Wet Hot Toronto Summer

Ooh, it’s been awhile since I last posted, but I am happy to say it’s because I’ve been too busy having a great summer.

In just two months my life has changed, a lot, for the better. I’ve been working my ass off towards both professional and personal development, and because of my hard work and persistence (even if it does mean lack of free nights to relax), great opportunities have come my way and I have proudly snatched them up. I’m not saying “everything is coming up Milhouse”, but some things are coming up, and I’m more content in life than I have been in a long time.

To list a few things:

1. I joined an all-female Dungeons and Dragons league run by our gracious host, Jess. We talk games/comics/movies, eat pre-game potluck’d dinner, and battle as sisters against goblins and direwolves.

2. I spent a weekend at a cottage. Much-needed time with family. Not-wanted time with mosquitoes that ate me alive.

3. My much-anticipated OUYA arrived. I’ve only had time to play it a few times, but every time I do I am even more impressed with this cute little system. (Photo: a temporary OUYA nook I created while the big screen was being used.)

4. My partner and I flew to Mexico where the food was delicious, the resort was luxurious, and the people – well, they’re just beautiful inside and out. It was a MUCH NEEDED rest after this busy year of work and side-projects, which was proven with my 2 hour daily naps there. I also made this friend. Ain’t he cute:

5. Last but certainly not least: I began writing for Paper Droids(!), an online magazine that “publish[es] articles daily on a broad spectrum of topics in nerd culture, focusing on women’s issues and experiences.” I’ve written 3 articles to date with 3 on my lap for August thus far and it’s been the most fun I’ve had creatively in a very long time! The editors I work under are awesome and I am so proud to be a part of the team and community.

My articles so far:

7.24 The Gamer Couple: A Survival Guide
7.25 OUYA Review: Good Things Come In Small Packages

I have an article on geek/alternative weddings that will be posted soon and I am absolutely THRILLED to have a Q&A with a kind-hearted and passionate indie game developer also around the bend.

What’s next? FanExpo! I’m counting down the days 🙂

A Star Wars Virgin Takes On Episode IV

My name is Tracy and I’m a 27 year old Star Wars virgin. Or rather, I WAS up until the romantic afternoon I spent with a hunky young Harrison Ford yesterday (I’ll get to that later).

I know, it’s weird. Who hasn’t seen Star Wars? AMIRIGHT?

The first 3 films were created before I was even born, so really I had my full life to watch them. (Actually, I did watch Episode 1 in 1999 – probably as a pre-highschool summer night out, which I completely forget so it doesn’t count.) But despite me having never seen one of the originals, Star Wars surrounds me and dips significantly into some of my favourite pieces of pop culture – most notably the Friends episode titled “The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy”. Because of this, the characters and quotes of Star Wars swim around in my head with no rhyme or reason. Going into yesterday, all I knew were the basics: Chewbacca is hairy, Princess Leia dawns the cinnamon bun hair muffs, and Darth Vader is Luke’s father.

This weekend marks May the 4th which marks “May the 4th be with you“ which marks a fan-made Star Wars Day of sorts. My pal Heather and I will be out and about that day, which coincidentally lands on Free Comic Book Day, and I thought no better time to see what all the hype was about. The original plan was to watch all 6 by then, but realistically I will get in the first original 3, and based on what I’m told, I’m strongly encouraged to stop watching after that.

So yesterday I popped in Episode IV, a remastered version (which I appreciated, but also wished was the original version with original footage – apparently the version I watched had new scenes added). I won’t get into a play-by-play as, if you’ve seen it you know it, and if you haven’t seen it, YOU MUST RIGHT AWAY! That is to say, I loved it. And many times throughout the movie, I kept thinking “why has it taken me so long to watch this?”. After watching, I debriefed with my partner (who has been encouraging me to watch these films for years) about what I just saw and he laughed most of the time at the ideas I went in with and how I finally pieced it together. This is basically my thought process throughout this first watch through:

1. Darth Vader talks a lot and walks around? I always thought he was this mysterious figure like Oz who shows up at the end to say a few profound things and tell Luke that he is his father. I also pictured him being enormous.
2. Carrie Fisher, you young sassy minx. I now understand why the mens loved you so much.
3. I never knew what or who an Obi-Wan Kenobi was, and was pleasantly surprised at this charismatic older gent who reminded me in both looks and spirit of Mike from Breaking Bad. Except I’m sure Meth didn’t exist in the Star Wars universe… although it would explain Jabba the Hutt‘s rotten skin and eye discolouration.
4. Isn’t Richard Gear in this? (15 minutes later) Oh yeah, there he is. Oh, heeeee’s Han Solo. (2 minutes later) Oh wait, that’s not Richard Gear. What’s his name? (10 minutes later) Harrison Ford. That’s his name.  (5 minutes later) I don’t see why everyone loved him so much back then. (20 minutes later) Oh, okay… now I do. Now I do…

5. R2-D2 and C-3PO = adorable, adorable, adorable. Also, didn’t know C-3PO would be British! Extra points.
6. Storm Troopers, definitely didn’t know you guys were bad guys. Nor did I expect your malt-shop-nice-guy voices. (This movie is full of surprises.)
7. Jabba The Hut, I didn’t expect to see him in the first film. (And then I found out from M that he isn’t originally in the first film, thus was added in my remastered version?)
8. Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes (I had to Google this, or I would have called them “Alien Band”).  I’m more surprised that in all of my years, I had never seen them anywhere except for at FanExpo just last summer – I had to ask then who they were. That little diddy of theirs has been in my head all day. Also, I’d love to drink at that bar.
9. If only I had the force, the things I could do…

And last but not least:

10. THIS MOVIE IS FUN! That’s the only way to describe it and as weird as it sounds, I didn’t expect it to be as fun as it was. And now I’m really excited to watch Episode V, which my partner says was the best one, in his opinion.

ONWARDS!