Year of the Dragon!
January 23rd, 2012
Happy Year of the Dragon!
This fabulous print is by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law of www.shadowscapes.com. Love her work so very much. <3
Ready Player One Review (Book)
January 22nd, 2012
Ready Player One is the latest geeky book phenomenon by Ernest Cline and also the January book for the Geek Girl Book Club.
Set in a dystopian future; economic and environmental catastrophes have resulted in a huge worldwide resource shortage. Anyone who can afford it escapes his or her poverty stricken existence by plugging into the virtual OASIS, an immersive Massively Multiplayer Online Game.
Upon his death, the creator of OASIS, wills his entire fortune, billions of dollars and controlling shares in the OASIS Company, to the first person that can find the three virtual keys he has hidden inside the game. Massive treasure hunting fever sweeps the world.
Five years later, not a single key has been found. Until Wade, a young man who, like most of his peers, grew up plugged into the OASIS simulation. He discovers, through luck, tenacity and a bit of brains, the first of the three keys. Pandemonium ensues and we get to come along for the ride.
10 (Geeky) New Years Resolutions, I would like other people to make happen.
January 18th, 2012January always inspires thoughts of new years resolutions. Whilst contemplating this year’s set of goals, it became apparent to me that my lists are very much the same from year to year, write more, get out more, dance more, play more, same old same old (boring!)
So I scrapped that idea, and thought, well what about a ‘bigger picture’ take on the whole thing. Which of course bogged me down into the realm of world peace, cure cancer, fight depression, and end world hunger. Scrapped that list also. These vital problems are too large and important for a mere January resolution list.
On the verge of abandoning the whole idea, it occurred to me that maybe I should think of this as a wish list. Pick ten really geeky and totally frivolous things I would love to see happen, however unlikely.
And so, with this post, I release my top ten picks into the geekaverse. May they show up on someone’s to do list, preferably someone who can make shit happen.
Words with Friends Geek Fail
January 14th, 2012
4 Piece Bonus – T13
January 13th, 2012
I didn’t know I had any firsts left in World of Warcraft. Then again I was pretty sure I was done raiding, so what the hell do I know. =P
Yup, for the first time ever, my warlock has her four piece tier set bonus. What makes this even more amazing is that it’s the current highest gear level. That’s right, tier 13.
The highest gear was only ever available to high end raiding groups, this means militaristic 25-40 people, methodically dying week after week, until the gear and learning curve were sufficient. Then it’s just grinding through the raid over and over. Sounds fun right?
Most like torture really. Loot hasn’t been much of a motivator to participate in such masochism, since the days of EverQuest anyway. And so I have forgone set piece completion in favor of sanity.
But with the latest patch, Looking for Raid (LFR) was added to the game. This is a cross server collection of 25 people, very much like the looking for group system. What makes this really work is that they dumbed down the encounters to such an extent that hardly any coordination is required and completing the event takes very little time.
So lots of success to be had in LFR, high end gear is finally available to all a wider range of players. But like all LF experiences you still have to deal with 24 other random people, replete with ninja looting, complaining, afk-ing, quitting, failing, and so forth.
Thankfully my warlock now has her 4 piece tier bonus, so I never have to LFR with her again. Sadly my druid isn’t quite as lucky.
Facebook Gems
January 6th, 2012Watch me procrastinate some more. =P
Actually these were some of the links I had saved up for a while. Might as well post them. Yaay FB, my source for fabulous, strange, and enthralling tidbits.
George Takai, the broker of space peace. Star Wars and Star Trek need no longer fight, because there is a new enemy in town. /bow Mr. Takai. Well played.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/mvTCr5Z-0lA
Mario Kart IRL. This would be so incredibly fun to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N2dlREU0xT4
Voltron short film. Nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1g6QJ5TfA7w
Sci-Fi Acapella sung by the Novis Acapella Group. Do you recognize them all? I missed a few. =(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht24mZ7W_r4
Cello Wars – Star Wars Parody, made me smile! Plus some crazy ass cellos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgAlQuqzl8o&feature=share
I fight Dragons – The Geeks will inherit the earth. Best geek song I have heard in a while. ‘I Fight Dragons’ is actually the name of the band. Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do61etbvpa4
Getting a bit long
January 3rd, 2012Holy crap, my ‘Currently Playing’ list is getting a bit on the long side. I should really get my act together and start reviewing some of them, or I could break down and just rename the damn list to ‘Games I should really really review, if I wasn’t so busy avoiding said review by playing something new.’
That is a bit wordy (and oddly, rhymes), so I guess I will just stick with the original and GET OFF MY ASS.
Look at that. New years resolution. Win.
In Review
January 2nd, 2012I do so love to close out most years with a glance back at my performance, be it cringe-tastic or worthy of a small pat on the back. Though I prefer the pats, I do tend to learn more from those cringy moments. =D
2011-
Reading Challenge didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped. I started off strong, but burned out around October. Though I only read 35,101 pages of the 50k I had planned, I still managed to hit the 100 books read tally. It does look like 50k pages is a bit ambitious, life is a bit too busy. Maybe I’ll aim for 40k this year.
91 Posts this year, eighteen of those reviews. Always a goal to ramp that up a bit and I think I managed that nearing the end of the year. One thing that helped was realizing that not everything I post has to be a five page dissertation. Soundbites are fine sometimes.
Tumblr was a big fail. I so don’t have time for extended social media. Sorry. What it really comes down to is that ultimately the site is here to give me an opportunity to get more writing in. Though I would like to get my post count up, I have more chance of succeeding, if that is what I focus on instead of trying to juggle various social media extensions.
Podcasting was fun, though its not something I’m very good at. Like all things, I would need more practice to get better at it. Though I have run out of spare time to do more Podcasts with the Mulititap folks, I might record some of my own. Eventually.
One great thing about having the site, is that it has encouraged me to branch out and try a larger variety of games. I think 2011 was particularly successful in this regard. (Taking a break from WoW was also a huge help.) =p
Knowing that I will be reviewing something also makes me struggle through more of the content. I’m always trying to give the game more of a chance, so I can review it with as much information on hand as possible.
Overall a pretty good year for TFG. Onward to 2012! <3
Playing in the New Year
December 31st, 2011
The Warrior’s Way Review (Streaming)
December 29th, 2011
This movie was an automatic add to my queue when I spotted it on the new release list. I am a total sucker for hot Asian guys in fantasy movies. Needless to say my queue is filthy with random Asian movies.
Blame Chow Yun Fat (love Hard Boiled) or maybe Ekin Chen (of the fabulous Storm Warriors). Whatever the case, the little otaku in me goes weak in the knees when served with sword wielding, martial arts masters of the Asian persuasion.
Like most of these random adds, this movie was a complete mystery. Watching these is always a crapshoot, as a pretty poster (or actor) will only take my interest in a movie so far. Sadly, not all that many live up to expectations, though finding out is always entertaining. =)
But the Warrior’s Way was stroke of luck. The poster did not lie, swords, ninjas, and action abounds!
