XENA:Taking a cue from the comments...

...insofar that I ought to show more nerdiness, I'm going to throw something out there that I probably should take to the grave.

I'm currently really obsessed with Xena: Warrior Princess. Why, you ask?

Oh-ho-ho... there are reasons.

But really, it's been because Netflix got the whole Wii add-on disc that allows me to watch lots of things instantly on my TV. And you all know how much I love watching nerdy stuff.

Well, my boyfriend Roger and I were having a discussion about stupid TV shows that we used to watch and still sort of like. Somewhere in the discussion (which I'm pretty sure involved NO BEER but should have), we decided that we needed to order all the seasons of "Xena" and watch them from the beginning to relive our former geektastic days.

I'm talkin' about the days when we lived in our own houses and donned greasy ponytails which munching on equally grease-tastic microwave pizzas or bowls of cereal, watching the WB. I was in my teens and he was just beginning his 20s. And although it sounds pathetic, it helped form the awesome people we are today.

But yeah, it was pretty pathetic.

ANYWAY - I was talkin' about Xena with some MORE people (why do I do this to myself?) and ended up finding more friends to geek out about its awesomeness with. My buddy Bettina and I had a discussion about which one of us was which character from the series, cos, y'know... people talk about these kinds of things with their gal-pals. She thought she was Xena and I was Gabrielle. I though this was totally bogus, seeing as how I was learning kick-boxing at the time and I had longer dark hair.

Today, she showed me that I'd won.



Gotta say that it felt PRETTY DANG GOOD to win that one.

And now for the Top 5 Reasons why Xena has Rocked my World This Week:

1) Xena takes care of biz! - Not only does she have a list of things to do (from who to knock off to who's ass to save), when she's inevitably disrupted from completely these items in chronological order, she's got a fricken plan for that too!

2) Xena doesn't date; she's got "friends" - Now, if I wasn't currently in love with the awesome-est dude ever, this would accurately describe most of my love life since I was 18.

3) Xena's always tryin' to do the right thing - Lady had a past which she wasn't proud of but overcame that and worked her way through the world, trying to do right for others and setting an example. This kicks much ass, especially since she's viciously feared. They don't name you "Warrior Princess" is you go around petting puppy dogs.

4) Xena's crafty - Let's face it: Xena ALWAYS get attacked. Always! And she totally MacGyver's her way out of it by busting out something from her utility belt or busting a spear in two and using both ends like nunchucks. Lesson? Learn to be resourceful and you can rock ANY situation. That's craftiness if I ever saw it!

5) Xena's strong - We're not just talkin' about how buff she is (although getting people trying to kill you every 10 to 15 minutes has got to add up to some serious cardio), but how strong her will is. She gets torn down a lot in the series. I mean, people that don't even claim to be fans of the series hate it. But if Lucy Lawless had 6 seasons of this, it had to be for SOME reason.

All of this reminds me of old times and why I shouldn't give up now.

I was a bit low this past week and i haven't really been at my best. I've been putting off projects and deadlines for a while, even though I know I should be working on things. But, just when I thought stuff was gonna be pretty craptastic for a while, I started watching Xena. And as cheesy and dated as it is, the fact remains that it's sort of inspirational in a lot of ways.

Even to the fact that when my sister and I call each other to leave voicemails, all we have to do is do the "Hera"/peacock call, and we know what we're talking about.

I feel fortunate that my whole week can be turned around with a show filmed in New Zealand in 1995.

I feel even more fortunate to know enough geeks to be able to relate to on a regular basis.

Awesome-ating the Blogger Site... Awesome-ating My Blog Posts!

If you're familiar with Strong Bad and his crazy emails, then you'll get the Trogdor the Burnanator reference. And if you didn't, just click on Trogdor link to check out the awesomeness.

Also, play the song on Guitar Hero II if you have that readily available.

I'm not "Burnanating the countryside" but I'm attempting to Awesome-nate this blog, yo.

I'll admit it, I haven't been too awesome with the blog posts and the links. But since I'm working on getting people interested in what I do and how I do it, or even what other people do and how THEY do it, then I should probably post pretty regularly.

Gotta admit that this is a relatively daunting task, seeing as how I had never wanted to blog before I started up Nerd Jerk or watched Julie & Julia, but now that I've got a brand to set up, I best do something about it.

Strangely enough, the thing that got me to wanna blog better OTHER than Julie & Julia was Zombieland.

Yeah... you heard right. I took my cues from a movie meant to show the funny side of gore.... or something... the neurotic side of it?

And I almost never watched this movie (at all!), mainly cos of Woody Harrelson, but I actually enjoyed his character (Tallahassee) the most. His lack of tact and blunt awesomeness made me open my eyes. Yes, it was him who said "Time to NUT UP or SHUT UP!"

So I decided to nut up.

As you're reading this (all 6 followers that I've acquired over a few months of non-work), you're probably thinking, "Wow... she sure does use a lot of nerdy pop culture references." And you'd be absolutely right.

But it's things like this that inspire me. Sure, I use a lot of crafty how-to blog posts and books to help me figure out how to make things more rad, but for the most part, it's movies, comics and TV on DVD.

So here's to actually nuttin' up (despite my obvious lack of testicles), and bloggin' a whole lot more.

And as time goes on, I'll work on actually making content a whole lot more interactive and awesome-ated.



P.S. Any suggestions as to what ya'll would like to hear about?

PAC-MAN! Stop-Motion & Acapella! Boo-YA!

Well, if that title wasn't enough to scare you away, then I applaud you.

Seriously, though. Clap. Clap.

Pac-Man Stop Motion Geekdom Video

My friends thought that my Pac-Man mini ghosts were awesome. I even gave one of them to Jeffrey Brown's son, Oscar, to rock out with. He calls it his "orange face." This proves that people like squishy things and having fun with them... cos a 3 year old says so.

But taking it one step further, Bettina Throckmorton thought it would be waaaaaaay cooler if we made video...

The kind of video where things move and stuff.

Crocheted things.

And then, she thought it would be the AWESOME-EST if we did the sounds.... acapella.

Balls.

So, ladies and gents, there you go. If you want to see colourful crocheted versions of Pac-Man retroness cross your screen to "wee-ooh-wee-ooh" noises made by our mouths, it'll cost ya 30 seconds... but it's pretty cool...

It made my boyfriend laugh. And THAT'S sayin' somethin'. hehe

Let us know how you dig!

Watchin' movies and ordering comics...

I'm used to crocheting during movies. Some people listen to music, I listen to "The Royal Tenenbaums".

And it's a lot of fun. Better than slinging body butters, for sure.

But what I'm really hoping to do is capture the awesomeness of what I see in those movies.

All directors have a voice and a vision. Their visual aesthetic inspires others. Their music choices reveal inner ponderings. Sure, the script helps... but what really inspires is the whole pretty sounds & pictures.

This is what I think comics should be like. One should be able to look at the pretty pictures and feel what's going to happen. One should be able to feel what is happening!

Some comics that I've purchased as of late have been freakin' awesome (like Andy Waugh's "Coupledom") even though he doesn't have tons of background imagery. He tells the story with expression and pop culture references. We can all relate to pop culture somehow. There's always something going on around us that stimulates a memory in the making.

It'd be better if there were soundtracks in comics. Some people have done this. Jeffrey Brown used to draw the album covers of what he was listening to when he drew his stories at the back of his books. I think a few others did, too. I've wanted to include a mix to be listened to whilst reading my graphic novel one day...

Anyway, I babble about these dreams that I have for being awesome. And I think I'm getting closer to those dreams. But I guess it's because of some of the crappy comics I've read and the great ones that I've read, I feel like I can do the pretty pictures a little more justice.

I hope I can.

The funny thing about crochet...

.. is that I only seem to be able to do it at past 10 PM until almost 8 AM. And since I've had a few custom orders to fill, I've been going to sleep when the garbage trucks come out.

My rule is if the sun is up, you should have gone to bed an hour ago.

On the one hand, getting stuff done rocks ass! On the other hand, being awake when HR calls would be great! :D

So, now that most things are done, I've started thinking about the next thing. I finished new mini sizes for all the Pac-Man Ghosts. They are effin' cute, if I do say so myself. I mean, crocheting the eyes used to make em kinda bulky (which made my face sad) but embroidering the felt and stitching them on seems to work really well. I can layer and do all kinds of things I normally wouldn't do.

Also, I've been workin' on the embroidery and stitching skills this WHOLE TIME. It's awesome! I like it so much more than doing the Magic-Ring of doom over and over until the yarn decides it wants to cooperate on the 7th attempt.

Now that I've gotten better, I decided to purchase more things to invest in the Post-It Holder Typewriter idea. It's adorable and still in the planning phase, but I can't wait to do all the cutting and stitching. I'm thinking of using buttons (really tiny ones) for keys and metallic thread for the metallic parts. Also, big rad buttons for the two ends that you feed the paper through. I even got some Post-Its (do you know how much those guys COST?!?) to include in the posting on Etsy. I hope it works out.

I wonder if anyone can think of any other vintage type things to make into cool little items. I'm re-evaluating the BOOBS calculator iPhone case and thinking of upgrading the design. :)

Here's a picture of the original. Rock on.

Caution Cones Gone Wild

Cos I thought they might be rad, I made a jar trying to open itself and called them "Weak Sauce." Not many have sold, despite people thinking they're cute. I suppose it's time to put them on sale and start working on new things.

That being said, my new things are starting to come into being by working with eco-felt and embroidery thread... so far, not so bad.

Made some Pac-Man Ghosts and am working on getting some blue felt to sew on the REGULAR Pac-Man ghosts' eyes. I was thinking of cute things for Valentine's Day and I came up wth Ghosts with hearts in their eyes. It was so cute. At first, I thought about making them like Kiss-Kiss Bears, but that didn't work for me.

Now, I'm finally putting my punny bone to work with a caution cone. I was walking down the street one night with my boyfriend and saw one on the road. Then I began to ask myself, "If I was a caution cone, what would I say?" and it came to me.. "I'm warning you...!"

So here's the first parts of this version. I reckon I'll be finishing it up later on tonight.

Hope ya'll like it.