Originally this was going to be all about my top ten favourite tech guys. Hence why the title of this entry is the immortal words of IT technicians everywhere instead of the wisdom of Joss Whedon. But, at half past midnight, having been up since seven o'clock in the morning and still not quite being able to adjust to have a computer once again and staring at the screen, my brain went to mush at about number six on the top ten list.
So, instead, for your reading pleasure, I thought I'd talk about my thoughts on something I've been mentioning in pretty much every blog post (which the quite probable exception of my top ten lists) since I kick-started Sufficiently Cyberpunk back in January.
However, a little context first.
It's a well-known fact that at the end of February, my laptop up and died after three years of service. In those three years, I'd replaced the hard drive, the RAM, the battery and the charger cable. When the capacitors in the screen blew, I decided it was finally time to give up on that laptop and invest in a new computer. And so, after a little while of option-weighing, I have a shiny new computer. Context for entry title established.
Context for second paragraph babbling - Friday, 27th April 2012.
Now in the unlikely event that I have any American followers here, I'm sorry but...dude, I have to brag. You have two more days before you can watch it. I've seen it already.
Ladies and gentlemen, Avengers (or Avengers Assemble here in the UK) is frakking epic.
Joss is Boss. This is a phrase that arose, as I understand it, from the cast and crew of Firefly and has been adopted by fans as a statement of faith and trust in the man himself. And on Friday, he delivered. He delivered in style.
Avengers was always going to be a tricky film - bringing together not one, but *four* main characters from four different movies and giving them all equal screen time and story arcs to sustain an entire film, meanwhile elevating two supporting characters from two of the prior movies to equal starring role status? Not a job I would want. I'll admit, I have a habit of having multiple characters in my stories, but I usually end up with one main dude going around and doing all that funny protagonist stuff. But nonetheless, Joss Whedon rose to the challenge and kicked ass. And as I had hoped, he imbued this film was his trademark blend of drama, kick-ass action and infinitely quotable one liners. In a few months, when the risk of spoilers has significantly diminished and Avengers is on DVD, expect to see new words from the wisdom of Whedon gracing the titles of my blog entries.
Now since I have this thing against spoilers, I can't really say too much. In fact, I feel I can only legitimately continue to reiterate how awesome the movie is. Don't believe me? Go out and see it. Seriously. What the frak are you doing? Are you seriously still reading this when you haven't seen Avengers? Godsdamnit, get out of that chair! NOW! Go forth and seek the wisdom and enlightenment of Whedon.
As for me, I'm going to bed. My brain stopped working and I've been writing this blog post. Perhaps I will wake in the morning, read the result and have a prose hangover. Usually have them with poetry.
So on that note, if you haven't seen Avengers, get your ass out there and watch it. I guarantee laughs, kick-ass action, witty dialogue and eye candy for all. Mostly the ladies. Seriously girls, you're lucky. So much eye candy for you.
Until next time, this has been me writing at one o'clock in the morning. Fun, isn't it?
Showing posts with label The Avengers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Avengers. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Everything's shiny, Captain, not to fret
We return here to the wonders of Joss Whedon quotation after the discovery of a quite astonishing fact. Through conversation and conspiracy with Thief, it was discovered that there is no such event as Shiny Day. Now, I don't know entirely what to make of this. I imagine if I delved into the deep underworld of the Internet I would find some kind of Firefly/Serenity commemorating day, but...I mean...no Shiny Day? What madness is this?
I'm going to postulate some things here for a minute. First, Firefly isn't really, truly gone. Here I refer to another day event, Towel Day, that commemorates the awesome of the late Douglas Adams. Every May 25th since his tragic passing in 2001, fans of Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Adams' other works take a towel with them everywhere they go. I have done this two years in a row, both times taking the aforementioned item of bathroom-wear into my place of work and causing much amusement amongst my colleagues who hadn't a clue why I had a brightly coloured towel tucked in with my apron. I very much plan on doing it this forthcoming May 25th, too. Might even ensure that photographic evidence on hand as well.
So yes, Firefly isn't gone. Joss is still most definitely Boss, the impending release of The Avengers (or, for some reason in the UK, Avengers Assemble) will go and prove that. The cast are still around - Alan Tudyk being AWESOME at every he does and Nathan Fillion being ever so ruggedly handsome in Castle. So in that vain, there's really no reason to be commemorating something that isn't lost, not in the eyes of fans anyway.
Now as I said earlier, I may be overlooking the fact that there is an alternatively named day that commemorates Firefly and Serenity, but...it's not called Shiny Day. And I think that's just a little bit wrong...here's my case.
Shiny. It's a beautiful, versatile(ish) word. It has many, many real world applications and has such pleasant connotations that instead of saying of "okay" or "great", an expression of "Shiny!" can brighten someone's whole day. There's also phrases such as "Shiny, let's be bad guys" and "Everything's shiny, Captain" (particularly useful when pieces of your ship are breaking off).
The gist of this is, if no one's guessed already, "shiny" is an awesome word and one cannot honour it or its many uses without of course honouring its origin, the beautiful and wonderful show Firefly and the Big Damn Movie, Serenity. So I propose that, for 2012, we, the loyal Browncoats, establish Shiny Day - a day to wear our long coats of a brownish colour that we bought on sale, to say "Everything's shiny, not to fret" when things are blowing up around you and "Shiny, let's be bad guys" when shenanigans and capers are afoot. My suggestions for the precise date for Shiny Day are as follows:
So there you have it, fellow Browncoats - Shiny Day. Who else is up for it?
I'm going to postulate some things here for a minute. First, Firefly isn't really, truly gone. Here I refer to another day event, Towel Day, that commemorates the awesome of the late Douglas Adams. Every May 25th since his tragic passing in 2001, fans of Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Adams' other works take a towel with them everywhere they go. I have done this two years in a row, both times taking the aforementioned item of bathroom-wear into my place of work and causing much amusement amongst my colleagues who hadn't a clue why I had a brightly coloured towel tucked in with my apron. I very much plan on doing it this forthcoming May 25th, too. Might even ensure that photographic evidence on hand as well.
So yes, Firefly isn't gone. Joss is still most definitely Boss, the impending release of The Avengers (or, for some reason in the UK, Avengers Assemble) will go and prove that. The cast are still around - Alan Tudyk being AWESOME at every he does and Nathan Fillion being ever so ruggedly handsome in Castle. So in that vain, there's really no reason to be commemorating something that isn't lost, not in the eyes of fans anyway.
Now as I said earlier, I may be overlooking the fact that there is an alternatively named day that commemorates Firefly and Serenity, but...it's not called Shiny Day. And I think that's just a little bit wrong...here's my case.
Shiny. It's a beautiful, versatile(ish) word. It has many, many real world applications and has such pleasant connotations that instead of saying of "okay" or "great", an expression of "Shiny!" can brighten someone's whole day. There's also phrases such as "Shiny, let's be bad guys" and "Everything's shiny, Captain" (particularly useful when pieces of your ship are breaking off).
The gist of this is, if no one's guessed already, "shiny" is an awesome word and one cannot honour it or its many uses without of course honouring its origin, the beautiful and wonderful show Firefly and the Big Damn Movie, Serenity. So I propose that, for 2012, we, the loyal Browncoats, establish Shiny Day - a day to wear our long coats of a brownish colour that we bought on sale, to say "Everything's shiny, not to fret" when things are blowing up around you and "Shiny, let's be bad guys" when shenanigans and capers are afoot. My suggestions for the precise date for Shiny Day are as follows:
- September 22 - In 2005, this was the date of Serenity's premiere in the United States.
- October 7 - Same year, only this time it was the UK premiere of Serenity.
- September 20 - In 2002, the original US airdate of Firefly.
- June 23 - birthday of Firefly creator Joss Whedon.
- March 27 - birthday of Nathan Fillion, everyone's favourite loveable rogue starship captain, Malcolm Reynolds.
- June 2 - birthday of Jewel Staite, the most loveable damn mechanic in the whole 'Verse and most frequent user of the term "shiny".
So there you have it, fellow Browncoats - Shiny Day. Who else is up for it?
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Eggs. The Living Legend Needs Eggs.
Once again, I'm borrowing a line from Firefly, but it appears to be my thing. That and it just seems that Joss Whedon managed to conceive a line of dialogue for every occasion. Joss is Boss. Fact. Just wait. Avengers is going to prove that. The trailer has shown us this already.
However, as much as Avengers is so awesome it's getting mentioned again, this is more about Pancake Day. Hence why I'm quoting Jayne Cobb. Today at work someone wondered what was the deal behind Pancake Day (though I'm fairly sure they phrased it as "Shrove Tuesday", Pancake Day's official name). My response - "Jesus. It's something to do with Jesus."
Now why am I babbling about this? I'm a fatalist. To that end, let's talk about the pancakes. Or, more precisely, the failure of our experiment with coffee in the pancake mix. I think the failure was the result of the kind of coffee used (at this point, I have *definitely* worked in the coffee industry too long). We used soluble coffee granules, the kind from a jar. The problem was I expecting something like iced coffee. You know, shot or two of espresso in the mix, that would've worked. A note for next time.
Okay, so I'll be honest. A bit underwhelmed by Pancake Day this year. I had, pretty much, one pancake. Well, two. One coffee pancake and one regular pancake. With cherries. I don't the cherries were the problem. My inability to find maple syrup, that was a problem. Must admit, I'm also fearing a slight Christmas Effect here. Allow me to elaborate.
Ever found that, as you grow up, Christmas becomes less and less exciting? Back in the day, as a kid, you couldn't wait. You'd wake up at ridiculous o'clock, sneak into the living room and watch really, really random CGI animation things (that you only ever found at Christmas and still have no clue what it was called), desperate to open those presents staring at you from under the tree because you've already exhausted everything that was left in the stocking. Or, in the case of my later years, under my little Christmas tree. This is the Christmas Effect - over time, excitement decreases. Has this happened to Pancake Day for me?
Well, just going to have to wait until 2013 to figure that out. For now, I'm blaming no maple syrup. Maple syrup was good last year. Also, my flipping technique needs a *lot* of work.
Random digression time. Mass Effect time. Just finished my second playthrough of the first Mass Effect. Finally decided to get around to playing Mass Effect 2. Not played very much yet. Enjoying so far nonetheless. Don't think I'll have it done in time to play Mass Effect 3. I'm saying Mass Effect a lot today. Mass Effect.
Oh, now here's something good to babble about. My growing collection of Quantum Mechanix swag. My last post prior to my list of top ten villains mentioned my anticipation of the arrival of my Claudia Donovan (of Warehouse 13 fame) maquette and F-302 (Stargate SG-1 fame) replica. But, thanks to QMx's ability to torture me with awesome stuff (namely free Firefly buttons), I now have a Viper keychain. Attached to my bag. Complimenting my Quantum Mechanix rocket (which came with my River Tam maquette) and my Millenium Falcon Lego keychain that was a gift from my nephews when they went to Legoland Windsor.
I still haven't been. A fact that still torments me to this day.
So yes. I have my new QMx swag now. Claudia is now dutifully guarding my GameCube and, by extension, looking down on me whenever I'm watching a DVD or playing a video game. Thankfully, not in a judgemental manner.
Pictures of my QMx swag will follow. Eventually...
Now to wrap this up with some kind of profound thought. "He who asks is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask remains a fool forever." Chinese Proverb. I think that's pretty profound.
However, as much as Avengers is so awesome it's getting mentioned again, this is more about Pancake Day. Hence why I'm quoting Jayne Cobb. Today at work someone wondered what was the deal behind Pancake Day (though I'm fairly sure they phrased it as "Shrove Tuesday", Pancake Day's official name). My response - "Jesus. It's something to do with Jesus."
Now why am I babbling about this? I'm a fatalist. To that end, let's talk about the pancakes. Or, more precisely, the failure of our experiment with coffee in the pancake mix. I think the failure was the result of the kind of coffee used (at this point, I have *definitely* worked in the coffee industry too long). We used soluble coffee granules, the kind from a jar. The problem was I expecting something like iced coffee. You know, shot or two of espresso in the mix, that would've worked. A note for next time.
Okay, so I'll be honest. A bit underwhelmed by Pancake Day this year. I had, pretty much, one pancake. Well, two. One coffee pancake and one regular pancake. With cherries. I don't the cherries were the problem. My inability to find maple syrup, that was a problem. Must admit, I'm also fearing a slight Christmas Effect here. Allow me to elaborate.
Ever found that, as you grow up, Christmas becomes less and less exciting? Back in the day, as a kid, you couldn't wait. You'd wake up at ridiculous o'clock, sneak into the living room and watch really, really random CGI animation things (that you only ever found at Christmas and still have no clue what it was called), desperate to open those presents staring at you from under the tree because you've already exhausted everything that was left in the stocking. Or, in the case of my later years, under my little Christmas tree. This is the Christmas Effect - over time, excitement decreases. Has this happened to Pancake Day for me?
Well, just going to have to wait until 2013 to figure that out. For now, I'm blaming no maple syrup. Maple syrup was good last year. Also, my flipping technique needs a *lot* of work.
Random digression time. Mass Effect time. Just finished my second playthrough of the first Mass Effect. Finally decided to get around to playing Mass Effect 2. Not played very much yet. Enjoying so far nonetheless. Don't think I'll have it done in time to play Mass Effect 3. I'm saying Mass Effect a lot today. Mass Effect.
Oh, now here's something good to babble about. My growing collection of Quantum Mechanix swag. My last post prior to my list of top ten villains mentioned my anticipation of the arrival of my Claudia Donovan (of Warehouse 13 fame) maquette and F-302 (Stargate SG-1 fame) replica. But, thanks to QMx's ability to torture me with awesome stuff (namely free Firefly buttons), I now have a Viper keychain. Attached to my bag. Complimenting my Quantum Mechanix rocket (which came with my River Tam maquette) and my Millenium Falcon Lego keychain that was a gift from my nephews when they went to Legoland Windsor.
I still haven't been. A fact that still torments me to this day.
So yes. I have my new QMx swag now. Claudia is now dutifully guarding my GameCube and, by extension, looking down on me whenever I'm watching a DVD or playing a video game. Thankfully, not in a judgemental manner.
Pictures of my QMx swag will follow. Eventually...
Now to wrap this up with some kind of profound thought. "He who asks is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask remains a fool forever." Chinese Proverb. I think that's pretty profound.
Monday, 16 January 2012
Back in the World of Blogging
It's been a while. I haven't had a blog in well over a year. So this post is liable to be brief and rambling.
So. A year. Over that, in fact. To honour this, how about a retrospective on 2011? I would say it began as it meant to go on, but since the Anime Society Cosplay Ball in Bristol, there have been no more. Not that I've attended anyway. However, while I didn't cosplay then, I did later, in March. It was a friend's birthday party. I went as Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I sat in a chair most of the night and had great fun, especially when I was asked to do his opening speech about vampires and the cruxifiction. Now that was fun.
It was a hell of a year. Film wise, definitely. More specifically, Marvel films. Now I'll admit, I'm not extensively knowledgable with regards to Marvel comics. That falls to my housemate, who briefs me on various aspects when I ask relevent questions. But I love the Marvel cinematic universe. And this year was so very, very good for that. I may have been a tad sceptical about Thor at first, though the awesome trailers put those fears to rest a little. Then the film came. I watched it with my Marvel-knowledgable housemate, on its day of release. It was about then that Mjolnir pretty flew out of screen (despite watching it in 2D), found my scepticism and promptly banished it to Nifilheim.
Thor was then followed by X-Men: First Class. I don't know what it is about movies, but they have this way of protraying the 1960s with an excessive amount of charm and awesomeness. Throw in James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender into the mix and...well...wow. I mean, there are a few holes here and there. It's an inevitable fact with most adaptations. Michael Fassbender's fluctuating accent is equally amusing, but when it comes down to it, the film is still frakking awesome!
Finally, there was Captain America. Chris Evans, redeeming himself from Fantastic Four and following on from what I would say was a pretty damn underrated performance in Push, which was shamefully underrated. Damn good film. And Captain America did not disappoint either. Hilariously over-patriotic (but hey, it's Captain America. The clue was in the title) and thoroughly, thoroughly entertaining. The result of this film and Thor gives me great, great hope for The Avengers. That and the frakking awesome Avengers trailer.
So that's 2011 in film. In television, I'd say it was fairly unremarkable. Right now, until halfway through this paragraph, when I'll likely have some manner of epiphany about what I've seen. But so far, I'll stick with my Warehouse 13 epiphany.
I blame Quantum Mechanix entirely for this. If it wasn't for the Claudia Maquette (which I now have on pre-order, in the same order as a Stargate SG-1 F-302 interceptor), then I wouldn't have obtained the first series. Then I wouldn't have been exposed to the true awesomeness of Claudia Donovan and fallen promptly in love with her. And then I wouldn't have bought seaon two of Warehouse 13 and fallen even more in love with her and a particularly interesting character I won't mention here. Just watch the show and find out!
So I'm not sure how much more I can say about 2011. Like any year, it was full of upheavals, sadness, happiness. Life, love and great friendship (and she knows who she is, I'm hoping she'll be reading this - shameful injoke/referencing hidden here). When all's said and done, I'm still here, I'm still alive and by gods I'm going to keep being here and being alive, with those great friends by my side, as I will always be by theirs.
But since I mentioned Quantum Mechanix, I'll talk a little bit more about them. And how much I love them but simultaneously hate them.
It began with River Tam. Specifically, the River Tam maquette. It has, alas, sold out in their Black Friday sale (where I picked up Claudia and the F-302), but I picked one up in July, along with an awesome Browncoats t-shirt. Since then, I have pined for their Colonial Fleet Viper Mark II replica (from the awesome, amazing Battlestar Galactica), acquired the Kaylee maquette and have a pair of Colonial Fleet dogtags, with my name and serial number, dangling around my neck.
Okay, I think I'll stop rambling now. Hope you ladies and menfolk have enjoyed this ramble, as there will be more to follow - at very, VERY sporadic intervals, as 2012 - the year of great change - progresses.
So. A year. Over that, in fact. To honour this, how about a retrospective on 2011? I would say it began as it meant to go on, but since the Anime Society Cosplay Ball in Bristol, there have been no more. Not that I've attended anyway. However, while I didn't cosplay then, I did later, in March. It was a friend's birthday party. I went as Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I sat in a chair most of the night and had great fun, especially when I was asked to do his opening speech about vampires and the cruxifiction. Now that was fun.
It was a hell of a year. Film wise, definitely. More specifically, Marvel films. Now I'll admit, I'm not extensively knowledgable with regards to Marvel comics. That falls to my housemate, who briefs me on various aspects when I ask relevent questions. But I love the Marvel cinematic universe. And this year was so very, very good for that. I may have been a tad sceptical about Thor at first, though the awesome trailers put those fears to rest a little. Then the film came. I watched it with my Marvel-knowledgable housemate, on its day of release. It was about then that Mjolnir pretty flew out of screen (despite watching it in 2D), found my scepticism and promptly banished it to Nifilheim.
Thor was then followed by X-Men: First Class. I don't know what it is about movies, but they have this way of protraying the 1960s with an excessive amount of charm and awesomeness. Throw in James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender into the mix and...well...wow. I mean, there are a few holes here and there. It's an inevitable fact with most adaptations. Michael Fassbender's fluctuating accent is equally amusing, but when it comes down to it, the film is still frakking awesome!
Finally, there was Captain America. Chris Evans, redeeming himself from Fantastic Four and following on from what I would say was a pretty damn underrated performance in Push, which was shamefully underrated. Damn good film. And Captain America did not disappoint either. Hilariously over-patriotic (but hey, it's Captain America. The clue was in the title) and thoroughly, thoroughly entertaining. The result of this film and Thor gives me great, great hope for The Avengers. That and the frakking awesome Avengers trailer.
So that's 2011 in film. In television, I'd say it was fairly unremarkable. Right now, until halfway through this paragraph, when I'll likely have some manner of epiphany about what I've seen. But so far, I'll stick with my Warehouse 13 epiphany.
I blame Quantum Mechanix entirely for this. If it wasn't for the Claudia Maquette (which I now have on pre-order, in the same order as a Stargate SG-1 F-302 interceptor), then I wouldn't have obtained the first series. Then I wouldn't have been exposed to the true awesomeness of Claudia Donovan and fallen promptly in love with her. And then I wouldn't have bought seaon two of Warehouse 13 and fallen even more in love with her and a particularly interesting character I won't mention here. Just watch the show and find out!
So I'm not sure how much more I can say about 2011. Like any year, it was full of upheavals, sadness, happiness. Life, love and great friendship (and she knows who she is, I'm hoping she'll be reading this - shameful injoke/referencing hidden here). When all's said and done, I'm still here, I'm still alive and by gods I'm going to keep being here and being alive, with those great friends by my side, as I will always be by theirs.
But since I mentioned Quantum Mechanix, I'll talk a little bit more about them. And how much I love them but simultaneously hate them.
It began with River Tam. Specifically, the River Tam maquette. It has, alas, sold out in their Black Friday sale (where I picked up Claudia and the F-302), but I picked one up in July, along with an awesome Browncoats t-shirt. Since then, I have pined for their Colonial Fleet Viper Mark II replica (from the awesome, amazing Battlestar Galactica), acquired the Kaylee maquette and have a pair of Colonial Fleet dogtags, with my name and serial number, dangling around my neck.
Okay, I think I'll stop rambling now. Hope you ladies and menfolk have enjoyed this ramble, as there will be more to follow - at very, VERY sporadic intervals, as 2012 - the year of great change - progresses.
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