International Tabletop Day!

Wil Wheaton has been teasing it all week long, and now, here it is!

My favorite Geek & Sundry venture, Tabletop, is doing something really awesome! International Tabletop Day! Felicia Day does a better job explaining it than I ever could! 

The closest event to me is a couple hours away.  I might just try to con a group of friends get a group of friends together to play some games.  I've got an expanding collection!

Also, if you've never watched Tabletop, get thee to Geek & Sundry, watch, get hooked, and subscribe!  You know you want to!

And, in the words of Sir Wil of Wheaton, play more games!

JP

Halloween Horror Nights Recap: Better Late Than Never

Jas getting his first taste of Butterbeer!

We started the day with an early entrance pass to Universal Islands of Adventure. It was such a good idea to do this. We had a blast, and it was only $20 add on to our HHN tickets, making our day at Universal a whopping $60 each, which is half the price of a regular park ticket.  Not bad.  In October, on a Sunday, it wasn't as crowded, our waits were short, and we were able to see everything we wanted!  I've been to both Universal Parks, and so I didn't need a full Universal experience, but I did want to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.Jas and I got to drink butterbeer, fly a hippogryph, and escape from Hogwarts! 

We even took a trip to Jurassic Park, where we were so incredibly soaked that I had to change my clothes!  We even spent $5 to stand in this gigantic dryer.  Some girls came off the ride soaked to the bone, and we let them hop in for the last few minutes of warm dry air.

It was cooler than we expected it to be, but it is Florida, and as much as I love my home state, the weather is fickle in late October. This trip was a gift for his Birthday.  He loves horror, he loves halloween.  It was a win win situation!

At around 6PM, we decided to head over to  Universal for the main event, HHN!  We got to enter through the backlot, and after a brief search, and a surrender of our tickets, we were in! We were able to see all the houses but one, and were able to ride all of the open attractions, minus the roller coaster.  We even managed to get in Bill and Ted, which was hilarious.

No photography allowed in the houses, so we didn't get pictures. But we got this awesome map with the house info and all the rules for the night.

Silent Hill House - This was the first house we went into.  It wasn't too bad. I only had one scream moment, and I had a great time!  I think Jas just enjoyed having me clinging to his arm the entire time!

Alice Cooper - Welcome to My Nightmare.  First, you enter his mouth. Creepy.  This house made me sick.  Literally, so I don't remember much about it.  Flashing strobe lights triggered some photo sensitivity and we had to take a break from the scares for a while. I've never had this happen before, but maybe it was a combination of the bloody freaks and the flashing lights that caused me to get so dizzy I could barely walk.

We headed over to The Simpson's Ride and the MIB ride after that to settle down the crazy.  Jas also decided that we needed the Express passes after that, considering the ultra long wait we had for Alice Cooper.

House of Horrors - Skipped.  We saw the exit in line for Alice Cooper, and based on discussion with some of the folks in line, we decided not to take a chance with the strobes.


Penn and Teller's New(kd) Las Vegas - The 3D house.  This was interesting.  I imagine that's what an acid trip might be like.  I was tempted to take off the glasses, but I was afraid the radiation would kill me.

This hit me right in the feels....

Walking Dead - I'm not going to lie, this was reason #1 I wanted to make the trip to Orlando for HHN.  I was not disappointed!  It was a fun experience, complete with the car that waited for Sophia on the highway.  *tear*  I think by the time we got to this house the scareactors were tired, so it wasn't terribly scary, but seeing people in full zombie make-up was totally cool.  The car was in the exit, so I was able to snap a photo.

Gothic - Flying Gargoyles.  I thought that was a nice touch.  Some of the timing was off, so it wasn't as awesome as it could have been.  All in all one of my favorite experiences that night.

Dead End - Designed to look like you're entering an delapidated house.  Walked up the steps onto a broken porch, and into the front door of someone's nightmare.  Dolls, creepy dolls, weird midget people with boils, Bloody Mary.  The atmosphere of this was incredible!

The street scares weren't as intimidating as I thought they'd be.  It was fun to walk around and see the ghouls, and such running through the park.  They liked to chase the girls wearing the most revealing clothing, because they seemed to spook easier.  I'm okay, unless someone comes at me with a chainsaw.

It's So Fluffy I'm Gonna Die!

The only really bad thing about the experience were the drunk people.  They were selling so much alcohol all night long that people were wasted, and beyond annoying.  I don't care for crowded places with drunk people. As we were exiting the park they asked us to fill out a survey, where I complained about that. I'm all for people having a good time, but when I'm dodging vomit piles, and dealing with your lack of boundary issues while I'm trying to have a good time, I have a problem.  Seriously.  The other thing were the annoying blinky devil horns they sold to people.  Ugh, they gave me a headache!

Would I go again?  Of course I would!

I nearly forgot to mention, I got to have a ride on the brand new Despicable Me ride!  It broke down (someone puked) and we had to wait for 45 minutes in Gru's living room before were able to enter.  It was fun.  Great for all ages, and of course you exit through the gift shop. I had to grab the pink unicorn for a photo!  I am a huge geek, I know!


JP

The Return.

Real life sort of got in the way there for a while.  I'm aiming to write a blog entry at least once a week, and this blog will contain more than just rants about geeky things.  I'm a geek, yes, and that's a huge part of who I am. Like all of you, I have a wide range of interests, and I also have a sense of adventure. 



So, back in the saddle.  Ready, set, blog.

JP

Geek Vacation

This weekend, I'll be on vacation, doing some geeky things.  Just a quickie trip, but cram packed with some seriously fun stuff!

The itinerary:
Star Wars:  Where Science Meets Imagination - A Touring exhibit which just happens to be in the area while we are. Arguably the most geeky thing we will be doing this weekend. The Museum also promises to deliver quite an interesting array of other exhibits which speak to the science nerd in me.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter (in Islands of Adventure) - When I found out that I could add on an admission to this park to my HHN ticket for only $20 I was sold. This will be my second visit, and I'm hoping it's less crowded than my initial visit in August of 2011. 
Halloween Horror Nights- As a Florida Resident, I got a deep discount on the tickets, and I've been aching to go for ages.  Once they announced a Walking Dead House, I was not missing this year. There will be other themed houses, including Alice Cooper, Penn and Teller, Gothic, Silent Hill, and Classic Monsters.  Along with the houses select rides are open, including the new Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem.  Loved that movie, and can't wait to experience some of the less "scary" aspects of the evening.

As you can see, I'm completely excited about all of this, and I'll have some write ups on them all when I return.....if I don't fall to the walkers!


JP

Set Phasers to Stunning.



(Source)



It's pretty obvious that I'm a huge Wil Wheaton fan.  He's so awesome, that I include him on my list of 5 people living or dead I'd invite over to dinner, provided he brings a board game and some of his home-brew.

I digress. He'll be appearing in an episode of Big Bang Theory on CBS.  I'm thrilled to hear that he'll be returning to my favorite CBS sitcom, and I can't wait to see the episode.

According to Wil, the show will air on November 8th.  In the meantime, enjoy the picture that Wil posted on his blog earlier today!

Bazinga!

JP

Happy Birthday Cartoon Network!

(Source)

Can you believe that Cartoon Network is 20 years old?  They brought us The Power Puff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, and Adventure Time.  Adult Swim brought back Futurama.

When I was a youngling, I faked sick to watch Hanna Barbera cartoons.  It's changed a lot in the last 2 decades, but it's always been one of my favorite places on basic cable.

They're even doing some fun things for their big milestone birthday!  Vote for your favorites!

Cartoon Network, you've come a long way baby.  I'm glad to say I've been there from the start!

JP

Ben Folds Five + Fraggle Rock

Oh, my dear. A favorite from my childhood and a favorite from my late teens just collided in awesome.  

Ben Folds, you're my freaking hero.

JP

Theeeeeeey're Back!

(Source)

Yes, parents, your worst nightmare has returned, that creepy creature that won't stop talking, the Furby. 

Some of you may wax nostalgic for these minions of your childhood, however, when the Furby came along 14 years ago,  I was 17. If I'd had Furby Fever, that would have been social suicide. 

It's not to say I was free from the annoying toys of childhood. Growing up I had something called a Chubble.  I like to think of it as a primitive Furby.  It was light reactive, and the ONLY way to turn it off was to yank the 9-volt battery from it's butt. 

I'll be honest, when Furby was introduced, the only thing I wanted to do was dissect it.  I swore that they were minions of the devil, because, let's face it, they looked like furry demons, and they lack an off switch. Tell me that's not downright diabolical. 

Fast forward to the reinvented Furby.   Unlike the original Furby which just wobbled, blinked, and spoke in a nearly unintelligible robotic voice, this thing moves, speaks more clearly, and it can show emotion because of the LCD eyes.  It is way more interactive, and it's also way more creepy.  I like to call this the Skynet Furby because of the way it can interact with the Apple iOS (and eventually Android). 

Engadget has a pretty neat hands-on review, complete with 2 videos that will show you just what you're getting yourself into if you invite one of them into your home.  I'm thoroughly convinced that you could program this version to be an evil minion.  I wonder if my engineer brother wants to try that out. No? Was worth a shot.

Rumor has it that this is going to be a pretty popular toy this year.  So, parents, brush up on your Furbish, and for heaven's sake, don't get it wet, and don't feed it after midnight.

JP

Revolution has arrived.

(Source)

My Facebook is on fire with commentary about Revolution.  Most of it from my friends who consider themselves experts in science, survivalism, and science fiction/fantasy.  They're the continuity freaks, the ones who tuned out of Lost when the Polar Bear showed up.  They're the ones who assume that all of this world's rules apply in fantasy/science fiction. It's not meant to be taken literally, it's J.J. Abrams for cryin' out loud!  Going into it, I know I can expect certain rules of reality not to apply, and so I settled in.

This show has been on my radar since I saw the first teasers earlier this summer.  The premise is intriguing, and I admit, I took the bait.  Ignoring my nay saying friends who already have a hate on for the show, I kept an open mind. My honest opinion? I quite enjoyed it.  It's something different in a sea of Procedural Crime Drama XYZ, and Unrelatable-Not Funny Sitcoms. Consider Revolution penciled into my Monday Nights.


It deserves a chance to be taken for what it is.  A dystopial fantastical joyride in a world that we couldn't possibly understand after a one hour episode.  NBC has it available for viewing right now. 

All you haters can go watch Football.

 JP

Star Stuff

Growing up, one of my favorite subjects was science  I even had a play house in the back yard which I called my "Mad Scientist Laboratory."  I was not the typical little girl.  I wanted to be either an equine veterinarian or a marine biologist when I grew up.  I didn't end up doing either of those things, but I still have a love and appreciation for science to this day.  I think it's led me to my most recent sort of obsession. Carl Sagan's Cosmos. He sort of looks like a creepy cult leader in those turtlenecks, don't you think?

I was having a pretty rough week,  I wanted something to drown out the static in my head, so I headed over to youtube and started sidebar surfing.  While doing this, I found the Symphony of Science videos.  If you haven't checked those out, I totally recommend them. They are fantastic, but I wanted more. So I googled it, like any child of the internet generation would, and I stumbled across the Cosmos series on Hulu.   Oh, and it's free.

I decided to turn it on as late afternoon background noise. I am incredibly impressed with this.  Sagan is very well spoken, almost poetic in his description of the Cosmos. Despite the fact that it was created in the late 70s, very little of the scientific facts have changed.  It's fascinating.  If you're interested in space, the universe, life on earth, and the possibility of life elsewhere, it's definitely worth checking out. I have learned so much, and gained so much perspective from this series.  

It has reignited my passion for science.  My love for deductive reasoning.  My hope that one day we can put aside all of our differences, and come together as the Human Species, to take care of this, our home.

Never stop learning. Never stop searching for answers.

JP