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! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! The week is over already and I’m just sitting here wondering where it went. But anyway, Happy St. Patty’s Day to any of our readers who celebrate it. Aside from it being a small holiday; Sunday also brought us new episodes of The Walking Dead and Vikings; both of which I am loving so much. But today’s blog isn’t about television, no matter how much we all love it. Today I thought I’d talk about video games a bit. Lots of stuff happening on that front that I’m excited about; Minecraft just brought the 1.5 update which is murdering me with lag. That’s ok, Mojang, it isn’t like I was excited to play with the daylight sensors or anything. The newest Simcity was also released, but talk online says there are problems with it. Last but not least, Hidden Path Entertainment has finally stepped up to bring our beloved Age of Empires 2 into the modern age with an HD remake. So, let’s get started shall we?

Mojang finally released the much anticipated Redstone Update; otherwise known as Minecraft update 1.5. I’ve been waiting for this for a while with a lot of anticipation, because the daylight detector is a much needed circuit component and I loved playing with random redstone circuits. Unfortunately, the update did more than just bring new items. It brought lag; horrible, terrible, game stuttering lag. I mean, my laptop probably isn’t the best machine to run Minecraft on anyway; but this is just ridiculous. I get lag standing still. Aside from that they also changed the way texture packs have to be laid out, which means a lot of work for me converting mine to the new layout. In the long run, I’m sure I’ll eventually love the Redstone update, probably after a 1.5.1 hotfix to address the lag issue, but for now; screw you too, Mojang. =(

EA finally brought fans what they’ve been begging for with a brand new Simcity that has apparently crashed and burned since its launch. From what I’ve been reading, I’m really glad that I haven’t bought it yet. Apparently they are attempting to sell Simcity as an MMO, which is kind of silly. Take it from a Sim nerd; we don’t play Sim games to deal with other people. We play Sim games to control everything. An option to play with certain people would have been loved by pretty much all fans. Forcing us to play with random people, on the other hand, is not really welcome at all. We could just do PUG’s in World of Warcraft if we wanted to play with random players of questionable skill. Speaking of questionable skill; the AI built into the Sims is laughable. I don’t really think it can even be called AI, since there is no intelligence to it at all. They don’t actually have individual lives, as was promised. Instead they work at whatever the closest workplace is and live wherever the closest house is. But amid all the bad, there is some good news; apparently someone modded Simcity to work completely offline, proving the EA’s statements about online server play being integral to the game was a load of bunk. So hopefully the amazing modders out there can give us a functional Simcity that Sim-fans can love.

Hidden Path Entertainment is making many oldschool gamers very happy with an Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings HD release this coming April via Steam. I was so excited when I heard the news. I spent plenty of time playing Age of Empires, and having my friends slaughter me in online play. I still play it occasionally, although the hoops I jump through in order to run it on my Windows 7 machine without glitching are ridiculous. All of which is precisely why I am so excited; the HD release will feature updated graphics and had been designed to run on newer machines and operating systems. No more crappy graphics caused by Aero. As a bonus, they aren’t simply updating Age of Kings; they are also including The Conquerors expansion all in one glorious HD bundle, which is nice because that means we won’t have to turn around and pay again just to get those 5 civilizations. The best thing? They are charging a measly little $19.99 USD for this (a perfectly reasonable price, in my opinion) instead of some ridiculous amount that gamers would still begrudgingly pay for their much loved game. All in all, Hidden Path Entertainment is full of win!

Of course there are tons of other games being released, or have just been released recently that I’m also excited about. I mean, we did just get a Walking Dead game, and they announced Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag for then end of this year. All of which is super exciting, and I’m totally looking forward to them all. But since I didn’t want to bore you with tons of game announcements, I stuck to what pretty much sums up as my Top 3. I don’t know about you; but I’ve got some gaming to do!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy; Caelrona at the Renaissance Faire

By: Caelrona

Hiya All! I can’t believe it is already Wednesday again! Well, I don’t know about ya’ll but I was busy this weekend. As some of you may know, I live in the United States; specifically I live in Arizona. Once a year our uh, fair(?) state has a Renaissance Festival. This Renaissance Faire is huge, sprawling and packed with many shows and fun things to do (and tons of way to spend so much money. So. Much. Money.) My friends and I decided a while ago to attend, and last weekend was dedicated to the Renaissance Faire. We spent both Saturday and Sunday from, sunup to sundown, walking about in medieval dress. Our feet hurt, our ribs hurt (cinchers and corsets are bloody painful!), hell even our scalps hurt. But we had tons of fun, and I thought that I’d share that with you as best I could through a blog. I mean, what is geekier than a Renaissance Festival?!

Jousting

One of the main things we spent nearly all of Saturday keeping track of was the jousting tournament. There were three different jousting events, all tied into one another, spread throughout the day which basically meant a crap tan of walking for us as we’d see one, then walk about the other shops and shows until the next joust and have to walk all the way back. There were four knights jousting, whose sections could be sat in to cheer for. We ended up in the section for the rider in amethyst. Unfortunately, we picked the loser of the tournament to cheer for, which was a letdown, but he was a good sport and spent the remaining time in the arena talking to everyone in his section of the stands and letting kids pet his horse.

The Tortuga Twins

My friends saw two of their shows; whilst I was only able to see one. During the first I was getting my hair braided at one of the stalls. However, the show I did get to see was hilarious. It also was apparently their only rated R show. It was definitely adult humor; several families got up and left within the first few moments (although why they were there that long I can’t imagine; they loudly proclaimed several times that it was an R rated show.) Several random audience members were accosted, embarrassed and mildly molested during the show. Well, I say mildly, but…

Zilch the TorySteller

Zilch the TorySteller is.. oh, I don’t even know how to describe him. He’s hilarious. From his website; ‘My name is Terry Foy, although you might know me better as Zilch the Storyteller. Er, ah, Torysteller. The stories I tell have a bit of a twist to them. I spalk in toonerisms. Ah, I talk in spoonerisms. Citching one’s swonsonants fack and borth Worning your Turds around. It’s serfectly pimple. You just have to tink thaster than you falk.’ Yeah. Try reading that a couple times and see if you get the idea. He talks that way the entire time, telling various ‘TairyFales’ like ‘Rindercella and the Stoo Tugly Epsisters,’ ‘Rittle Led Hiding Rood,’ and Spilliam Wakshear’s ‘Jomeo and Ruliet.’ Also, if that weren’t enough to catch your attention he goes off on random tangents to tell awesomely nerdy jokes and small stories. Like the time he had a group of Klingons and a group of Storm Troopers having a little inter-genre mixer at one of his shows, and one of the Storm Troopers was wearing a kilt! Or when he had a front row of Doctor’s from Doctor Who, and they kept getting excited and squeaking; ‘We’re in chronological order!’ This man was so funny, we could hardly breathe most of his show.

Tartanic

I’ve saved the best for last. Now you might be wondering; what is Tartanic? The simple answer; Tartanic is a band. They are the most interesting band I’ve ever come across, and one showing had me hooked; I am now a fan for life. The long answer? Dressed in kilts and sunglasses, Tartanic gives its audiences a barrage of sound from not one but two Highland Bagpipes, and three percussionists. Imagine one dancer, six drums, six drones, 18 notes, fast fingers, high comedy, flying bagpipes, taste-defying stunts and scorching hot music played at over 120 beats per minute with driving speed and high-volume, all brought to you by five men without pants. Yeah, they are pretty damn awesome. Little ol’ me with my pirate’s heart of gold even shelled out 15 clams to buy their latest album. That’s right; they are so amazing they got me to PAY for music. We saw 3 of their shows between the two days we spent there; mainly because I kept dragging my friends to them. What can I say? I love me some men in kilts with bagpipes and big drums.

 

So there you have it! That is how I spent my weekend; running around a huge dusty portal back in time and getting accosted by various people who thought I worked for the faire. Honestly, just because a girl is wearing period clothing doesn’t mean she’s going to sell you a corset people. But anyway, I had an amazing time, spent way too much money and walked so much I still hurt from it; it was fantastic!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! I can’t believe it is already March! I mean it feels like it should still be February to me. But I suppose that it may just be me who feels that way. Anyway, I’ve been reading quite a bit this past week; most of it from my manga collection, but it still totally counts and it got me thinking. I’ve done a lot of blogs about anime, and I’ve mentioned manga a few times but I’ve never really gone into any detail, so I thought that today I would share with you some excellent manga to read. I’ve been reading mostly shojo manga and while I certainly do like other kinds, I thought I’d stick with this genre for this particular blog. I guess maybe this blog should be Shojo Manga You Ought To Read. Off we go!

Hana Kimi

Hana Kimi, or known originally as Hanazakri no Kimitachi (For You In Full Blossom) in Japan, is a shojo manga series written by Hisaya Nakajo. Hana Kimi was serialized in Japan in Hakusensha’s semi-monthly shojo magazine, Hana to Yume. The manga series comes to a close with 23 volumes, and has spawned a whopping 4 live-action television shows. It is published by Hakusensha originally, and by Viz Media in English.

Hana Kimi centers on Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl from America. One day she sees a track and field competition on television and begins to idolize one of the high jump competitors, Izumi Sano. As her attachment to him grows, she comes up with the idea to transfer to Japan to attend the same school as he does. The only snag with her plan; Sano attends an all-bows high school and Mizuki must disguise herself as a boy to enter!

Hana Kimi is a really adorable manga. I haven’t finished the series yet, I’m on Chapter 62 so far, but what I have read of it I absolutely love. Mizuki is such a ditzy sweetheart that it would be impossible not to adore her. Sano, while cold at first, begins to warm and eventually you come to love him too. It’s a pretty girly read; but then it is a shojo manga, so you what else do you expect?

Absolute Boyfriend

Absolute Boyfriend, or Zettai Kareshi, is a shojo manga series by Yuu Watase. It was first serialized in Shojo Comic, however it was also serialized in the Viz Media magazine Shojo Beat. This manga series is absolutely tiny, coming to a close with only 6 books. However it also spawned 2 live-action television shows with plans for a third. It was published by Shogakukan originally, and by Viz Media, Chuang Yi, and Madman Entertainment in English.

Absolute Boyfriend centers on Riiko Izawa, a young girl who is very unlucky in love. One day a strangely dressed salesman gives her a business card for a website that sells ‘love figures’, or android lovers that not only look real, but act and feel real as well. On the spur of the moment and because she doesn’t really understand the implications, Riiko orders one for a 3-day free trial. When she doesn’t return him before the deadline she has to find a way to pay the one million dollar debt she now owes, while dealing with her new feelings and emotions for her robotic boyfriend.

Absolute Boyfriend is a cute manga. I definitely wouldn’t let kids read it, but it is still cute. Riiko is so ditzy, but she grows up throughout the very-short manga. Night, her android boyfriend, is so heartbreakingly sweet; and his rival (her best friend) Soshi is really sweet too. For such a short manga, it is really heart breaking. The end is totally wrenching. I have no idea how they packed that much emotion into only 6 volumes, but they did.

Wild Ones

Wild Ones, or Arakura, is a shojo manga series by Kiyo Fujiwara. It was serialized in Hana to Yume, and later serialized in Shojo Beat in America. It is fairly short, having only 10 volumes in the series. It was first published by Hakusensha, and then later by Viz Media in English.

Wild Ones centers on young Sachie Wakamura, who just lost her mother. Her estranged grandfather has shown up to take care of her. The only problem is that Grandpa is the head of a yakuza gang. Sachie tries to continue living her normal life; but she can’t run far since Rakuto, a handsome and popular boy from school, is part of her grandfather’s gang and her new protector! Soon, Sachie finds herself falling for her bodyguard. But she’s the granddaughter of Rakuto’s boss, so he can never show his feelings. Sachie must find a way to fit her new family into her life while keeping them secret from everyone at school; all while attempting to size her chance at love.

Wild Ones is one of my favorite shojo manga series. The characters in this manga are just crazy. All of the yakuza gang members are ridiculous. They add so much humor to any scene they are in. Rakuto and Sachie are a great pairing, and the way the manga ends is really sweet.

 

Well, there we have it; some of my favorite shojo manga. I really like all three of these manga series; I guess I can’t be about gore and zombies all the time, right? I was going to do another manga; ‘Ai Ore!’ because I’ve been reading it recently and it is freakin’ adorable, but since I’ve only read the first 2 volumes (mind, they are like twice the size of most manga books, but still) I figured I’d save it for when I’ve read some more of it. So maybe I’ll do a Shojo Manga 2 post sometime later!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! Wednesday again, already?! Where has the week gone?! Well, here I am; back with more geekyness for ya’ll. So, I can’t believe that there have already been 3 episodes of The Walking Dead, and I haven’t blogged about it! Well… I guess I can, what with Valentines’ Day and me missing the one post and all.. uh, anyway! Aside from The Walking Dead, I’ve also been getting excited about a couple of other things; mainly this whole bad-ass fairy tale kick that Hollywood seems to be going on. Also there is a new television show coming on March 3^rd (well, here in America anyway; not sure if it’ll show anywhere else) called Vikings that looks awesome.

  

Anyway, how about those new Walking Dead episodes, eh? They’ve been freakin’ awesome! Michonne is kicking ass and taking names, Rick is absolutely losing his marbles, Glenn is getting stressed and best of all Daryl is getting screen time! I love me some redneck Daryl screen time. I’m not so happy about Merle being back in the picture, but I can always hope he’ll die soon and I’ll be rid of him. Speaking of annoying; Andrea is getting on my nerves something fierce as well. She’s been pretty stupid lately, and I’ve got to say that I liked her better in the comic. Then again, I find myself liking a lot of the characters better in the comics, although precious few are better in the show, like Carol, or have grown on me like Carl.

So amongst the things that I mentioned I am excited about, aside from my zombies, was the bad-ass fairy tale kick that Hollywood has been on recently. We’ve had a couple variations on Red Riding Hood, a few Snow Whites, a Hansel and Gretel and now we are getting The Wizard of Oz and Jack and the Beanstalk with Oz the Great and Powerful and Jack the Giant Slayer respectively. I keep finding movies, like these two or Hansel and Gretel, that didn’t make my initial list of movies I really wanted to see in 2013. I’m totally shocked by it too, because they look absolutely freakin’ awesome. Hansel and Gretel was awesome, but I already blogged about that. Jack the Giant Slayer (initially billed as Jack the Giant Killer) comes out this Friday, on March 1^st in America and March 22^nd in the UK. Oz the Great and Powerful, on the other hand, comes out on March 8^th in both countries.

Last but certainly not least is the new show I found that starts on March 3^rd called Vikings. It looks awesome! I am super excited about it. I first noticed it when I heard Sail by AWOLnation playing on the television. They used it in the background of the trailer, which I thought was awesome. According to Wikipedia; Vikings is an upcoming historical drama series inspired by the epic saga of Viking King Ragnar Lothbrok. One of the most popular Norse heroes, Ragnar was a great Viking commander and the scourge of France and England. Vikings will tell the tale of the epic and violent world of the mighty Norsemen who raided, traded and explored during medieval times. It will tell the tale of the driven young Viking, Ragnar Lothbrok and the gripping sagas of Ragnar’s Viking crew and family as he struggles to become ‘king’ of a large part of modern day Scandinavia and Europe. Ragnar longs to discover civilizations across the seas. With the help of his visionary friend Floki they build a grand new generation of faster and sleeker ships. Jarl Haraldson is Ragnar’s lord and adversary. A man of little vision, the Jarl is suspect of Ragnar’s ambitions and goes head to head with him in a struggle for supremacy. Now doesn’t that just sound freakin’ awesome! I am so excited for it! Take a look at the trailer below and let me know what you think.

Well there you have it; my television and movies for the next little while. I know I’m going to be watching more television than normal the next few months, what with all the awesome stuff going on. I mean, I didn’t even touch on the new Game of Thrones, or the new Doctor Who episodes coming out in April. I know I’m not the only one excited about those! Anyway, I’d best be bringing this blog to a close; see ya’ll next week.

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! Caelrona here; you might have noticed my, uh, lack of a blog post last week. Sorry about that. I missed my day, and to make matters worse I don’t even have a legitimate excuse. I had one all typed up, and ready Tuesday morning, and decided to have a catnap before putting pictures to words. When I woke up.. BAM! it was nearly mid-day Wednesday! I lost an entire day to sleep. Not that I’m particularly complaining; I do love sleep, but now I feel bad. Anyway, there are tons of things I want to blog about; I mean, The Walking Dead just started back up, and there is a new show coming on March 3^rd that I am super excited about. However, since Valentines’ Day was this past Thursday, I’m going to save my excitement about The Walking Dead. Valentines’ Day only happens one time in a year; so I figure I ought to blog about it whilst the blogging is good (er, relevant, Hehe.) So in honor of Valentines’ Day, I thought I’d share some of my favorite chick flicks. I do watch them occasionally, and even though I spent my Valentines’ Day with my friend Annie in a theater filled with dudes watching A Good Day To Die Hard, chick flicks are more.. uh, lovey, and thus more suited to a Valentines’ blog.

 

10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You was made in 1999, and released by Touchstone Pictures. It is an American teen romantic comedy with a runtime of 99 minutes. The film is a modernization of Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’, and is titled after a poem written by the film’s female lead about her bittersweet romance with the male lead. The film follows two teenage couples. Cameron, a new kid at school, wants to date Bianca. Unfortunately she cannot date unless her older, non-conformist shrew of a sister Kat does. Being broke, Cameron tricks popular jerk Joey into paying bad boy Patrick into dating Kat. What can I say? I’m a child of the 90’s. Plus, Heath Ledger looks pretty damn good in this, so that does influence me a little bit. This is one of my favorite chick flicks. I mean, how could it not be? It’s a modern day Taming of the Shrew (yay, Shakespeare!) I prefer the aspects of the movie having to deal with Kat and Patrick (Julia Styles and Heath Ledger) rather than Bianca and Cameron (Larisa Oleynik and Joseph Gordon-Levitt). I’m guessing that is probably because I identify more with those characters, but whatever.

Never Been Kissed

Never Been Kissed was made in 1999 by 20^th Century Fox, in conjunction with Flower Films and Bushwood Pictues, and was released by 20^th Century Fox. It is a romantic comedy, with a runtime of 107 minutes. It follows Josie, a copy editor desperate to make reporter, as she goes undercover to get the scoop on the high-school scene. A ridiculed nerd when she was in high school, she starts off pretty bad until her drop-out, but cool, brother enrolls undercover to help her out, giving her an over-night popularity makeover. Both siblings find love and joys of youth again, but in Josie’s case it is sensitive bachelor teacher Sam Coulson. As the publication deadline and prom approach, the price of blowing their cover rises; and it seems ever more daunting, yet inevitable unless she sacrifices her career for love. I think this one is probably on most girls’ chick flick lists. At least, it is if they are my age. I love Drew Barrymore in everything I’ve ever seen her in, and while parts of this movie are too ridiculous for words (Oh Gawd, the Barbie outfits,) parts of it are really sweet. I particularly like the dress Josie wears to the prom (er, her second prom, I mean.) I’m not really a chick flick type of girl, but this movie I’ll watch just because it’s on, even if I’m not in the mood for a chick flick. It’s just a good movie.

Simply Irresistible

Simply Irresistible was made in 1999 by Regency Enterprises and was released by 20^th Century Fox. It is a romantic comedy with a runtime of 96 minutes. Simply Irresistible is about a young woman who inherits her mother’s restaurant, but not her ability to cook. After a shopping trip, she begins to develop the magical ability to influence people’s emotions through her cooking, which is also much improved. Her love interest, a no-nonsense businessman, tries to resist falling in love with her after discovering her powers. I’m not actually certain why I like this movie. I’ve only seen it a handful of times, but every time I watch it, it doesn’t seem to slide off my list of chick flicks. There’s just something about it. I’m not a big fan of either lead actor (although I like Sean Patrick Flanery in The Boondock Saints,) and I wasn’t old enough when this came out to really identify with the characters, so I’m at a loss as to why I like it. I think it might be the idea of magic through cooking… not that I’d use such powers if I had them or anything <.<; No No.

Miss Congeniality

Miss Congeniality was made in 2000 by Castle Rock Entertainment in conjunction with Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment, and Fortis Films, and was released by Warner Bros Pictures. It is an American police comedy, and has a runtime of 109 minutes. Miss Congeniality is about a tough, tomboy FBI agent named Gracie Hart, who is forced to go undercover – as a girly contestant in the Miss America beauty pageant. Aided by master stylist Victor Melling, she must get in touch with her femininity to keep her cover while working with her love interest and fellow FBI agent Eric Mathews to catch a criminal who is planning on blowing up the Miss America pageant. I love this movie. I also really like Sandra Bullock, so it isn’t really a surprise that I’d love a movie where she plays a tom-boy FBI agent. I can even forgive her for getting in touch with her inner femininity, because she pulls it off well, and with humor.

Ever After: A Cinderella Story

Ever After was made in 1998 by Flower Films, and was released by 20^th Century Fox. It is a historical romance based upon the fairy tale of Cinderella, and has a runtime of 121 minutes. Ever After follows the story of a common girl, Danielle de Barbarac, who is treated like a slave by her aristocratic stepmother as she overcomes all odds to become a princess. Yet another Drew Barrymore film; what can I say? I like this movie because it takes all of the magic out of the picture. Magic is all well and good, but watching Cinderella get the prince under her own power is a nice change. Plus, in the end she rescues herself. It’s a very strong picture of womanly independence and strength, while still remaining a romance.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha was made in 2005 by Spyglass Entertainment in conjunction with Amblin Entertainment, and Red Wagon Productions; and was released by Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks. It is a film adaptation of the novel by the same name, and is a historical romance with a runtime of 145 minutes. Memoirs of a Geisha follows the story of an impoverished nine-year-old, named Chiyo, from a fishing village as she is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto’s Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo’s bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha’s mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. Memoirs of a Geisha has stunning visuals. I cannot say enough about how absolutely gorgeous some of the scenes are in this movie. The story is intriguing and very interesting, with enough romance to really sell as a chick flick. I don’t watch this movie often, but I still love it.

 

Well, there you have it. My top… er, 6… My Top 5 (and a bonus!) Chick Flicks. We’ll go with that, even though the real reason is because I apparently fail at counting. Oh well, hehe. I also just noticed that half of them were made in 1999. Apparently that was a great year for chick flicks or something, or maybe it’s just that movies made in that year were being shown frequently on television when I was a teenager. Either way, way to go 1999. All of these movies are entertaining in their own ways, and they are really great if you’re feeling in a chick flick mood. Speaking of, all this blogging about them has kind of gotten me in the mood for a chick flick, so I think I shall be off to watch one!

 

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! Another week, another blog post. It’s Wednesday again, and so here I am to bring you a dash of geek. This past weekend I went to see the new release Warm Bodies in theaters with a couple of friends. My popcorn was amazing, because we went to a theater with the flavored pop-corn salt thingies, and the movie was pretty good too. I mean, it’s nothing I’m super excited about, but it wasn’t bad at all, it just wasn’t as good as, say, Zombieland. It just had too much chick-flick in it to be something that I could really love. But anyway, I would hate to ruin it for those of you who have yet to watch it, so instead of telling you about it I thought I’d instead use it for inspiration. Between it and the new episodes of The Walking Dead airing this coming Sunday, I’m in a zombie mood. So here we have my Top 5 Worst Zombie Types.

Number 5: Suiciders from Dead Island

These zombies are gross. The game booklet describes them thusly; “This poor creature trapped in a disfigured, pulsing form retains a semblance of awareness even though its instincts drive it to get close to an uninfected survivor and attack with a self-destructive explosion. Fighting suiciders in a confined space is or from close range is… suicidal.” So yeah, they are big, walking pustules of infection waiting to explode themselves to kill you, and if you survive the explosion you’ll be covered in their nasty infectious puss. Gross. Also they attempt to garner your sympathy by uttering a creepy ‘Help Me’ when ever you come near them. No thanks!

Number 4: Rage Virus Zombies from 28 Day/Weeks Later

Zombies that can run? Screw that shit! If the zombie apocalypse ever happens then I want the dumb, slow, dead kind. I do not want running live ones!

Number 3: Bonies from Warm Bodies

Now, I don’t want to ruin the movie for those of you who haven’t seen it, so I’ll keep this short. They are zombies that have peeled all their flesh off. That’s right. Skeleton zombies. Creepy as fuck. Oh, and they can run.

Number 2: Mutations from Resident Evil

In basically every Resident Evil there are always weird mutated zombie-things. From the wall-crawling Lickers that bite Rain Ocampo in the very first Resident Evil movie, to the huge, muscled Axeman that Alice fights in the shower room of the prison in the 4^th Resident Evil movie, to the tunnel-digging Majini also from the 4^th movie. I dislike them intensely. Mainly because of their creepy factor, but also I just dislike the entire premise of them. While they have backstory and purpose in the games, they really just make very little sense at all in the movies.

 

Number 1: Reavers from Serenity/Firefly

The Reavers from Serenity/Firefly aren’t actually zombies, I know. But they’re cannibalistic, and kill everything so it is close enough for me have always kind of considered them as sort of zombies. Anyway, one thing is for certain; I absolutely, positively do not want able-bodied, running zombies who can think and use weapons and technology. That would be horrible.

 

There we have it! My Top 5 Worst Zombie Types. Of course there are individual zombies I dislike intensely, these types are my least favorite. Well, I should rephrase that. I enjoy watching them; they would be my least favorite kinds to have to deal with. but anyway,  all this talk of zombies has given me some cravings… No, not for human brains. For a zombie movie marathon! Or a zombie tv-show marathon… ooh, now I’m even more excited for the new episodes of the Walking Dead! I suppose I will survive the few days we have until the first one airs. Hopefully ya’ll can too!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

  By: Caelrona

Hiya all! It’s Wednesday again, and I’ve paused my video games to bring you another blog. This week I went to the movie theaters to see Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters with a couple friends of mine. This movie didn’t make it on to my list of 2013 movies from my last blog post because… well, I’m not really sure. It didn’t come up on any of the big lists for expected blockbusters when I was looking up movies for this year, and (maybe because I don’t watch much TV..) I haven’t seen too much in the way of promotion for it. My friends mentioned it to me, and so despite not making it on to my list (and it totally would have done!) I did actually go to a theater and see this one. Furthermore; I liked it. It was just my type of movie; plenty of violence and a bit of gore with enough humor and seriousness to keep it interesting.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was just released here in America on January 25th. Unfortunately, it won’t be getting released until February or even March in other parts of the world, so I will try my best not to ruin it for those of you who won’t be able to see it immediately. So, in case it wasn’t obvious, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is based on the classic children’s tale of Hansel and Gretel; two little children happen upon a house made of candy in a forest and get captured by the witch living in it. They end up killing her in a desperate struggle to save themselves from being eaten by her. This movie expands on the children’s tale, showing how Hansel and Gretel continued their lives after that incident and turned their gruesome beginning into a unique lifestyle and career.

This movie does a very good job of bringing that original tale to life for adults, as well as adding to it in a clever way. Jeremy Renner (AKA Hawkeye in the Avengers) plays a very no-nonsense, slightly socially-inept and ass-kicking Hansel, while Gemma Arterton (Princess Tamina from the Prince of Persia movie) plays his equally kick-ass, no-nonsense sister Gretel. Both actors are excellent, and their characters feel very believable and real as people. Playing opposite them as their foe is Famke Jansen (Jean Grey from the X-men movies) who delivers an excellent performance as an evil Grand Witch. Apparently she enjoys playing especially powerful female leads, which is nice, because she certainly is good at them.

If you get the chance, I would highly recommend you go and see this in the theaters. I enjoyed it immensely, and I cannot wait until a DVD release so I can have my own copy, because this movie was right up my alley. If you enjoyed movies like Van Helsing, The Prince of Persia, or The Scorpion King then this will definitely be something you’d enjoy. It has that same feel to it as those movies do, although I’m not entirely sure what you’d call that, exactly. Anyway, I will leave you with that!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

Hiya all! It is Wednesday yet again, so you know what that means! I have taken a break from my video games to bring you another blog post. Now, I know that it is already the 23^rd of January, so I’m a little late getting started on this, but I was recently looking at films that are going to be coming out this year. I gotta say, some of them have me pretty dang excited, so I thought I’d share them with you. Now, there are a lot of films coming out, and I’m pretty excited about a lot of them (I think 13 of them, at last count?) so I think I will probably limit this to a quick Top 5, as to not take up too much of your day. Anyway, let’s get started!

Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies comes out February 1^st, and I am super excited to see it. I’ve made my love of zombies known in previous blogs, but just in case you missed it; I freakin’ love zombies. Trailers of this have been showing on TV for a while, and they look really awesome. This is one movie I might actually drive the hour and a half to the nearest theater to watch on the big screen, because holy cow; ZOMBIES.

The Host

The Host comes out March 29, and I’m fairly interested. I read this book when it first came out and it is a pretty good book in my opinion. If you haven’t read it, then I would suggest giving it a go, because despite being from the same author as Twilight, it’s actually decent. I have a rule about watching films to which I’ve read the book for, because usually the films are total crap compared to the books (there are notable exceptions to this rule,) so I am still on the fence about whether or not I will watch this, but I will be keeping my eye on it for sure.

Fast and Furious 6

Fast and Furious 6 comes out May 24^th, and I’m really looking forward to it. I know they might not seem like my type of movies, but I have always had a soft spot for the Fast and Furious movies. I like Vin Diesel in most things he plays in (in fact I can’t think of anything I don’t like him in,) and I am super excited to see Michelle Rodriguez back as Letty. I have a soft spot for Michelle Rodriguez, because she is so damn bad ass in everything, and almost always dies.

World War Z

World War Z comes out June 21^st, and I am super excited about it. I believe I may have mentioned my love of zombies before? Yeah? Ok, good. So aside from zombies, there is another reason I want to see this movie; I’ve read the book. Normally that would mean this movie would get crossed off of the list, due to that little rule of mine. However it looks like (from descriptions released to websites like IMDB) this movie is going to be a ‘loosely based on’ type of movie, so I am going to just enjoy it as a separate entity.

Riddick 3

Riddick comes out September 6^th, and this is yet another movie I am super excited about. I loved both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, and I’ve been waiting for another Riddick movie since then. I cannot wait to see what this movie brings to the Riddick storyline. This one might actually pull me to a theatre as well.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug comes out December 13^th, and like everyone else in the whole bloody world I am so excited to see it. The Hobbit, along with each of the Lord of the Rings books, are among the very few that I’ve broken my Book-or-Movie rule for and I have yet to be disappointed. The movies have all been epic, and I expect nothing less from this one!

 

Ok.. So it ended up being a Top 6. Sorry about that; I completely forgot about Riddick, and I just couldn’t push any others off of my list, so… Top 5 and a Bonus? Maybe? Obviously there are a lot of other movies coming out that I am super excited about as well. Just to name a few we have Thor: The Dark World, Star Trek: Into Darkness,The Seventh Son and The Wolverine. I don’t know about ya’ll, but I know that I am definitely going to be watching the movie releases this year a bit more sharply than I usually do, because there are some pretty awesome things coming out this year.

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤

Wednesday Whimsy

By: Caelrona

 

Hiya all! Caelrona here, and I’ve got another Wednesday full of whimsy for you all. I’ve written a bit about video games before, but nothing too big. I did a post about one of my biggest guilty gaming pleasures; Harvest Moon, and I’ve also written a bit about my pretty serious addiction to Minecraft. So today I thought I’d write about my second biggest guilty gaming pleasure; Conker’s Bad Fur Day. This video game is so incredibly vulgar and disgusting, and I love it so much. The first time I played it, I was borrowing it from a friend’s brother who, for some reason unknown, had decided I should play it. I gotta say, I’m pretty dang grateful for that disturbing insight on his part, because I absolutely love this game. Something about a vulgar red squirrel, paired with the horribly designed N64 controller just gets me. While I no longer have the N64 cartridge (because it was borrowed, and they now cost upwards of $60 USD) I still play Conker on emulator on my computer, and I still enjoy it.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day is an action platform game developed by Rare for the N64. It is Rare’s last game for that console, and one of the few N64 games requiring a 64MB cartridge. It is also one of the very few Nintendo games to carry an ESRB rating of ‘M’ for Mature. Conker’s development started like a lot of other Rare titles, however due to critical mockery for making yet another ‘Cutesy platformer’; Conker was retooled into a controversial game with pretty vulgar humor. It features a lot of technical effects that were uncommon at the time, especially for an N64 game, such as dynamic shadowing, lip syncing, colored lighting, no distance fog, large areas with a long draw distance, detailed facial animations, and individually rendered fingers on some characters. Unlike other N64 games, Conker relies heavily on cut scenes, and features a rich soundtrack. Rare also went in a new direction by getting rid of item collecting, which was a prominent feature in other Rare games like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64; instead utilizing context sensitive buttons to simplify things.

The story follows Conker, an alcoholic red squirrel, who is attempting to return home to his girlfriend Berri after a night of binge drinking at the local tavern with his friends. Meanwhile, the Panther King finds that his throne’s side table is missing a leg and keeps spilling his milk. Unfortunately for Conker, the solution offered by the slightly unstable Professor Von Kriplespac is the use of a red squirrel as the fourth leg. Thus as Conker searches for his way home he finds himself embroiled in a series of increasingly absurd, gross and often dangerous situations, including (but not limited to) fighting a giant opera-singing pile of poo, knocking some big brass balls off a boiler, and helping a King Bee ‘pollinate’ a female sunflower large ‘stamens’; all while avoiding the King’s henchmen. Your life bar consists of 6 squares of anti-gravity chocolate, which can be found all over the world; and if you happen to die then don’t despair. Gregg, the Grim Reaper, will explain how squirrels, like cats, are one of those ‘special cases’ and Conker will get another chance.

After the release of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Rare began development on another Conker game, referred to as Conker’s Other Bad Day. Sadly, this game was ultimately cancelled; although designer Chris Seavor said that it was to be a direct sequel, dealing with “Conker’s somewhat unsuccessful tenure as King. He spends all the treasury money on beer, parties and hookers. Thrown into prison, Conker is faced with the prospect of execution and the game starts with his escape, ball and chain attached, from the Castle’s highest tower.” When Rare was purchased by Microsoft in 2002, Rare instead developed Conker: Live & Reloaded, a pathetic excuse of a remake of Bad Fur Day, which was released on the Xbox console in 2005. Including updated graphics, updated camera control, an auto-targeting system and a brand new multiplayer mode, Conker:L&R also cut a lot of the fun from the game by replacing almost all of the obscene language with bleeps, changing several scenes and small bits of gameplay (such as the Key scene near the beginning) and in some cases replacing whole voice scripts that sound just terrible. I also read somewhere that a few chapters were cut out of the game, but I can’t find where I read that, or any evidence to back that up. All in all, considering that the game went from family friendly Nintendo to the killing field of Xbox, I was shocked at the censorship applied to Conker, especially since initial reports stated that they were going to be decreasing the censorship and adding content.

So, that brings us to the conclusion of my second biggest guilty gaming pleasure; Conker’s Bad Fur Day. It is vulgar? Hell yes! It is disgusting? Even Conker vomits on occasion, so yeah. Is it fun? Most definitely. If Conker sounds like something you think you would enjoy, then I seriously recommend giving it a try. It is a lot of fun to play, and it will definitely take care of any cravings for nostalgic platformer action. Anyway, I’ve left Conker paused, and I would hate to keep my foul-mouthed squirrely friend waiting any longer!

Until next time,

Caelrona – signing off! ❤