Picture of the Week

can anyone tell me what this is from???

Sorry I've been absent dear readers, but I had a killer paper due! But it is all past and I am back, soon I will post a blog about the show Dollhouse because while the first season was great, fantastic, and super awesome.... the first episode of season two is looking to be even better!
So I'll post about that soon, and probably a bliog about the new Gotham City Sirens and this cool Grim's Fairy Tale: Little Mermaid I've been reading.
That's all for now folks
Debra

Protomen: Act II

Hey, so, I haven't been blogging much because my laptop's down, but I'm borrowing one just for this occasion. Because this is an important occasion, an occasion of all occasions. The night of all nights. The night when Protomen played their CD release show, for Act II: The Father of Death (which I, being the loyal/impatient fan that I am, bought at midnight on September 8th. Oh yes I did). If you don't have it, you should pick it up either on iTunes if you're lazy like me, or on either Amazon or Zambooie, both I believe, it is possible to order the hard copy (which is recommended because it comes with a pamphlet of lyrics/storyline that's vital to you understanding what's going on). Because, as previously explained, the Protomen do a face-melting rock opera that has a real, heartfelt story to it. And you want to hear the story, I promise.

Oh, my dears. What to say, what to say.

It started out with the long trek to Maryville College. Thank you, Debra, for understanding my pain and longing for this show enough to drive me there. There I met 4 men and 1 woman, all dedicated to the cause of making it to the show (the occasion of all occasions, night of all nights, etc etc etc). They were kind people, by the names of Bryan, JP, Mikey, Vinny, and Bunny, and they took me under their wings (or in JP's car, whatever, same thing) and swept me away to Nashville. It was a 3 hour ride, only uncomfortable in that someone always ended up in someone else's lap, because there were 4 people in the backseat. BUT THAT DID NOT DETER US. There were other soldiers hailing from much further places, like Arizona and Detroit and Colorado.. There was no need to complain of conditions when we compared it to their struggles.

Upon checking into the hotel, where several other groups of soldiers were also lodging, Bryan and I departed to meet the forum people for dinner at Wild Wasabi, where they lied to me about a dynamite roll and made me sad. But no matter, because we were in good company, and the people at our table ended up being our group for the night. Or as I will forever call them, my Protofamily.

After dinner was a confusing mash-up of things, but mostly we just hung out in the hotel until it was time to depart. And depart we did. Depart by foot, because everyone who could drive was drinking, and that was just the logical thing to do. Except that it was raining. So I will say for myself that I looked like a hot mess by the time we got there, and perhaps I was not alone, because the line was massive, full of dedicated fans, all standing outside in a fine drizzle. I should have taken a picture of the line, but I'm an idiot. These things do happen. We did ask a random person to take a picture of us, though.

Not sure how my dress ended up on sideways but.. Once again, these things do happen. But in all seriousness, the people I met that night were some of the coolest people I've ever spent time with. We came together for a love of one pretty awesome band, but just in general they're great people. Half the fun I had that night was just due to the crowd; Once inside, packed in with 500 superprotofans, the percentage of douchebaggery was surprisingly low. It made my night being able to have tons of pleasant interaction with strangers I know I could totally be best friends with, if they hadn't traveled to middle Tennessee from all over the country. I bought an armful of merch and one sweet fellow by the name of Bader offered to let me leave it in his car during the show. When we squeezed up into the crowd in front of the stage, one guy had a nice laugh with us about how drunk-ass Ama kept accidentally rubbing up on him. Once I worked my way to the front, all the moshing and pushing and squeezing made me uncomfortably close friends with a LOT of strangers. I had some funny exchanges with the guys around me, and also some apologies for the roughness of the crowd. And I loved every second of it. I loved dancing with strangers, I don't care how ridiculously close we were together. I loved bonding over what is most likely my favorite band with people dedicated enough to drive hours and hours to see them. Nothing could have made me happier. One thing is an absolute truth, though - I have never been sweatier in my life.

-- The lovely Courtney and I after a few delicicously sweltering hours of feverish dancing and fist pumping.. I'm not gonna lie, either, guys, I am POSITIVE that it's not all my sweat. We were all just drenched.

BUT THE SHOW, THE SHOWWW. Oh, it was so good. From what I read, a lot of people were complaining about the technical work, the choir, the strings, etc. Honestly, I was so happy to be there and high on the atmosphere that I didn't notice anything bad. Negative thoughts were swept from my head. Yeah, the Protoman helmet malfunctioned.. It always malfunctions. It's not exactly a shiny new piece of machinery. But it's too cool/important not to use. It also caused one of my favorite moments of the night:


Protoman: Can you hear me?
Panther: Yes, you're right here, but nobody else can.
Protoman: I'm saying some really deep shit here!

Ah, so, basically I love them.

Act I was cozily familiar, but it was cool to hear it all in order, which they don't usually - or ever - do. The moshing was predictable and in all the right places, and the singing coming from the crowd was loud, but I could hear Panther just fine. It was Act I. It just was.




Then during the intermission, Makeup and Vanity Set was amazing - this dude rocks.



A one-man dance show of 8-bit quality. Dude was ridiculously drunk, but managed to crank out some awesome tunes; it surprised me how much I like 8-bit dance music. I was packed in so tightly that I had a hard time dancing, but I did what I could. Ama was behind me screaming 'schitzo dancer!' between every song, a futile effort that I tried to help with. And she said she was sober by then.. Anyway, I would love to see him again when there's not 500 sweaty nerds packed into one tiny venue, and hopefully they'll bring him on tour with them. Or at least to Knoxville. Knoxville is all I care about. ;D

AND THEN ACT II. OH LORD, WAS THERE AN ACT II. I took a bunch of photos while they were setting up, like so:





The anticipation building, building. I'm having a hard time finding the right words to do Act II justice. I've been listening to it on loop for weeks now, but nothing compared to hearing it live. It felt really natural being ushered into the Good Doctor after the beautiful opening chords of Intermission, like I had seen them do it before a zillion times. I can't say how wonderful, wonderful it was to see.

And there was an addition to Act II that Act I has never had - Turbo Lover. I've got to say, his acting skills are impressive - he was one scary dude onstage, smug and threatening. His performance and stage presence was as phenomenal as the first time I saw him perform, but this time he was absolutely evil looking. It was gooood. I don't have any pictures of him that decently illustrate that, so you'll just have to take my word for it.


He just looks like a pretty nice guy in creepy makeup in all my photos. My bad.

I was disappointed during Give Us the Rope, I won't lie, because it didn't seem like the crowd was chanting along as strongly as I was looking forward to. It was still beautiful, though, and I was happy to see the live trumpet player there. I'm sure in the future once everyone has the words down it will be a really great song for the audience. That's the one thing I will always love about Protomen shows - there is always room for audience participation. We have a part in the story being told just as much as the band members do, and I think engaging the fans in that way really brings them closer to the music.

I was also happy when the moshing calmed down in appropriate spots, like when the strings were playing (for the most part). Because, damn, you don't have to shove all concert long. It was fun bouncing around in a crowd of sweaty nerds, though, I will readily admit. When moshing was appropriate, it was ALWAYS fun. I never experienced anything too violent for me; I even got plenty of smiles and pleasant eye contact. I love Protofans, in short.

Then.. then.. after Act II, when we were all yelling for another song, you won't believe..

He's... he's alive.


VIVA FETTERMAN. We shared a wonderful rendition of 'We Don't Need Another Hero.' AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN EVEN BETTER (well maybe not better but still awesome)



they faded to Phil.


Yes. Yes, they did. And I sang Against All Odds with the guy next to me, and gave him a high five. And later that night, that same guy was dancing with the guy that kept asking to french kiss Makeup and Vanity Set, and might I say those boys were some mighty fine dancers. Especially the lap dancing. Oh yes, nerds can give lap dances. Don't even question it.

But my camera had fizzled out by that time, so I don't have any photographic proof. Once again, you'll have to take my word for it. Because I'm not giving out any lap dances anytime soon, so you'd have to look elsewhere for proof.

Ugh. I don't think there's anything else for me to say. It was the best night, the best band, the best fans, and I passed the hell out when we got back to the hotel.

And then it was over.




But we had fun while it lasted.



Farewell, bloggers. Thank you, Protomen. ;D

Love,
Aria

Picture of the Week!!!

It's Rosh Hashanna (head of the year in Hebrew)
Shanna Tova(Happy New Year) Everyone
Love Debra


btw Aria this one is especially for you

Attention: a hobbit has hacked into your blog

Hello all, this is Debra's tiny roommate, Kim. Y'all may remember me from the Protomen concert, I was the only who got pulled onstage (and yes that was hella fun). I've kinda-sorta-in-a-roundabout-way contributed before here at Girls Dig Comics Too; I showed Debra the picture of the Star Trek cologne and the Lex Luthor cake picture. Because while I may not be particularly funny, I tend to find pretty funny things online. So now this will be a tiny (pun intended) corner of this blog where I post pictures/vids that make me laugh. And I shall dub it
"Kimberly's Corner of Crack."

So for my first KCoC, I give you some good 'ole Zachary Quinto (because he plays both Sylar and Spock. Bow down to his epicness):

Because throughout the first half of that movie, all I could think was, "Sylar is Spock Sylar is Spock Sylar is Spock" (original, I know?). And this moment pretty much captures the epitome of my glee.

Damn. He is so creepy. Even when you laugh at him. Funny picture please!

This is kind of like dead baby humor- you feel bad about laughing at it, but it's still funny. I didn't know if it was too creepy to post, but Debra laughed, so I figured it was ok.

Hehe. It's a pun. Hehe.

*English major is easily amused*

So I've finally posted here, and I feel accomplished!

Yes, I do feel as accomplished as Hiro did when he traveled through time and space. Just for future reference.

As soon as I figure out how to post vids, I will do that. Hopefully at least one of these made you laugh a geeky laugh. I know Spock's milkshake gets me every time.

Cheers, Kim

What About the Kids?

Sup bloggers! Sooo I went home to Chattanooga this weekend, homesick or whatever. My parents seemed a little indifferent to me being home but my BROTHERS, boy were they excited. The two year old gave me lots of hugs and jumped on my bed and led me in a wonderful rendition of Sing, Sing a Song (despite that fact that he’s 2 and sounds like a deaf person when he sings – is that too offensive? Whatever, it’s true. And SO cute). The nine year old gave me a big bear hug and proceeded to tell me things I didn’t want to know about some video game he’s been playing. Picture:

(Yes, he’s wearing a Fullmetal Alchemist shirt. Mine’s Harry Potter, if that counts for anything. The funny part is, our parents aren’t nerdy AT ALL. And I didn’t brainwash the kid, he developed geeky tendencies on his own.)

Like any cool older sister, I came home bearing gifts for the big one. What did I bring? A copy of the last issue of Titans Go! and the #0 issue of the new Boom! Kids Incredibles series. (Also a glow in the dark finger puppet zombie, which if you follow me on twitter, [link], you will have seen.) In flipping through this issue of Titans Go! (which came out in 2008), Vincent points out to me ads for all sorts of other kids’ comic series put out by DC in conjunction with Cartoon Network (which, as far as I know, is not owned by Warner Bros and actually whatever company owns CNN). We’re seeing Batman, the Legion, and even a Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends issue of a cartoon series. This all begs the question – Where are they now? Why don’t I see these series on the shelves? DC cancelled Titans Go! in lieu of putting out Tiny Titans; Which granted, is absolutely adorable, but not appropriate for a nine year old boy. And by appropriate I mean, he thinks it’s stupid. Teen Titans is ALSO not appropriate for a nine year old boy, and in that sense of appropriate I mean THERE ARE BOOBS AND GORE EVERYWHERE. Ravager is not a character I want Vincent exposed to in the 4th grade. Call me overprotective..

Let me describe to you a moment we had. He’s poring over this comic, and finds a page where they have this massively cute lineup of chimi versions of all the minor characters. He’s naming all of them, and asking me about the ones he doesn’t know. We get to Jericho, and he gets really excited and tells me, “This guy is SO cool! He has like magic eyes, and he can just LOOK at somebody and have control over them!” And I said, “yeah, that’s Jericho,” thinking back on the last time I saw Jericho in the comics, when Vigilante was cutting his eyeballs out. Not. Cool. And then another one – “that’s Red Arrow! He doesn’t even have powers but he’s really cool!” Oh, the smack addict? Riight. That slept with Hawk Girl? And she called Carter’s name and – yeah this won’t go any further.

The kid’s cool – he’s really into video games, loves RPGs, plays this MMO for kids called Wizard 101, collects/plays Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, does those Bakugon things (my first experience with one of those scared the piss outta me, I had no idea it was going to turn into a dragon), super into Teen Titans and my old Justice League DVDs, reads Harry Potter and a graphic novel series called Bones – I like him. He is my nerd protégé. I’m going to make him geekier than me. What better way than that but to feed him comic books? And he’s always asking if he can read my comics, and I’m perpetually turning him down because of the adult nature of so much of DC’s stuff. I feel bad. But what can I buy him? I go to the comic store and ask, and he directs me to Tiny Titans, ORRR.. Boom! Kids. And I say, alright, and take a look at their stuff. Finding Nemo.. Muppets.. Incredibles. All of it is STILL a bit *young* for Vincent. He’s a geek, he’s a smart kid, he’s at a higher reading level and concept-mastering level than most kids his age. He’s not going to read Finding Nemo and find it riveting any more than you would. I bought him Incredibles, because it was the best option, but I am still dissatisfied with my options. I feel like I deserve more than that. I read it, and the story is interesting, the series is sure to be packed with kid-friendly action, but I feel like the plot will lack complexity that good reading calls for. Tiny Titans and Boom! Kids, they’re a little too young. And everything else is a little too old.

I’ve decided I’m going to be loyal to whoever presents the best product to the target market at hand. The target market: Boys aged 8-13. The product: Interesting comics. Who can do it? Well, Disney licenses some of their Pixar characters to Boom! Kids to be made into comics. Disney now owns Marvel. If Disney will do what Boom! Studios does with their own Pixar characters with Marvel characters, I will buy it. I will. If they will make me a comic like the Incredibles series, with Spidey or the X-Men or whoever—I will buy it. I will spend my hard-earned cash on Marvel comics for my brother if DC doesn’t step it up and give me what I want. They had it going last year and I’m not exactly sure what happened. All I know is, I’m not buying backissues of canceled comics in trade for the next few months just to keep Vincent interested in the genre and loyal to DC.

I’m just sayin, remember the kids. Comics are going to continue to be a dying medium if no one is going to even try and capture the attention of the next generation. I’m doing what I can, and it’s time the industry do its part, or all they will have left loyal to them are the creepy middle aged men that hit on me in the comic shop. And nobody wants that... trust me.

Comics, kids, and love from

Aria

Pictures of the Week!!!!!

This is what happens when some people hear Disney bought Marvel.....

It's spider....elephant?

This is how they pitched the scene to the studio



I mean sure.... I don't even know what to say on this one

and that my friends is terrible.

Holy elephant calf, Batman!!

Disney Buys Marvel

OK so if one more person decides to tell me "Hey you like comics and nerdy things, did you know Disney bought Marvel?" or some variation of that.... I might punch them in the teeth
Obviously as a self respecting geek I have known since the day it was announced, and yes I have a damned opinon on it..... guess what it's not that bad
Disney has bought many a company.... Miramax and Pixar being two very large examples.... and rather than those companies going down the toilet, they have flourished with even more freedom than when they didn't have a parent company.... look since Disney bought Pixar films like Up and Wall-E have come out... and those were freaking fantastic movies
What Disney buying Marvel means for the world?
It means Disney now appeals to the demographic they have been unable to reach before, the 15-35 year old males who have absolutely no interest in Micky Mouse or Hanna Montana. It in no way shape or form means that Disney will be making Punisher more friendly or having the Hulk take anger management. It is merely a way for the rich bastards behind the mouse ears to make more cash.
Besides it's not like they can screw up the marvel universe ... it's all ready way too fucked up. As for the movies and such Spiderman and Iron Man both are being produced by studios other than Disney and I think (not sure) but those contracts are gonna be honored......
I can say nothing about perhaps Marvel characters in the next Kingdom Hearts... because I actually don't know if that would be awesome or terrible
ok so no one ask me about this anymore, because frankly it is isn't as earth shattering as people think Marvel will still have copious amounts of freedom to fuck itself over or to rise like Pheonix from the ashes(again and again and again).
Now I'm off to listen to AboutHeroes latest podcast, which I believe is on this exact topic
in the words of Tigger TTFN,

Debra

ADDITION: check out this video!!! Disney/Marvel conflicting views

Where No Gal Has Gone Before or Set Phasers to Geek

stardate: 63150.6 (corrisponds with the reposting of the blog and please to all my fellow nerds out there I hope I got this right), Bloggers log... it seems with my partner out of commission due to this earth disease called Swine flu the need to publish something for the week has fallen on my shoulders.... it seems there is no origianal thought in me this week so I have chosen to reblog... and while I do not think Starfleet or the Federation would approve of my blatant re-posting and it is not against the Prime Directive in any way... I must give you my apologies reader for this is not normally my way.... but I was detained in the sickbay from midnight till 7 in the morning (YES 7 IN THE FUCKING MORNING FREAKING ER ASSHOLE DORCTORS) last night and simple chose to be lazy....
ok joking aside ....
As I have previously mentioned the theme of this week is Star Trek, and boy do I enjoy the stories (not the books most of those I find to be trash), plots might be a better word... though the original series even with the new work done on it is.... cheesy at the best of times... still the stories are interesting, especially when one considers the time it was made (1966ish I think)... Like the episode with the aliens with black and white faces, that's a good one... or the episode titled The Trouble With Tribbles... that one is just funny and adorable ^.^ But despite how cheesy and kinda janky the episodes are, they are worth checking out, especially if your interested in pop culture references or film (because boy howdy are there a lot of referances that make sense once you've seen ST:TOS).
Now on to the new movie.... can I say spectacular (or type as it may be), it blew my expectations out of the water and into the next galaxy... not that I really walked in there with any so anywho... Zachary Quinto nails the role Spock![both Aria and I are big Quinto fans, we saw Inglorious Bastards last week, and were very happy] Chris Pine also does an awesome job as Cpt. Kirk! The special effects kinda kick ass as well! I don't have enough praise for this movie... and I thought it was very smart making it in an alternate reality so all the original trekkies and geeks don't get their superhero themed panties in a bunch(no offense meant to anyone >.>). That way things that are not original cannon (like Nero destroying Vulcan or that odd ... relationship... between Spock and Lt. Uhura (though they are friendly in the series they are far from the version in the new movie ...but hey I guess the action flick needed some romance.... oh well)
oh.. I know I said I had nothing but praise but I do have one issue... WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID BONES HAVE SUCH A SMALL PART.... in the original series he had as large a part as Spock and only Kirk had a larger part than them.. also he never said the phrase "he's dead Jim" in the movie and it's in so many episodes I figured they would pull at least one joke about it, that was just kinda sad......oh and for those like me, who simple adore Bones check out this twitter called FMLMcCoy it can be really funny...(i.e. Stuck on planet Rome– Jim is forced to spend the night with a gorgeous slave girl, I'm forced to sleep in a cage with a testy vulcan. FML).... okay done for now
logging out
Debra

This little piggy went to market..

Okay, so, I realize no one reads this probably, but I still feel the need to make excuses for my lack of blogging. I caught swine flu, somehow, so mostly I've been laying in bed feeling sorry for myself the last few days. The nice thing was, I had some time to catch up on comics (even though I haven't read some tie-ins yet, it's ridiculous that I even put off things I like). I was really impressed by whoever inked the latest Flash comic, as was Debra. The yellows and oranges and reds were so ridiculously vivid. Van Sciver? Who is this guy? The colorists never get any cred, but I would like to extend some kudos to you, man.

Er, I don't want to say too much because I'm sure we'll do a video soon. I do want you to know that I'm investing in a decent camera, and there will be events coming. At least one event - counting down to September 25th - the night of all nights - the battle for Act II of the Protomen. Debra won't be there but I'll take lots of photos for her and any sparse readers we may have, and THEY WILL BE EPIC. Also, in October we're going to the Nashville Comic and Horror Festival, hopefully dressed up as Zatanna (me of course) and Batgirl/Ivy (someone can't decide). Sometime next week we're visiting Big Don the Costumier's in Old City, which looks very promising according to my new favorite Knoxville blog, The Sunsphere is Not a Wigshop. If I don't find a coat with tails.. Well I don't know. Any advice?

Anyway bloggerville, it was good to keep up correspondence again. I will see you soon.

Love,
Aria, soon-to-be Zatanna