.

Hmsbeefunts, Geeky Gem, Kirkie Chick and Caelrona.

 

Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary – Dead Poets Society

 

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Heya fellow geeks! It is Wednesday again, which means I’m back with another geeky blog for ya’ll. Nothing exciting has been going on this past week; well nothing exciting that I haven’t already covered like a hundred different times. New Walking Dead, new Vikings; but I’ve talked about those things already. So anyway, I thought that this week I would talk about something new. I went over my old posts and I noticed that I’ve seemed to totally skip over something I love to do; read. I mean, I’ve posted about manga, but that’s about it. So this week I thought I’d bring you some great and geeky books. Some of these I’ve loved for a long time, and others are recent reads that really caught my attention.

The Harper Hall Trilogy

The Harper Hall Trilogy was written by the amazingly talented Anne McCaffrey. It takes place in the world of Pern, and ties in with her Dragon Riders of Pern series of books. However, this trilogy breaks away from the Dragon Riders a bit, instead giving us a perspective of Pern from someone who is not a Rider, but more or less a normal person. The entire trilogy is brilliant, but then I am a huge fan of Anne McCaffrey. I literally learned to read with her books, and I truly believe that they played an integral part in my love of literature as I grew up. Her world is so beautiful and vivid, her characters so real and the stories so full of emotion and life that I will finish a book feeling like I’ve truly lived another life. It isn’t just the Dragon Riders series that I love; Anne McCaffrey was truly a talented woman and her other works (such as The Ship Who Sang, or The Rowan,) and those of her son Todd McCaffrey are excellent as well. If you’re into fantasy or science fiction then you should check her work out. I can guarantee that they will not disappoint!

Rot and Ruin

Rot and Ruin is the first in a series of four books by Jonathan Mayberry. They take place in a world 14 years after a zombie apocalypse ravaged the planet. People have banded together, cobbled together small towns and learned to live with the undead. So far three of the four books in the series have been released, though I have only read the first one, Rot and Ruin. It is a really excellent book if you are in to zombies, which I totally am. The world Mayberry creates of a post-zombie-apocalypse is really close to how I would picture it actually being. The different people, the towns and outposts, the paranoia and cult-like belief following that sort of disaster are really believable. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of this series, and if you are a zombie lover like me then I highly recommend this series.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter was written by the brilliant J.K. Rowling, but most people already know that. This 7-book series became so amazingly popular that it spawned 8 movies, countless video games and even a theme park! While I’m not particularly impressed with the movies (blegh, the second one was so bad I couldn’t bring myself to watch anymore) the books are incredible. There is a reason that these books have developed a cult-like following, and if you’ve not read them then I highly suggest you give them a chance. I re-read these books at least once a year, usually in a 2-day marathon that leaves me exhausted, but it is totally worth it.

Reading is something that I am really passionate about. I really enjoy reading because reading is not only a great way to learn and grow as an individual, but it can take you to so many places and be anything you want to be. It is a really fantastic way to expand your mind, and to escape reality and do things you may never get the chance to in real life. I read a lot of different things, even though I pretty much focused on Fantasy-fiction and Science-fiction works with this blog. In particular, I also read a lot of romance, but I figured that wasn’t quite geeky enough for a blog (although for those geeks who do like romance, try Gena Showalter, Christine Feehan and Jayne Castle. Their paranormal romance books are awesome!) Anyway, I’ll see you next week!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Geeky Gem’s Day At Hogwarts

By Geeky Gem

As I had been a very good girl in 2012 for Christmas Santa* gave me two tickets to The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. Now Santa being Santa picked a date in February so I had to wait  very long time to go on this adventure with my boyfriend. Bless him he drove us all the way from Cardiff to Watford it’s not that far to be fair. Anyway he got us there safe and sound and then the fun began.

As you can tell I took this photo outside of the studio, I wont post to many as I don’t want to spoil all the wonderful things you get to see once you enter sound stage J and sound stage K. See what they did there. Any once inside you are greeted by a lovely waiting area. Which some lovely pictures hanging on the wall of the cast, and  few things hanging from the ceiling like this little unknown car.

You also get to see the Ford Anglian again later in the tour, you can sit in it then along with a few other items in the back lot tour which you can sit in and walk across which is all good fun. There is so much to see I spent two hours looking at everything I could see. If you take the audio tour which is narrated by Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) the tour can take you up to 3 hours, which to me really is worth the entrance fee. You even get to go and buy a cup of Butterbeer from a stall in the back lot part of the tour and it is amazing.

There are loads of things to see, you get to walking in the same foot steps as the cast of the movies and that to me really brought out the geek in me. Walking in the Great Hall was mind-blowing and I wont post a photo of that as you really have to see it for your self.  However I will treat you to a photo of me outside  Dumbledore’s office.

As you can see I am wearing my home-made Hufflepuff jumper, I would later fix this is in the shop by buying a real one. Your just get to see so much and find out how thins works and interact with sets which is a lot of fun. BlitsEvo’s favourite part was the creature workshop. Where you get to see Goblin masks and many other things. One thing in there is this –

This my friends, in case you don’t know is Fawkes the Phoenix from the movies and he beautiful, I had no words when I saw Fawkes he is one of the many things to see inside the creature workshop. Now the tour ends with Hogwarts Castle model which BlitzEvo took 20 pictures of for me as we walked around the whole thing. I really want to post a picture of that for you but it really is something you have to see up close.

 There you folks that is all I can bring you from the tour, if you have only ever seen the movies then you will enjoy this just as much as some one who has read the books and seen the movies.

*Santa = My Parents

My Days Off : Reading

By Geeky Gem

There is nothing I enjoy more than curling up on the sofa with a warm drink and good book. I like dong this even more on my days off, I read a lot of books not as many as I would like but I always have at least one book on the go at any one time.

At the moment I am reading two book nd one graphic novel, i find that delving into a book brings me joy as I set off on an adventure in a new world. That world can be anything from Middle Earth to Hogwarts and back to Narnia. One of my current reads will be no surprise to some people but it is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Now many of you might know I am re-reading this book for only the second time. I have to say I am enjoying it just as much now as I did the first time. Its amazing just ho a book can grip you all over again and have you there for hours. There is just somethign about these books that keep me wanting to find out more about life at Hogwarts and having just come back from the Studio Tour it makes it all that richer. But I might tel you about that next week, if you good. The other book i am reading takes me to Middle Earth.

Now this one is little stranger, I was reading this book many years ago however I misplaced my copy of the book. At that point I had read up to the chapter entitled Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire. So when I got my new copy the first few chapters were a re-read the rest now is pure enjoyment. I can’t wait for the other movies and to reading The Lord of the Rings. The other thing I mentioned I like reading is graphic novels. the series I am most involved with at the moment is The Walking Dead.

This is the current volume I am reading, The Walking Dead my not be set in a fantasy world but it is set in a world that can get into. If I watch the tv show I love it, if I read the comic I love. Basically I love the walking dead. The art in this graphic novel just brings the writing to life and I cant get enough. It really is worth a read if you’ve never read it. Well untill next time happy reading.

Page vs Picture

By Geeky Gem

Welcome to the first page vs picture of 2013, this year I am going to try to not send ages going over one series of books. In fact this marks a new start of page vs picture. So shall we kick off with the book that will become a trilogy maybe even become 4 movies you know what Hollywood is like with books as of late, The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins.

 How I came by this book was a very strange one, I was channel hopping one day and came across an interview with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and he was talking about his latest movie at the time Journey 2. He was telling the presenter that he had kept in touch with his young co-stars and read out a text he had just sent Josh Hutcherson congratulating him on getting a part in The Hunger Games. It was from the fact that I like Josh Hutcherson that I had to find out what this book was all about. So I read the synopsis on the library website and ordered it to read.

The book arrived and I read it in a few days I was gripped, the book is the story of Katniss Everdean a young girl of District 12 part of Panem,  once a year  The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, shows it power and dominance over the districts by forcing them to take part in the Hunger Games, which is an event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death.

The reason I liked this book was partly down to the fact that it had one foot in reality, many people watch reality television shows and this is what would happen if the extreme show wa made. Now the people of Panem are made to watch their children fight to the death or they themselves will be put to death. There are out of things in this book and indeed in the story that I see in other movie nd books. If you havent read and fancy a nice quick read then why not give it a go.  Now on to the movie.

The movie came out in 2012, and you may have read some blogs that I wrote about it last year if not you can find them here on the site. I couldn’t wait to see this movie and was so glad I got to see it the cinema. I think I saw it in IMAX which just makes everything better. Well in some cases it does. The director of the move was Gary Ross, and as some of you already know it starred Jeniffer Lawrence, Josh Huctherson, Liam Hemsworth and a whole host of other fantastic actor’s. This adaptation of the book was pretty close to mark and only missed out one of my favourite bits. But I wont tell you hat it is as if you havent seen the movie it gives a bit away.

Anyway the cast of this movie really bring to life and many of the key scenes are brilliant, gain as with many movie adaptation parts are missing but some you can see why they are cut out others you do wonder why they didn’t put it in. This is a really good movie and with Catching Fore due out later this year I for one cant wait to see ht happens to Katniss and Peter next, well of course I know ive read the books.

On to the question that I came here to answer is the book better than the movie, this one is really hard as I really liked both and the current score is Book – 4 and Movie – 3. So can movie pull it back to draw level at this point? No it can’t and this point goes to book again, come on movie pull your socks up. I have given the point to book on the basis that it just has some more of favourite parts in it. that makes the score Books – 5 Movie – 3.

Come back nd again and see wh ill win the next point in page vs picture epic battle.

Pottermore

By Geeky Gem

For most of last year you would have read my page vs picture blogs, all of which has included one set of books. Harry Potter that comes from the pen and mind of J.K Rowling. Pottermore is a website from J.K Rowling and Sony where you get a whole new reading experience.

There are so many wonderful things that you can do on Pottermore from brewing potions to dueling other players. You can explore each book and each tab and collect things from around the world of Harry Potter. Things like chocolate frog cards to Berty Bots Every Flavour Bean, you even find exclusive new parts written by Rowling just for Pottermore that add to the details of certain parts of different books. So for you can only explore up to the first few chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban.

You start off just as the book does and you get you letter telling you have been expected to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you then go on to shop at Diagon Ally. Where you can get your wand and then on the Hogwarts Express and on the Sorting Hat. Where you answer a series of question in order to find out which Hogwarts House you should be placed in.

When I answered the questions from the Sorting Hat I was unsure which House I would like to be place in. Any Harry Potter fan more than likely wants to be placed in Gryffindor, or you have a feeling for another house. I didn’t have any of theses feelings however I was sorted just like every ne else and the Sorting House thought I should belong to Hufflepuff.

When you get Sorted you can not go back and this is the house you will stay in for all of you Pottermore life. I like Hufflepuff but never thought I was one, turns out I am more like a Hufflepuff than I think. Pottermore is a great experience for fans of the books it gives you a whole new level of Rowling’s world to enjoy. There are so many things to do and enjoy at theis website and it is ony going to get better as more and more of the chapters and books open for people to enjoy.

12 Movies of Christmas: Santa’s Ride

By Geeky Gem

Yes, I know Christmas is over and that Santa has packed his sleigh away for another year but it got me thinking what could Santa also use. I sat down and I had a think about what other vehicles Santa could use if he ever wanted to pack the sleigh away for good, so here is another good old list.

Kitt – Knight Rider

Now if Santa ever wanted to rock up and leave your present’s in style this would be the way to do it. Plus he good programme Kitt to tell him if the child at the house had been naughty or nice. Kitt is one of the coolest cars around, and he can talk whats not to like. Go on Santa give it go.

The Van – The A-Team

Now if Santa wanted a bit more room for his sack’s of present’s he would be better of with another 1980’s classic  The A-Team van. It can still pick up seed and has some guns should he come across a stick up or whatever. The Van could really work for him you know.

Batmobile – Batman

If Santa wanted something a bit more Hi-Tech he could always go with frankly awesome Batmobile, it has all the bells and whistles and not only that its fantastic looking. I mean come on who doesn’t want ones theses bad boys to drive around in.

Aladdin’s Magic Carpet – Aladdin

I guess this more of topless vehicle and I am not sure Santa would want to be out in the open in the night’s air in late December. However I guess he could just wear layers and that would keep him warm.

Bumblebee – Transformers

This was an easy choice who doesn’t want a car that can turn into a kick ass robot. Santa may like this for just that reason who knows. At least Bumblebee could talk to him through the radio and keep the evil Autobots ay bay.

They you go Santa just a few ideas for if you eer want yo pack up your sleigh and give the reindeer the night off.

12 Movies of Christmas: Page vs Picture

By Geeky Gem

As it is December and Christmas is fast approaching I thought I would do a Christmas themed Page vs Picture. One of my favourite cartoons is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I have mentioned this in an earlier blog. You can read it here, I have also read the book and thought this would be the perfect time to do a Page vs Picture.

I love this book, the way the rhymed verse’s roll of the page and are partnered with some brilliant art work. It is had not to like this book, hard to think that it was first published back in 1957, it gripped kids then and it will grip kids now. It’s a fantastic book very whimsical and joyful.

It is such an easy book to enjoy with a simple story line, The Grinch who lives atop Mount Crumpit, hates the fact that the happy Who’s of Whoville enjoy christmas so much. He then comes up with a plan to steal Christmas from them in order to stop their merriment. This however this doesn’t work and the Who’s still embrace Christmas. Can they melt the Grinch’s heart.  Shall we move on to the cartoon?

The cartoon version of the book came out in 1966 as was directed by Chuck Jones, it is one of the few cartoons still on regular rotation on television in the US a bit the Snowman plays here at this time of year I guess. I love this cartoon and have already mentioned that to me the voice of Boris Karloff is what brings the whole thing together. Now you may like the Jim Carrey live version and that’s fine but for me this is the better one. Its a short fun movie with a great song in it, what more could you want.

So on the question is the book better than the movie, at the moment the score is Book – 4, Movie – 3. I am about to bring this to a tie and the pint goes to movie, the movie is very close to the book and that’s a good thing but I really think Karloff is what wins the point here.

My Reads This Year 2012

By Geeky Gem

As many of you know I like to read and I don’t mind what I read so long as I have at least one book on the go at any one time. Last year I read 53 books, how I hear you ask? well I didn’t have a job so had very little else to do, this year so far I have only read 38 a big drop and this is more than likely down to the fact I have a job now and beside’s doing my job and writing for you lovely people I have little time to do much else. However I catch the bus a lot so I have time to read on my journey’s which is nice as I can usually get a big chunk of a chapter on my way to work. I thought I would let you in on some the books I have read this year, and some I cant wait to read that are waiting for me to open.

Dead Until Dark

Now I did star reading this book just before True Blood started on FX but at the time I just couldn’t get into it. That being said at the start of the year my cousin said I should try again so I did and I read the whole thing in a week, I havent moved onto the other book in the series yet but I have now doubt that I will. This was really good and different from the show but I did like it. If you like the show and havent read the book why not give it go.

Percy Jackson

With this one I had seen the movie some time ago and meant to read the books but never did, however this year I suddenly remembered them and thought go on then lets give them a go. I like any thing to do with Geek Myths so these books appealed to me. I picked up Lighting Thief and was done within in a couple of days,  wont lie to you I read all 5 books inside of a month. I just couldn’t put them down, they are really good and well worth your time.

Superman/Batman

Comics count ok, besides I read a few comics this year. This one was by far one of my favourite in this series Batman and Superman team up to fix things that are going on. In this one I have pictured it to help Super Girl come to terms with landing on Earth and how she can live her life amount humans. It’s a really good series of comics, if you Superman and Batman, your you just like on you have to give this cross over a go.

Kick-Ass 2

I loved the first Kick-Ass and I have been wanting to read this part for a while so last week, I picked it up and read it in oe go. It takes pace just after the events of Kick-Ass, however Hit Girl is no longer allowed to speak to Kick-Ass she has to be a good girl Kick-Ass however has joined a league of Superheroes and is running around town fighting crime with his new friends. That is untill Red Mist shows up and starts making trouble. If you havent read these and like comic then give them a go they are really good.

These are just some of the book si have read this year, I am also still reading a few. I am currently still reading City of Bones and I am re-reading the Harry Potter series. Both of which I am enjoying very much but it’s finding the time to sit down and give them a good few hours attention. I also have a copy of J.K Rowlings first book for adult’s called The Casual Vacancy which I am also looking forward to starting.

Well untill next time happy reading.

Page Vs Picture

By Geeky Gem

Over this past year I have told you how I feel about movies that were once books. Now I know I have spent nearly all of these telling you about Harry Potter and as much as I would like to say this one will be different it won’t. However it will be the last time we visit the boy wizard and his friends as we enter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In this blog I will cover the book and the two movies that came from it so when I give my score at the end I am looking at both part one and two as one epic movie.

This was J.K Rowlings last tale of the boy wizard and she finally let it go with a bang, I waited for this book for ages and got it the day it came out and as usual vanished for a few hours. I now have all the books displayed on my book shelf and I am just re-reading them now, I am currently on Goblet of Fire. Any way the thing about this book is the epicness of it, this is where we find out which one can live while the one dies. Harry and his friends are on a mission to find the remaining Horcruxes and break Lord Voldemort down piece by terrifying piece. The only thing that got to me while reading this book was that for a good chunk of it it’s just Harry and his friends on a camping trip and I know you had to go through this in oder to get to really good stuff and believe it was worth the wait. This book answer’s all the question that have been building up, you followed Harry and his friends for years and this will bring everything to an end and I think J.K Rowling finishes the series in the perfect way.

The way the book flows is fantastic, you just go on the adventure with them hoping that they will be able to defeat Lord Voldemort. After all that is the big question Can Harry Beat him?

If you have never read these books at all then you really have to, it’s not just hype they really are good books and well worth losing a few hours too, Just ask my cousin u until this year she had never read them and had only seen the movies, she too like me is rereading them. Time to move on to the movies then.

Now with the movies Warner Brothers decided to spilt it into two-part and now this seems the norm, for big book adaptations with a few movies following suit. The director was the same for both movies as was the writer. David Yates and Steve Kloves team up to take on the final chapters of Rowling’s books. From The Gringotts Wizarding Bank raid to the epic Battle of Hogwarts.

These two movies back to back make for one great conclusion of Harry’s big screen adventure and the did a brilliant job. This isn’t because they have an epic looking Dragon in te movie oh no this is because they took Rowling’s words and ran with them, ever part was something new. From the calmness of Bill and Fleur’s wedding to the one of the biggest on scene fights I have ever seen, that’s right Mrs Weasley vs Bellatrix. Oh did you think I meant Harry vs Voldemort? Will i guess that was a big fight, wasnt it?

My favorite part is when Professor McGonagall tells Seamus and Neville they can blow up the bridge into Hogwarts its was brilliant and played out so will and there were just so many goods points throughout the two movie run. Plus it has a dragon, did I mention that? Oh I did. If you havent seen any of movies then please watch them even if you never pick up the book you will enjoy the story that unfolds.

Well I guess we better answer the question that I try to answer all the time was the book better than the movie. Now as it stands Book is winning 4 – 2. That being said I think this time I will award the point to, the movie. I just think it did ever thing right, that’s not to say the book wasn’t fantastic it was but the movie just had ever thing I had in my head when I read the book there on the screen. Well done movie you finally pulled one back and the score is now Book 4 – Movie 3.

Join me again soon for anther page vs picture where I will finally move away from HArry Potter and on to another hot bit of Hollywood property.

Untill next time Happy reading and watching.