A gift for Geeky Love

A gift for Geeky Love

by Colleen Guzman

Those of you who watch the show know by now that Vincent and I are both incorrigible geeks. We are also husband and wife. We love all of our geeky hobbies and we love each other so last year I thought what better way to show my Valentine's Day love then by dragging out this holiday. I ended up having a good time and Vince really felt special. I personally wouldn't do this every single year because I think it looses some of it's spark when repeated often but I think every few years or so this idea is nice.

I want to share with you what I did last year in case you like it and would like to use the idea as I did or tweak it for your loved one.

The first thing I did was to extend the holiday from one day into fourteen days. I decided I would give Vincent one small gift every day from February 1st - February 13th and then on the 14th I would still give him a fairly large gift. I also thought that the gifts would be more fun if I put them in different places, at various times so he was never sure when or where the gift would be. For example, one day it was in his gym bag, another day on his computer keyboard, another day it was on his pillow and so on. He really liked that and in fact one day he didn't get his gift until right before bed and the next day he admitted that he had been a bit disappointed because he thought I had forgotten him that day.

Each gift is very small and should be less than $5.00 unless your budget can allow for more. I kept these gifts under $5.00 which is pretty easy with all the dollar stores or dollar sections at various stores. The key though is not just the gift but tying the gift into a Valentine's Day type saying almost like one you would see on a conversation heart. (sorry I was trying to hide the gifts in our room so the pictures aren't great)

I added a little Valentine flair by printing the sayings on pink paper and putting a little picture on each one. Then I simply taped the saying to the gift. I also put some snacks in the gift mix so he could have a little something to snack on and not just have toys and things as gifts. 

The little sayings then go with the gift. For example, on the dried apple slices the paper said, "you are the apple of my eye." You can really play with these sayings and personalize them for the geek in your life. You can even make them sound like they come from characters from their favorite geeky movie or show. (I am thinking Yoda would be easy to replicate.) I am sure you could even google sayings and go from there.

I really enjoyed this craft and I think the next year a Star Wars movie is coming out I may have to go all out Star Wars for him. Stay tuned and I'll bring you more when I decide how I'm going to do that.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Terror Expo San Antonio 2016

Terror Expo

Terror Expo was held Friday January 22 - Sunday January 24 at the Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center. The Expo was put on by the Billy Madison Show, Armando Montelongo and the organizers who bring Alamo City Comic Con to San Antonio.

Terror Expo was heralded as San Antonio's premier horror themed convention, and this show was supposed to be "tailor made for horror fans." It is necessary for conventions, expos and shows to advertise themselves well, however these statements brought some consternation to those who have brought horror conventions to San Antonio in the past. Sometimes it is difficult to work for a long time, with shallow pockets to try to bring events to San Antonio and then to feel trivialized when some big fish swim in and do what you have been working to do for years. All feelings aside though, I personally feel that in a city the size of San Antonio there is plenty of room for several horror conventions and with a certain amount of variation they can all be successful on their own levels.

I was only able to attend the convention on Sunday but I did have enough time there to make some personal observations. Please be aware that my observations are my own, they are based on my experiences and are opinion based. Also going into this let me say that I have been to numerous conventions and in all honesty I am beginning to be quite over many of these events due to the nature of their make up.

I thought that for a first year event the expo was able to draw a decent amount of people, which may have to do with the celebrities who were there. As usual the event was saturated with celebrities who sit in their little areas, bored to death, simply waiting for some rube to show up and pay them money for their signature and a chance to get a photo with them. I personally find this to be appalling but I guess people have to make their millions of dollars somehow, even if the poor person they are taking the funds from have worked about 6 hours in a minimum wage job just to pay for the pleasure of meeting them. But I digress. Let's just say there were lots and lots of celebrities, some current, some "B" or "D" list celebrities and some only vaguely connected to the horror genre.

One thing that confuses me about these conventions,expos,shows, whatever is the lack of things to do. I personally feel that if you go to an event that is horror based you should get to experience horror type things, like a miniature haunted house, a band that plays creepy music from scary movies, places to watch scary movies, a place to get make up done so you look like you are from a scary movie, a place to practice your horror movie scream, a zombie live action role playing game, etc., etc. I just feel like these place should have things for you to do, I don't understand paying money to go to a place where you pay more money to meet people with over inflated egos, to get strange photos that look like you went to Sears in the 1970's and got a family photo with a celebrity, or to walk around and buy POP figures, or things you could easily find on Amazon.

One thing I really do like about conventions is getting to cosplay. I really enjoyed some of the cosplay that was there at Terror Expo this year and I hope that really gets ramped up next year, maybe they could get some of the haunted houses to send people or maybe Sea World or Fiesta Texas to advertise their Halloween events.

All in all I think it was a decent first year media convention. I am not sure it needed it's own convention maybe it could just be the horror corner at Alamo City Comic Con since it was pretty much the same thing just some different celebrities, in fact there was even a themed car there so it felt pretty mush like the same thing. If you like media conventions then this is definitely the place for you. If you want to pay to meet celebrities this is the event for you. If you want to see some panels of actors talking about their lives, shows and how cool they are then this is the place for you. I think there were things people enjoyed and there is room to grow. If you are curious about it then check it out next year, but until then keep the lights on and check under the bed.

Agent Carter

Agent Carter

I haven't ever been the type of girl who thought about girl power. In fact, I was actually the type of girl who wanted to be a boy because I thought boys were tougher, rougher, meaner, stronger and just plain cooler. I still occasionally have these delusions but more and more I find that I am noticing and valuing the strength in myself as a woman and in so many other women. I have also noticed that I am increasingly enamored with strong female characters on screen. One female character that I am becoming increasingly fond of is Agent Carter.

One of the things I love about Agent Carter is her knowledge that she is supremely capable of everything she sets her mind to, that she is highly qualified, she can do anything the men can do and that no matter what they think of her she is the best person for the job.  I like the way she is beginning to be more vocal about the knowledge that she is highly capable of doing her job, but I also appreciate that they are staying true to the feelings of the time period and that the majority of the men still discount her worth or take credit for her actions. I especially enjoyed this week's interactions between her and Dottie and Jack. Dottie is another strong female character, albeit evil or misguided she is still strong and a force to be reckoned with. I was almost surprised by Peggy's ambush of Dottie but I saw it coming when they showed the bank patrons. I was actually surprised, although I shouldn't have been, when Jack took Peggy off the interrogation and sent her away. I was not surprised but I was tickled when Dottie gave Jack some of the medicine he deserved. I really enjoyed this week's episode of Agent Carter and I am looking forward to more.

There were other things I enjoyed that I will discuss next Tuesday on the shoe, but I must bring up one more thing before I end this post. I absolutely, positively, adore the outfits they choose for Peggy Carter and I must admit that I check out her fabulous shoes during every wardrobe change. I love the styles of that time period and I love the way they recreate them in the show. The picture collage are pictures I snapped of Peggy's loveliness during the course of the show.

I am excited to see another episode next week and to see how the story progresses. 

Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman

02/21/1946 - 01/14/2016

I wanted to write something about the passing of Alan Rickman, but I wanted to wait for a little while so I could gain some perspective and not write from a place of emotion. It seems strange to me that I even felt like I was coming from a place of emotion but I was. If you watch the show then you may know that I don't normally have a great deal of sympathy for or connection with celebrities because I feel that their lives are already filled with people who spend way too much time and energy worrying about what they are doing. There are however certain celebrities that cause me to feel some type of connection to them. Alan Rickman happened to be one of those celebrities.

Many of us know that Alan Rickman was a spectacular bad guy. He would have this look on his face and you just knew that you didn't want to be on the receiving end of that look. You knew that if he looked at you that way you would surely be dead before you could begin to think of a way to get away from him. Part of you wanted to be as fierce as he was and yet the other part of you was screaming for the protagonist to take him down. For myself and I am sure for many of you Alan Rickman's role in Die Hard as Hans Gruber made him immediately the bad guy who I loved to hate.

Just when you thought, "this guy is the best bad guy I've ever see" you got to see him in Dogma and Galaxy Quest. Then all of a sudden you realized Alan Rickman could be funny and witty and he could throw in this arrogance that somehow made him more endearing not less. He was smug and narcissistic but everything lead you to believe that he obviously had good reason to behave that way. Plus who cared what he was saying as long as he was saying it with that voice. So now you have seen his range and you are beginning to really love his talent. 

Then you get hit with the enormous whammy of Severus Snape. There could never, ever have been anyone else who could have played Snape the way Alan Rickman did. You had already read the books, you had already seen him there in your wild imagination and when you saw him on screen you just knew they had read your mind and plucked him right out of there. He looked at Harry with such disdain that it made your skin crawl, he was always there to dole out insults and punishments and you hated him more and more with each subsequent movie. You read more books, you got to know Snape's true character and then you see The Order of the Phoenix movie and Alan Rickman breaks your heart. You too were that child who was bullied at school, you loved and lost and felt like you could never love again and that no one would ever love you. From that point forward Alan Rickman would forever be Snape in your mind, his sad yet stone cold eyes, his inflection and tone, everything was perfect.

Alan Rickman was great in Sweeney Todd, he was a wonderful Ronald Reagan in The Butler, he voiced Marvin in The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy, he was so good in so many films and he left behind a legacy that can viewed time and time again. His talent will sorely be missed and so will his voice. For me he will forever be Severus Snape, he will always be one of my favorite actors of all time and even now several days later I feel the blow of this loss. I would just like to throw a heartfelt "Thank you for the characters that you brought to life, you will be greatly missed." out into the universe and I hope maybe he gets it. 

Star Wars The Force Awakens

Star Wars The Force Awakens

I think that enough time has passed now that we may all begin to talk about Star Wars The Force Awakens and not spoil it for very many people. (I did have 1 friend who just saw it for the first time this week, I was stunned.)

It is very simple to talk about all of the things that I loved about this movie and you are supposed to begin conversations with positive things so I suppose I should start this post with the things I loved. 

I truly loved the relationship between Rey and Finn. I laughed way too much when he grabbed her hand in order to "save" her when he was obviously much less capable of saving her than she was of saving him in that instance. I also loved her reaction "why are you holding my hand?" I love that he tries so hard to keep her safe even though he seems like he is a coward he shows great conviction and strength (which is typical hero type behavior). I thought the storm trooper with the stun baton is really fantastic, I just wish Captain Phasma had been the one wielding it. There were of course obvious things that I loved about the movie like seeing the characters I had grown up with and loved like Han and Leia and Chewie and finally I got to see R2D2 for a few seconds. There were some less obvious things (since I was talking so much smack) such as my love for BB-8. That little, spherical robot really grew on me and took a place in my heart right next to R2D2. I really did enjoy the way they gave him so much personality and the almost golden retriever loyalty he showed.

Now we can move on to the things that drove me nuts about the movie. First of all I absolutely despise the way Captain Phasma was capture by Finn, Han and Chewie and made to put in the codes. You know for a fact that she saw Finn freeze in the battle and she knows that he is a coward so why exactly is she going anywhere with someone she assumes is a coward and just letting herself be pushed around and told what to do? I found that scene to be very weak.

I also really, truly with a passion dislike the actor they chose to be Ben Solo. I struggle with the scene where he kills his father because I don't feel the connection. I think the actor is great at being the tantrum throwing, whining baby that is Kylo Ren (no matter how many blaster hits he takes and keeps standing). I do not however think that the actor looked enough like Han and Leia to be believable as their son so when I should have felt the pain of a father being forever destroyed by his only son I just felt "eh." I mean I did feel really horrible the first time and I shed a tear when Han died, even though I saw it coming, but that reaction was simply because it was Han and I love him not because his son had just put a lightsaber through his chest. I feel disappointed.

The final thing I dislike about the movie is Snoke. I simply cannot deal with Gollum being the bad guy, man I desperately miss Vader. I wish they would have thought that through a little more and changed his look up a bit especially since it is the same voice actor.

Overall I was pleased with the movie, although I felt a little less pleased the second time we saw it I might return to more pleased the third time I see it. I think it is a solid start to the finale and I think it is more true to the feelings and tone of episodes 4, 5, and 6. I am hopeful that in 2017 episode 8 has more in store that brings me back to my happy place.

In parting I will say that the final scene where Luke pulls back his hood with his cyber hand and stands there in all of his old man, bearded glory is one of the best scenes I have ever seen and gives me chills even now as I write about it. I can't wait to see what Luke, Leia, Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8 and the crew have in store for us.

Netflix Originals

     We used to be the first in line to pick on the Netflix generation, I mean really who can't wait one week or 9 months for another episode of their favorite show? Well apparently we can't because we have been drug into the flow of Netflix watchers. We began our Netflix binge watching with the original show Daredevil and now that 2016 has begun we have decided to binge watch yet another epic drama based on a comic book character. We are currently halfway through Jessica Jones Season 1 and we are thoroughly enthralled as we were with Daredevil.
      We are only occasional comic book readers, so Jessica Jones is not a title we have ever picked up. I wonder if having no knowledge of the comic helps with the enjoyment of the series or if having prior knowledge would make us enjoy it more. At this point we can only watch it with no prior knowledge and enjoy it as it is, and enjoy it is exactly what we are doing.
One of the things we like about Jessica Jones right away is that gritty, edgy, New York City feeling that it has just based on the cinematography of each episode. It almost feels like we are watching an extension of the Daredevil show that we enjoyed so much. Another thing we really enjoy about the show is the character of Jessica Jones. There is a great balance between her obvious physical strengths and her often overwhelming psychological struggles. It is always interesting to watch a character fight more with themselves than they have to fight with the enemy. Don't get me wrong she has an enemy, a frightening one and he is quite responsible for his fair share of the litany of issues she has but she is quite capable of harming herself enough to not even need an enemy.
     Speaking of her enemy, it is probably good that we don't really watch much Dr. Who so the appearance of David Tennant as the enemy has not derailed us because we have no connection to him as an actor.
     So far we are truly enjoying the show and we plan on binge watching every episode of season 1 until we are through with it.
     Stayed tuned to the blog or to our show for more thought an opinions from Geek Out SA.