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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Five by Five: Geeky Gleanings #1

As my blog states I'll be "musing" and "gleaning".  I consider the "musing" the long rants on just one topic. My "gleanings" will be chock full of nerdy stuff  I've enjoyed and just want to share. Things like photos, articles, Apps, videos, quotes and so forth.

Here is my first set of Geeky Gleanings :

1. GEEK & SUNDRY:

So, if you haven't subscribed to Felicia Day's new YouTube "Geek and Sundry" channel you are missing out. The always zany and witty host brings you the best geek tidbits out there on her segment   The Flog and her "Skill Set" segments are hilarious!  Also, on this channel are Wil Wheatons' segments called "Table Top" which would interested those into Table Top Gaming.

Subscribe at: http://geekandsundry.com/



2.  THE PODCAST: WE'RE ALIVE- A "ZOMBIE" STORY OF SURVIVAL



 I really love this podcast! I discovered it a few years ago. I know what you're thinking and no, it's not a bunch of dudes sitting around talking about how to survive a possible Zombie Apocalypse... it's a full cast dramatization! As a former Theatre Teacher nothing "rocks my boat" more than a full cast dramatization. And boy does it "rock"!  It has the scariest zombies I've ever encountered in any zombie story. It has über butt- kicking chicks (Riley, Lizzy and Kelly are my favorite). And of course there are cool Army dudes who lead the small band of survivors.  I feel the need, however, to make special mention of the character Burt Scott, played by Scott Marvin,  this character is so awesome he deserves his own podcast!

 This podcast is produced by KC Wayland @ Wayland Productions and it just stuns me that this high quality production is totally free! I've purchased some crappy audiobooks that can't compete with the quality of this podcast. It has a huge ensemble cast, superb sound mixing, great script writing and most importantly, it comes out consistently! They have a story arc in place and haven't stopped producing shows. This is not always the case with podcasts of this type. I have been suckered into full cast dramatizations before only to be disappointed when they suddenly stop.  At present they are in Season 3 and they are still producing more. I trust the producers of this show to finish what they start.  When they do decide to end the podcast, I know we will be left with a satisfying conclusion.

I'm obviously not the only fan, they have tons of reviews on iTunes and Zune. They have positive reviews on blogs all over the web and they are currently nominated for an Audie Award.  The fan base for this podcast is so big that the fans have gotten together to produce a podcast about each chapter!  "Shut the front door!" you say? Yes, you read that right. It's a podcast about a podcast. It is called We're Not Dead.  Now, that is just pure geeky madness, and I love it! 

We're Alive is a fun ride and I look forward to every episode! If you are one of the few who haven't discovered this podcast it's time to check it out!

http://www.zombiepodcast.com/The_Zombie_Podcast/WereAliveEpisodes.html

 Still not convinced? Here is a mini documentary about the show from YouTube.


 
 

Oh, and I forgot to mention the art design for the each chapter is simply amazing! So, there... I mentioned it!


 3. UNDERWORLDS: AN APP FOR iPAD, iPHONE or iTOUCH!


 Don't have time to play the new Diablo 3 or you just need a fix in between the time you are able to get back to your Diablo 3 save game. Then Underworlds is the perfect App for you! Here is a little sample of what's in the game:
  • Explore mysterious graveyards, dark chambers and dangerous crypts
  • Customize your character's attributes and feats to suit your play-style
  • Test your skill on 4 difficulty settings, including the ‘extreme’ difficulty challenge
  • Find thousands of unique armor and weapons to use or trade for gold
  • Discover hidden traps and treasures
  • Chose from two control schemes to make playing easy at home or on the go
  • Save your progress at any time or restart with your current experience and items
  • Enjoy Underworlds again and again - no two adventures will be the same!
This little App totally makes the time in the waiting room of your Doctor's office whiz on by! I love it! It's completely addictive. The storyline is fun and you can play it over and over !  It's crazy cool and hardcore gamers should love this App because it plays like a computer game on your iPhone.

Check it out!   http://underworlds.pixelminegames.com/About.aspx


Click on this link to read a reveiw of Underworld from Touch Arcade




4. PINTEREST:



 I know it's a major time waster!  But, I have to admit, I love pinning so much I had to start a "Pinning Page" for this blog. What a great way to "glean" topic ideas for a blog! Looking through other people's nerdy pins totally get's my mind reeling and ready to blog.  Plus, I've learned what all the "cool kids" are doing with their nerdy ideas. You have to receive an invitation from a friend in order to start your own boards but, chances are you already know someone who is "pinning". So, bug a buddy,  get them to set you an invite and start pinning away!  If you only want to look at Pins with a "Geeky" or "Nerdy" theme then follow my pins@ http://pinterest.com/thescifichick/




5. FOLLOW GEORGE TAKEI ON THE WEB
What? You're not following George Takei on the web? Then you're the only nerd in town that isn't! Catch the bus, man!  The former Star Trekker is ALL OVER the web. You can find George on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. He also, has a website and a blog .  You can find his books on Goodreads, watch Star Trek on Netflix and follow his YouTube channel. Oh, an did I mention he is also starring in a Allegiance a New American Muscial? Well, he is... so, if you are missing the awesomeness of "The Takei" on the web well... you must live under a rock. Wink ;)Wink ;)!

Click here to "get on the bus": http://www.georgetakei.com/












Five by Five
The SciFi Chick

"WHAT? THAT'S NOT SCIFI!"


The SciFi Chick Explains it ALL to you!

It's true not everything I blog about is actually categorized as Science Fiction! I have the name "SciFi Chick" because it's a nickname dubbed upon me by my non geeky friends. I am an equal opportunity Nerd! I love traditional Science Fiction, e.g. Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner. That being said I also, love Fantasy, e.g. Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Supernatural Fiction, e.g. Sookie Stackhouse, Buffy, World War Z. I also enjoy love comics and gaming! So, don't  let the name "SciFi Chick"  pigeonhole me! I'll be thinking outside the "SciFi" box and blogging on many "geeky" topics. 

Five By Five 
The SciFi Chick

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Scifi Chick's  Picks for the Top Five Scifi Moms! 


 BTW:*****SPOILER ALERT!*****  THIS Sci-fi Chick Musings is full of SPOILERS! Skip a rant if you haven't finished the books, movie or TV show in which the character appears.

 In honor of Mother's Day I would like to pay tribute  to my some of my favorite Sci-fi mom's!


#5. Amanda Grayson: The Star Trek Universe

Dear Spock's Mom, We can only appreciate but, never truly understand what it must have been like to raise a son who, due to Vulcan custom, never told you how much he loved you. We know for a fact, Amanda, he deeply regretted this. But, any woman who lived through raising Spock once and then again a second time. Due to that nasty incident on the Genesis Planet, which caused your son to be reborn and required you to re-raise and re-educated him. You also get bonus points for being a working mom and finding time to help Star Fleet create the Universal Translator!  All this earns you a spot in the top 5 on my list of the Best Moms of Scifi!


#4. Sarah Conner: The Terminator Universe

Oh, poor Sarah Conner! What else is a mom to do but become an "Ass Kicking , Crazy Woman" when cyborgs form the future have been sent back in time to terminate you and yours to ensure a Nuclear War that leads to machines ruling the Earth! Talk about HOMESCHOOLING! You educated yourself and your son on all topics that would help the future resistance fighter. You hooked up with every questionable character who was willing to teach you military tactics! Most Moms just aren't willing to hang out in Biker bars, in Mexico, just  to find someone willing to train them in small arms weapons. So, thank you, Sarah for preparing  John Conner to lead the human resistance. It is because of your sacrifice the human race will go on!

#3. Joyce Summers: The Buffyverse


 What's a single mom to do when her daughter is the "Chosen One" and you really can't enforce a curfew or prevent her from dating older men/vampires. You always found a way to support her when she was getting into fights, burning down schools, killing your boyfriend and feeding you "magic" band candy. Your struggle to raise the girl who would "save the world, a lot" was so graceful and steady not a dry eye was to be found when you died. RIP Joyce Summers. The best Mom a girl with superpowers could ever have.


#2 Molly Weasley: The Harry Potter books and movies

Molly definitely had the biggest bunch of kids to look after. She gave birth to seven children. Six of them turned out to be pretty darn awesome. (We understand about Percy, Molly, we don't hold you accountable. It was Percy's pride not your child rearing skills that caused him to go astray.) She also, took on a motherly role to our dear Harry. Molly endured so much though out the seven books.  Percy's betrayal, Ginny's kidnapping by Bailisk, her husband, Arthur, being attacked by Voldemort's snake, Bill's disfiguration by a werewolf, Ron running away from Hogwarts to hunt horcruxs. George losing an ear and the heartbreaking death of Fred. But, the main reason that you take the number two spot on this list, Molly, is your Mama Bear beat down on Bellatrix Lestrange. A mothering moment so awesome we just have to watch it one more time!




Poor Daenerys. Your brother sold you as a child bride to the leader of the Dothraki , a barbarian horse tribe. But, you overcame and flourished! Eventually earning the respect of your husband and the tribe who were honored to call you, Khaleesi. However, just as soon as things were looking up, you miscarry your only human child and your husband, Drogo slips into a coma. All caused by the revenge magic of,  Mirri Maz Duur! As you and your, Khalasar find yourselves suffering in the wastelands of the Red Lands. Your husband's funeral pyre proves that you cannot be burned by fire and allows you to hatch your true children, The Dragons. You then spend five books protecting your people and your Dragons. As you and your Khalasar move across the Great Eastern Continent you free slaves, and help the sick, the poor and the needy. Eventually, thousands will call you, Mother, as you lead your people to freedom and struggle to maintain human rights for all.  Daenerys, Mother of Dargons!  Daenerys the "Breaker of Shackles and Chains"! Daenerys Mother of the oppressed!

And those, my friends, are my choice of the top five.  Of, course there are a ton of Moms in Scifi and many deserve a spot on a favorites list. These are just my favs.  Please leave a comment about your favorites (or mine).  I am writing another "musing" about Scifi moms and would love to read your opinions.

Five by Five
The Scifi Chick





Thursday, May 10, 2012

Upcoming "Musing" for the Scifi Chick

I have some blog "Musings" in the works right now. Topics include,  "The Women of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones", "Zombie Stuff that Kick -Ass" and "Podcast Reviews", "Indie Sci-fi books" and "Life as YA fiction Reader".  If you would like to to suggest topics  or have any links or suggestions you think I might find interesting on my planned topics please email me at scifichickmuses@gmail.com.

Five By Five
Working on Blog about Rhiannon Frater. Have tons of great insight after attending her book signing in Austin.


The Scifi Chick

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Welcome to my Blog! & Who is the Sci-fi Chick?

Welcome to my new Blog The Musings and Gleanings of a Sci-fi Chick. Who am I and why did I start this blog. Well, basically it's a place for me to rant about my favorite Geeky topics. Why did I choose to start blogging? Well, I've been toying with the idea of Blogging for a while but my fire wasn't lit until the other day when I was perusing a category on Pineterst openly titled “Geek”, when it occurred to me that Girl Geeks are everywhere now days. When did this happen? Seriously, of the 600 pins I have on that site over half of my repins come from my geek inspired boards. That’s right. Tons of women and girls on that site don’t care about what crafts I want to try or which products and recipes I love. NO, they have been repinning the R2-D2 boyshorts I fancy or the Skyrim music video I found. What up? Have we finally arrived at an age when a girl can be as openly geeky as the boys? Hell ya, and I’m sooo damn glad! And may I say…It’s about freaking time!

When I was lass admitting to being any type of “Fan Girl” just wasn’t done! I watched Star Trek over my brother’s shoulder and learned quickly that other girls my age did not want practice the Vulcan nerve pinch. Whaddup? Seriously? How does a gal NOT want to find a way to drop a man to his knees completely unconscious? A skill I was sure would be handy in the future. But, to my chagrin, my Cabbage Patch loving friends were having none of it. Disappointing to say the least. So, I quickly learned to keep all my geek love on the downlow.

By my early teens I was viewing movies like Flashdance and Valley Girl with my girlfriends. Which was fine and part of the ‘80’s experience. But, secretly, I really wanted to go see Krull and Return of the Jedi with the boys. That’s right girls, in the ‘80’s I was supposed to love Boy George NOT Boba Fett. Luckily, I had an older brother to use as an excuse to go see movies like Blade Runner (I am fairly sure I was the only thirteen-year old girl in the audience that day). Tragically, the day came that my older brother went to college and I could no longer ride his coat tails. I knew that I had to quickly find a way to make friends with some geek boys.

In a few months I had successfully cultivated some nice little friendships and was able to openly enjoy Douglas Adams books and go see movies like Tron and The Terminator with my peers. While that was all well and good ultimately my gender prevented me from receiving the “Golden Ticket” of geek invites. The invite that would have put a new “pip” on my collar and promoted me to Ensign of Geekness…. being invited to play Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, it’s true I was completely shut out of the D&D experience. I would longingly watch the D & D game sessions happening during the lunch hour and think I have just been “minionized” by the boys! Plllbbbbbbb! Thus, being forever shut out. But no worries, I’ve gotten over it…really…REALLY! (awkward pause)

Anyhoo, luckily VHS became popular in the mid-80’s, timely to say the least. My parents had moved our family overseas and I lost touch with all my geeks and VHS allowed me to bask in a whole new level of Geekdom! Now available to me, in the privacy of my home, were movies such as Planet of the Apes, 2001, Highlander and Mad Max. It was glorious! Unfortunately, while my knowledge and love for Sci-fi became vast my compunction to openly admit my Über Geek status was not happening. After all, I was living the New Wave lifestyle in Europe. Geek was not cool. Come on, do you really think Claire and Andy would hang out with Brian again after their Saturday detention was over. I think not! They were just using him to write that Breakfast Club Essay! Hence, I was still in the “geek closet” and really remained there until my last few years of college. Where the Midnight showing of Bill and Ted was my staple geek fix.

Eventually, I started to espy that female Sci-fi characters were becoming super badass. I noticed that people were quoting lines said by female heroines e.g. “Get away from her you, Bitch!”. Soon the funny and cool quips were not solely the property of Arnold Schwarzenegger. More and more kick ass lines like “You stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf herder” or “Good Morning, Dr. Silberman. How's the knee?” where popping up all over the place. So, younger generations of girls were now seeing the women kicking butt and taking names. Allowing strong female leads to suddenly become cool. Hooray! Finally! But, by then I was a grown up and I didn’t have time for such my geeky pursuits and so I tucked my geek away!

Then in my mid twenty’s some amazing things happened to me. Which allowed me to embrace my Über Geek! The first event being that I met my future husband. I knew second he told me he was a video game programmer and then took down my digits in some geek gadget it was a match made in heaven! For the first time I was able to hanging out with someone who would see the first 4 seconds of any Star Trek episode and could tell you exactly which episode it was! How sexy was that? Any true Fan Girl will tell you…VERY sexy! And he totally got bonus points for introducing me to Red Dwarf.

But, I would have to say the tipping point for when I felt truly free to openly embrace my Über Geek happened when I was an adult working my first real job. I had been teaching High School Theatre for about two years when I started hearing the rumblings from my students and from some of my adult friends about a little TV show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Finally, a network station was airing a TV show about a normal girl who suddenly becomes a superhero. The main character got to date cute boys AND kill the“Big Bads”! Without, mind you, help from the boys and still made it to the Prom on time. All the while managing to look fabulous! An Über Geek Girl’s dream! But alas, writing about Buffy and joy of embracing all things Geek would be another 4 pages. So, I will save those Musing and Gleanings for another blog. Instead, I will conclude by saying that I started this blog for one reason. For years I've been enjoying life as Über Geek but have been looking for a place to let my “Geek Flag” fly!!!! I have a ton of Geeky trivia and thoughts rolling around in my head and want a place to rant about it. Hence, the birth of my blog.

The unfortunate truth is, that being a “late blooming” Geek preventing me from established friendships with other Über Geek Gals my age. I know they’re out there somewhere they just don’t live in the Texas Hill Country. Don't get me wrong I have lovely,cool and funny friends, but very few of them want to debate who was the best "Doctor". I’ve tried to attend social events like “Geeks Who Drink” but the reality is...Geeks… NOT that social. LOL, its true! Geeks are a tight knit community and if you didn’t arrive there with your established set of geek pals you’re not likely to make any instant friends. So, I decided to start writing this blog as an outlet to talk about my favorite things. I am looking forward to randomly discussing all things Geeky!


Five by Five
The Sci-Fi Chick