Guardians of the Galaxy!!!! GROOOOT!!!!

Ok so Monday night I got to see Guardians of the Galaxy, courtsey of a Skype event at the Flatiron building area. They had a little dance video you had to create and post online somewhere and then post the picture of you with the movie poster behind you, pretending you were the sixth guardian. And in that photo you posted, and adding Guardians as a skype comtact, you had to come up with a sixth Guardian name. I came up with Missy the Massacre, because I like alliteration... hehe

Not the best picture with the wind blowing my hair in my face...

At the skype event, I got a sketch from Sean Chen. who illustrated Nova, Iron Man and other such comics. And I found out he worked at Valiant for many years so he actually is friends with my ex-hubby. (whom also worked at valiant for awhile). Sean was uber sweet. Took his time to talk to you and get to know you a bit while sitting there. We talked about my new love of comics and how I only read Lenore from Dirge since I was about 14 and then how only in the last few years I've come into my own, reading more mainstream comics from Marvel, DC, IDW, etc. Talked about women reading comics now and how I got started from meeting other women not ashamed of reading comics and how I branched out knowing these women read comics, too. It was a lovely conversation with Sean.

Sean Chen's Rocket Racoon sketch for me.

Me and Sean Chen

For posting the video, picture and adding GOTG to Skype contacts, we got some cool swag. Some GOTG buttons and roll of stickers packaged in a box that looked like a cassette tape. Yay so cool! And of course a GOTG t-shirt and poster. We also got a Skype seat cushion and a Skype drawstring bag to hold all the goodies in. Fun!

To wait for contest winners call-time, my friends and I then went to dinner and caught up with each other. Then went back to the event to see if we won, via Skype app, tickets to the screening that was happening at 11pm. 9pm was when folks were supposed to start getting notified... we waited... and watied. Eventually I got the message first, around 9:30pm! But I had won! Yay! We waited around some more, knowing it was all being sent manually to each person. Also, we were told if we didn't win, to wait around anyway just in case they had extra tickets. Sure enough, Nate won tickets, so now all three of us could go, and Jon's other friend, Jessica, who was with us earlier, could also go :) Fun!

Eventually we split up so Nate and I could get a spot on line, but Jon and Jess beat us to it. (Subways suck...) Found out Jon got his ticket as well. so now Nate and I still had +1's but no way was any of our friends going to get there in time. So oh well.

The movie was at 11pm. But there was some fiasco with the film or the projector or even the room itself (like not finding the key to the projector room). so the movie started very late - at like midnight... And because of that either you could leave and get another voucher for wed with a +1 guest or wait it out. Nate has no work so he waited. Jon and Jess left because of work the next day and train schedules home. I figured I'd wait a lil longer and sure enough about 15 min later it started. But we also got a free voucher at the end of the night, for another regal movie anytime, to make up for inconvenience, so that was nice. (Just one voucher tho but hey, its something, thanks Regal!)

Ok, onto the movie review - NO SPOILERS!!!!

Guardians of the Galaxy was just as amazing as the commercials led it on to be. Highly recommend and I want to see it again and again. OMG SO GOOOD!!!!!! GROOOT!!!!! So many good action sequences, great character development and some history of course behind it, lots of really funny moments thrown in a lot, especially from Quill and Rocket. Very accurate in that sense. I loved Rocket and Groot (who doesn't?!) Their banter was fantastic. And Karen Gillan. Whoa! Awesome villian!!!! Holy hell she brings it to every scene!!! squeee!!!! She was really amazing as Nebula! Incredible performance. And this is from a girl who didn't much like Amy Pond's character on Doctor Who, but it's how she was written more than telling of her acting abilities. I know she can act because of that role, but it wasn't one I liked much. This, though, this was fantastic! She really was just incredible as Nebula! Sidenote: in the prison scene (no spoilers, I swear) look up in the rafters, when they show the other prisoners, you'll see Lloyd Kaufman. If you don't know who he is, we can't be friends anymore haha -- seriously go watch some Troma movies (ie Toxic Avenger) or even Rocky...

Anyway, I loved the play on each character, the build-up's of each one, their history and then how they eventually come together. I have not read the comics for this so I can't compare accuracy but it all flowed well for the movie. And my comic geeks haven't said a peep about how or if they changed things around (in bad ways) so I think that says a lot too, that it must be pretty close to the comics history if they haven't said otherwise. (You know us geeks like to compare and rip thing apart so if that doesn't happen as the movies credits roll, you know it's gotta be good...)

Of course some recurring characters from Avengers end scenes were there, Thanos and the Collector from Thor: The Dark World. So it was nice to see that storyline continue, as we knew it would.

There's a lot of heart in the movie too, where you don't think it would normally fit into a comic book film such as this, but it really blends well. The writers really did a good job of blending everything well. Nothing really felt too rushed or too forced.

This is just such a fun, fun awesome movie!! Go see Guardians of the Galaxy!!!!!

Oh, and in terms of toys, again no spoilers, something at the end of the movie, they better make a toy of because I was squeeing like a 5 year old in my seat. Everyone, but especially girls will want this thing to be made into a toy!!! When you see it, you'll know exactly what I was talking about...

Note that our version didn't have an after-credits scene. Not sure if it will have one like they did with Avengers, where all the screeners didn't have one yet, but for opening day they got one into the film (shwarma eating scene) at the last minute. There was only the one scene right before the main credits start rolling for our screening. So no matter when you go, stay anyway just in case... (not that I need to tell my friends/fans that though...)

Dresses, We Wants Them All!

Perusing Etsy can be dangerous. Last night I decided to look up geeky dresses, cuz it's me! Lo and behold I found this store: Lameasaurus. The name is pretty awesome in itself. Hehe.

I pretty much want EVERY dress in this collection. Wonder Woman, Doctor Who, Nightmare Before Christmas, Loki!!, Disney, even Dr. Horrible! I love it!!!!

They are all reasonably priced too, for something unique, beautiful and everyday wear. I love the ninth Doctor's dress as most people would not know right away what it was. But I would! Love!!! <3 <3 (Two hearts, see what I did there? haha, I crack myself up...) The fourth Doctor's dress is just the cutest with the scarf as a sash! OMG WANT!

I love the Nightmare Before Christmas one, as that's my all-time favorite movie, tied with Star Wars. Speaking of which, those are fantastic too!!! Eeks! I want them all!!

Ok enough words, here's pics of them (via their etsy site). Visit these lovely ladies site and buy stuff!!

Fourth Doctor's Dress!!!!

Tardis Dress

Ninth Doctor's Dress!!!!

Loki-inspired Dress

Wonder Woman Dress

Nightmare Before Christmas inspired Dress

Haunted Mansion inspired Dresss 

 

Haunted Mansion, Tightrope Girl inspired Dress (from the stretching room portrait)!!!

Darth Vader Dress

R2D2 Dress

Rapunzel Dress

New York Comic Con 2013

New York Comic Con. The east coast version of SDCC. It's not as big but it's enough for me. I love it. This year I went all four days! I was so excited!

I wanted to walk the floor on Thursday since that is supposed to be the calmer of all the days, being a Thursday and being a shorter day from 3pm-9pm. But it was packed that day. I had friends to meet up with and a show floor to wander and it all collided. I was exhausted from the prep week I had leading up to the con, too. So things were crazy for me. It all came to a head about 6pm where I basically lost it emotionally. I was kind of done. I had done nothing though!! Sigh. I took a break and never really recovered enough to do more than see my friends and hit up only a few booths that night. 

With Thursday being a wash, I tried to get things done Friday but again, it was crazy, though I was better prepared. And I had a lot to do on my schedule. I needed to go to artist alley to pick up my commission from the great artist Thom Zahler who writes and draws the comic Love and Capes. One of my favorite comic series. I asked him to do a commission for me of C3P0 in Mickey ears. He delivered! It looks fantastic! And he even has a hidden Mickey in the back with planets as the hidden Mickey! Awesome! :)

Thom Zahler's Mickey-eared C3P0 and the color print. Color print has Anthony Daniel's autograph.

I walked around artist alley a little bit and got to see Katie Cook and Andy Price again (and Andy's lovely wife, Alice). Always love seeing all of them. I got a few things from Katie's table as usual, some mini paintings and a couple of her books and prints. 

I went to the autograph area so I could get Anthony Daniel's autograph and Felicia Day's autograph. I took Thom Zahler's C3P0 print to get signed by Anthony Daniel. He loved the idea and the unique artwork to get signed. He was lovely. He even walked the aisle a little to talk to people. It was nice. 

Thom Zahler's artwork, signed by Anthony Daniels.

For Felicia Day, I had Wil and Anne Wheaton's ASPCA calendar for her to sign. She loved that. She had only signed one other that day. It was lovely to meet her. She's awesome. I told her that I love what she does with the geek world and for women geek. She said she tries not to do things that are only women-centric in the geek world because well, we should all just be equals! And I agreed.

Felicia Day, me

Friday night I went to a special ticketed event through WhoYork to have a Q&A and signing with Doctor Who stars Colin Baker (6th Doctor) and Nicholas Briggs (voice of the Daleks, among other creatures in the Who universe). We also got a surprise visit from Jason Haigh-Ellery from Big Finish (the radio recordings for Doctor Who among other franchises). 

Colin Baker's stories he told were the best. His time on set, things that went wrong, things that went right. It was fantastic. He told us how when he first met new castmate Nicola Bryant, he "eventually looked into her eyes." Ha! And then told us when he shot his first scene with Nicola, how he was ducking behind her for the scene. Well Nicola's bum was in his face at eye level basically. He ended up biting her bum. HAHA She was shocked but took it in stride he said. Briggs had some funny stories, too, but none could top Baker's. 

Took pics with them all and they signed autographs and such at the end of the Q&A. It was a fab Friday night!

(L-R) Nicholas Briggs, Colin Baker, Jason Haigh-Ellery

Colin Baker and me! He's a sweetheart!

Jason Haigh-Ellery, me and Nicholas Briggs

Saturday, I went to comic writer Dan Slott's signing at the Marvel booth first. He's a friend and awesome guy. I just read Spider-Island and even tho I'm a few years behind on that, I really did enjoy it! It made me care about Spider-Man and Peter Parker. I was never a Spidey gal before. So it was definitely welcomed to read this and enjoy it. He happily signed my book and I got Humberto Ramos to sign it in artist alley the day before and then Joe Quesada signed it as well. Awesome!

Joe Quesada and me

Dan Slott signing at Limited Edition Comix booth

Then I then got to do the photo shoot with John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd from Torchwood. Love!!! I asked them for the "Wheaton special" which is where you jump into one of their arms and then your friend or significant other stands to the side all pouty that you chose the celeb instead of the S.O. It's funny!! (It was a thing on twitter with Wil Wheaton and his wife first with Nathan Fillion and then with Barrowman they reversed the roles, since Barrowman is gay. It's brilliant. So now all of us geeks are following suit and call it the "Wheaton special".)

My story with Barrowman.... I was told to jump in his arms, as he held my back. I did not jump high enough. So I had to do it again. Pic taken, shuffled out quickly. On the other side of the photo tent, Barrowman peaked his head out of the tent saying something I couldn't hear other than "Sorry".... The person behind us came out after her photo shoot saying, "You have a story now!" um excuse me? what happened?? She told us that him peaking out of the tent he said something along the lines of "No more jumping up because he pulled his back on the last one....sorry!" um oops. I broke Jack!!? crap! So knowing I would get his autograph Sunday, I knew I had to apologize... to which he said he was fine and he's just used to dancers who really JUMP! and forgets that "normal" people can't or don't do that. But he really was fine and no worries... I told him I should have realized that especially being an old gymnast... He responded with "Yeah you shoulda high-kicked the hell outta that jump!!" ah well. 

So that was the story of how I almost broke Jack. Ha!

Gareth David-Lloyd, @JediN8, me, John Barrowman

me and poor John Barrowman in pain or annoyed.

Went with a friend to the Cup O' Joe Panel. It ended up being a mixed bag of what's happening at Marvel. Some of which was discussed at other panels. But it was a relaxed atmosphere to have an open discussion of big stuff for Marvel.

Then I headed to another signing and rest of the day is a blur but I know I walked around more. Ha! And I know I didn't make it to the Shield panel like I wanted to. But oh well. Too much to do and see!

Eventually I hit up the John Barrowman Q&A that evening. One of the best panels ever!! Barrowman delivers. He's exactly what you think he is. So funny, so animated up on stage and just ready for anything! More on that in another post. I videotaped the whole thing but since it's 45 minutes long, I'm trying to figure out how to post it someplace...

John Barrowman during his Q&A

Sunday was just as crazy. But for different reasons.

Sunday, a friend and I went to get autographs for John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd on the photo we took together. David-Lloyd's line had no one. Poor Gareth... Barrowman's line though, was a different story! Signings started at noon for the two of them. Lines were horrendous at 11am! Yeesh. So when they got there, I went to Gareth's line first while my friend waited for Barrowman still. It was good we did that, so we killed two birds with one stone. Gareth couldn't have been nicer. He was a sweetheart and just darling. 

I apologized to Barrowman for breaking his back. But you see what he said above. He was adorable. His husband, Scott, took our credit card orders. I bought the autograph of course but I also bought his family cookbook which I'm excited to read through and one of his autobiographies I didn't have. He wasn't supposed to sign the books because you should pay for the sigs. But he saw them in my pile and he grabbed them from me to sign anyway! HA! He got a dirty look from Scott but John ignored him haha. It was a great experience. Big thanks to them.

Then I went to the Marvel Now! panel. Which if you saw all the teaser posters, it was a mixed panel with all the comic artist, writers or editors of the books in discussion to reveal the actual projects! More on that in another post. But it was definitely fun!

Marvel Now panel

After that I hung out with another friend for a little bit before the Spider-Man panel with Dan Slott. It was the last panel of the day for me and the show. It was a lot of fun to see Dan in the spotlight to discuss the things going on with Doc Oc-Spidey and some of the side stories that will bleed into it from the other comics like Venom. More on this panel to be discussed in another post.

That pretty much ended my con for 2013! It was exhausting but fun. I'm not normally a panel girl but I decided to go to some of them this year. Glad I did. It was so much fun. I'm still reeling from the lack of sleep and lack of food from the weekend. I barely ate whilst at the con, with only breakfast in the morning and a small snack in the afternoon and then a nice dinner each night. Crazy but fun, awesome weekend. More posts to come on Marvel news and cosplayers I saw and everything!

Meet Thor!!!!

I can meet Thor!??? Yes, please! Ok, I know it's not Chris Hemsworth but that's pretty awesome!

Disney announced today that this summer, at Disneyland, California, that you will be able to go to Asgard and meet the Mighty Thor.

It is of course, to promote Thor: The Dark World, in movies Nov. 8, 2013.

If I could get out to Disneyland this summer, that'd be my first stop!!

People have been asking if they can meet Loki too, but per the Disney reps, that is not in the works at this time. Aw, shucks!

After All This Time... Thor: the Dark World Trailer

Oh. My. God. So much awesome in the latest trailer for Thor: The Dark World!!!! I cannot wait to see this, just in time for my birthday!!! So much Loki I can't stand it! Love Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth. Amazing!!! Watch the awesomeness!

Thor: The Dark World comes out on Nov. 8, 2013. I'll be seeing it in theatres about seven times. Anyone who wishes to join me may certainly do so!!

Doctor Who Merchandise From Titan

So. Much. Doctor. Who. Merch. I. Want.

Yeah Titan is one of the official licensees for Doctor Who merchandise. Upon looking at their website, which is just for browsing and retail establishments, there is so much I want and wish that American retailers would carry!

Here's some of the many things I want!

Adipose Industries tee

Van Gogh Exploding Tardis wallet/travel pass

High Council of the Time Lords wallet/travel pass

(Note: There are so many different travel passes that I want - UNIT, Cybermen, Magpie Electricals, etc.) I have the Adipose Enterprises travel pass from the time I went to Forbidden Planet London and/or from the Doctor Who Experience when it was still in London.

8th Doctor tee (they have one for all the original Doctors up til 8 that all look similar to this) I love them all but Paul McGann is pretty special since we all know he got duped a series.

So much more on the Titan's site. I really wish more retailers in America could get more of these items. Awesome stuff!

They also have Marvel license too. And I know here in America we don't use those travel passes much, but I love them all. I want the SHIELD travel pass wallet. I really wish we had those in retailers here. My friend has the Captain America Super Soldier travel pass, also from a London trip.

Loki Crashes Hall H

So, this happened. I am not at San Diego Comic Con, so this is not my video. But it's grand!
 
Loki has come with glorious purpose to Hall H at SDCC!

This is another video from USAToday site. It's a bit better.

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/life/movies/2013/07/21/2572467/

And here's a video from MTV with Tom Hiddleston telling us what it was like to crash the panel as Loki.
http://www.mtv.com/videos/interview/938823/tom-hiddleston-brings-loki-to-comic-con.jhtml#id=1709970

Christmas in July!

It's that time again! Hallmark will unveil the Christmas ornaments for 2013 holiday season, this weekend, July 13 and 14th at your local Hallmark stores! So many awesome ornaments!!

A few that I'm looking forward to:

1) Jabba's Palace: Squee!

 

The first dress Cinderella gets thanks to the lil mice and bird friends! I loved this dress as a little girl! Moreso than the ballgown she eventually gets from the Fairy Godmother. ($19.95)

 

Lego Yoda!!! ($14.95)

Leia rescuing Han Solo in carbonite at Jabba's Palace (left) : ($14.95)

Jack Skellington on a sleigh: ($19.95)

Wicket and Teebo!! ($17.95)

Iron Patriot: ($14.95)

So look for them at your local Hallmark store, starting this weekend! Happy shopping!

New Star Wars Sneakers

Yesterday I broke in my new Stride Rite kids Jedi sneakers that have a cool lightsaber on the side of the shoe that lights up. 

 

I definitely need to put insoles in it. At first they were ok but eventually I could feel the shock to my knees. Also, the foot bed is deep. Not sure if that's because they are boys shoes or what. So my ankle bone kept getting hit by the side of shoe and digging in a little. Not to mention my ankles roll inward. So I think the insoles will help raise my foot up a bit for that reason too.

The other thing is the tongues were digging into the top of my ankles too because there is some silver leather-like fabric along part of it, so because it's still stiff, it was hitting my ankles. I had to stop a few times to adjust them to the sides so they'd stop digging into me. 

And I don't know how parents deal with kids wearing these cuz every step I took I was looking down at them light-up! I can't imagine dealing with kids who's not looking where they are going, especially in NYC! But that were fun overall. 

Despite all the problems above, they are coming with me to Disney's Star Wars weekends in a couple days!

Next, trying my Stride Rite Captain America sneakers! This time I'll put insoles in them from the beginning.