Meet the Hero

So tonight while editing the first book in my steampunkish NightOthers trilogy I was gifted with yet another phenomenal piece of art inspired by one of my stories. Meet Azarai who is the protagonist of the NightOthers world. She is not in the trilogy, first book coming out late september, but she will be starring in her own book sometime in the spring. Look out for it! And also many thanks to Scott once again for delivering such great art! Check out his epic works here

Birthday Present!

Happy birthday to me and what better way to celebrate ones own birthday is to get their very few art piece for ones very own original works. A friend of mine, Scott Bennett, decided to gift me this amazing picture for my birthday. It's linked to a story of mine that will be up at World of the NightOthers by the end of the week (since it's 4 years old and needs a good amount of reworking.)

Isn't he simply amazing?!

You can find the rest of his work here. Please check it out!

Spike in Space!!

No seriously. You heard me correctly. Spike from Buffy has now been launched into a new comic book story arc (as well as space.)

Seems Spike has embarked on a self finding journey through space and to what I think is the dark side of the moon. Probably to meet that cross dressing gnome everyones talking about.

Spike: A Dark Place will be bannered under Season Nine and is a follow up of IDW's Spike. It's being pitched as a limited series and has five issues placed out. Is five issues the max they will do or not is anyones guess. This series will be published by Dark Horse and was released today. So naturally I shall go find it. Tell you how it is in a day or two.

If you are a Buffy and/or Spike fan from what I've heard and seen so far it's definitely worth checking out. Also if you do please leave a comment here or on the review and let me know what you thought.

Cross posted in Wayward Pages

They Have Found a Finnick! Yay?

So as I was being lazy and procrastinating against a whole list of things I need to do I was browsing through FaceBook and came across this: Sam Claflin a English actor will be playing the role of Finnick in the film adaptation of Catching Fire.

Is this your Finnick?

I won't lie he definitely is not my Finnick. The boys cute and all but do I want to send lots of money his way just to keep him alive a bit longer so I can see his abs? Not really. Cute smile though.

He will be joining the cast along with Jena Malone as Joanne, Alan Ritchson as Gloss and Amanda Plummer as Wiress

His acting career is kind of thin and the only movie I recognize on his IMDB page is Snow White and Huntsman. Do I really want to sit through that movie just to catch a glimpse of his acting talents? Not really but I will. It also doesn't hurt that Chris Hemsworth is in it.

My mind hasn't been made up yet whether this is a make or break for this character that I learned to love dearly. Either I shall have to stalk videos of him on YouTube or wait for the movie. Let's keep our fingers cross.

"It said I am a Wizard. Oh I am Harry Potter"

Saturday night I finally accomplished something I had been trying to accomplish for almost ten years. Ten years people! I finally saw Harry and the Potters in person, a WRock (Wizard Rock) band made up of two brothers Joe (the keyboardist) and Paul DeGeorge (the guitarist). As the name suggests they center on the Harry Potter universe while playing shows as two different versions of Harry, the boy wiz himself.

Back to the story. The first time I tried to go see them was in ’02-’03 around Christmas time I believe. Two friends of mine, one that I went to high school with and another that I had only talked to online, were dead set on seeing them in our kick ass Hogwarts costumes. I even had started carving a wand from a small fallen branch that I found in the woods near my house. It would have been amazing.

This concert was suppose to be the first time that I was to meet my now life-long best friend, Trish, but sadly a sodding blizzard came out of no where and ruined our plans. Over the years I have tried unsuccessfully twelve times to see them. One time I was stuck in traffic and missed them by five freakin’ minutes. Another time the car died while yet another time I got food poison the day before.

Almost ten years later I was finally able to see this legendary band ironically with Trish no less and was it worth it? Yes, we had come full circle. All this pain and frustration to see two brothers rock out in their Hogwarts uniforms and singing about a special time in a magical castle. You are all probably wondering, was it worth it? Was it worth almost a decade of failed concert going experiences and the almost blood lust like need to be around nerds like myself.

            The answer is a simple: Hell yeah! This show had it all and more. It included great music, great energy, bad puny jokes and hilarious as well as bountiful interactions with the audience. There even was a point where a certain brother’s string broke. Did the rock stop? No, Joe and their drummer, who was affectionately named ‘Bill Weasley’, kept going while Paul tip toed to the back of the stage, quickly fixed it before joining right back in and knocking our socks off.

Firstly their music is well put together, funny while being catchy as all hell. Trust me, you will be singing their songs for a few days to come. My co-workers probably thought I lost it when I was singing the Draco Malfoy inspired song. A few of there songs are really short and joke like. For example they have a song about that lovable Hagrid and how he’s full of love while being a great hugger. It also has a word of warning to not get stuck in his beard, which results with everyone in the audience screaming, slapping their cheeks not unlike what’s his name from Home Alone.

Next I just have to mention their energy. Either they run on pure magical crack or are half sprite. Not entirely sure but they did not quit. Joe kept doing sidekicks while continuing to the play the keyboard over and over again while singing. If I did that well can anyone say concussion with a possible side of hospital trip? Paul didn’t do anything so acrobatically hilarious but he did jump around like a spring wound bunny for 95% of the show. Boy has to have legs of steel at this point.

If I ever do see them again I want to give them both the largest Red Bulls I can find and sit back to watch the hilarity. Pretty sure the whole club/concert hall would spontaneously combust. So probably not a good idea but that’s never deterred me before. Only concert I have ever been to that has beat these two boys energy level, and not by much mind you, was Sum 41. For anyone that has seen them in concert know exactly what I am talking about. Leader singer Derek Whibley: Kitty on Crack with an IV of espresso running straight to his heart.  Just saying.

The only part of their performances that made me kind of want to smack them was the puny jokes. I will grant them this: Some of them were actually cute, not funny but cute. I would reiterate a few but to be perfectly honest I can’t remember a single one. I do remember the audience reactions to said horrible puns that all centered around Harry Potter. Shocking I know. The audience including yours truly reacted in one of three ways; a short chuckle, a loud groan and the eerie silence of incomprehension with only the faint whistling sound as it passed over everyone’s head to accompany it. Less puns more rock pretty please.

Granted, I shouldn’t rag on them too much. They opened up the platform for audience interaction to be upped a lot. My favorite part was honestly when one or two of the brothers stepped down from the stage and walked around the crowd. Also they are beyond magical since they got all on the dance floor to sit down with them all hippie-like. It was a magical hippie circle until they upped the ante and had everyone lay down. So it went from a hippie circle to a hippie circle if you know what I mean.

If you are a HP fan I highly, highly recommend going to see these two whenever possible. They are possibly coming back to Cambridge, Ma. around Christmas time and you know I will be there. It was stupidly muggy this past Saturday and not a single bone in my body wanted the hassle of dressing up but December is cold as hell. Who knows you might see this little blogger in a full-blown wizard costume. Only way to find out is if you follow Harry and the Potters and my new love affair. Seriously why wouldn’t you follow all this awesomeness?

 If you want to learn more about Harry and the Potters go to: http://harryandthepotters.com/ or follow them on twitter at @hatp

Well There Goes My Waistline- But So Worth It!

I curse thee Pinterest! I curse thee with all your pretty princess dresses, purple glass doorknobs and delicious and easily made sweets.

Earlier today I came across this amazing looking idea. Cinnamon rolls flattened to be used as the crust of a pie. When I traced it back to the Mother Ship of Temptation I saw a whole bunch of pictures that made my mouth water. The M.S.o.T. says this crust can be used to make a sweet potato pie. My thoughts: Why not expand? Apple pie, Pumpkin, Lemon Meringue, put a cake in it! The possibilities are endless.

Got any thought of what to do with this new fangled crust? Leave it in the comment and if it screams "Break your healthy eating for me!" to me I shall make a video on how to make it. Also the video will show case my slowly expanding waistline while we're at it.

Be the First of Your Friends to Make Contact Today!

Soon, oh so soon Mattel Inc. will be releasing a whole new Hot Wheel in honor of NASA’s Curiosity. That’s right my fellow children of the 90’s, we are getting a Hot Wheel’s Mars Rover! Hopefully one that we can get our hands on before it’s sold out, unlike the Sojourner one. This new toy is a 1:64 scale version of the real thing. You can personally pretend that you finally reached your goal and worked for NASA without doing any of the nerdy work. Some of you can even try to fill the shoes of a Time Lord and mess with the ‘mission’ for the better.

This toy of severe epic-ness is said to touch down in stores this September while the real one will be touching down on Big Red Monday at 1:31 am. Sadly I work the next morning and will probably be asleep during the event but for those of the lucky few that don’t work retail you can follow NASA’S tweets and I know for sure Hank Green will be live tweeting the whole event. The real rover launched from Earth 8 months ago and this whole journey will only end after a heart attack inducing “seven minutes of terror.”

Sure we all wish we could stay up late with some milk and cookies in our footie PJs while playing with our new Hot Wheel toy but we can’t. Honestly it won’t be released before the touchdown so we can’t relive our childhood the right way but it’s $1.09- Month late or not I’m still getting it.

And honestly this almost makes me want to forgive the Hot Wheels line for that horrendous mistake of replacing the metal bottoms with plastic- almost. 

Land of Stories and Thirteen Vlog! P.S. Written Reviews Coming Soon...sorry...

With an added bonus: A In My/Your Pants video. Yay!

Actual post coming soon.