Hanabatake Ardith's Page of Geek

On Father's Day, my brother and sisters gave my dad a HD camcorder from Sony. Since it also works as a digital camera, it's really handy. Especially since my youngest sister's wedding is coming up.

Unfortunately, it looks like our 5 year old Mac is too slow to handle the HD videos. I already knew it was a slow computer (I did buy an early release in 2005....), so we have to upgrade.

Now I'm trying to decide what to do. My parents are barely used to the mac set up. I'm leanding towards a small HP Laptop since I've been really happy with this one. 

I think it may be easier since my dad is always pulling shortcuts out of the Apple bar.

My middle sister just ordered the HP Pavilion DV4-1227US 14.1-Inch Laptop - Espresso Black

 

Since she has been using a mac for the past few years, we'll have to see how this goes. 

 

Urban Fantasy has been serious business for the past few years. Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series was one of my favorite until I just stopped reading due to lack of character development. I also enjoyed MaryJanice Davidson's Queen Betsy series until i just stopped reading. Maybe I'm fickle, but I think some series just run out of steam.

Of course, there are some that just are coming to a head. I highly recommend Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson books as well as her Alpha and Omega series that is set in the same world.

And I recommend the Southern Vampire Mystery books, AKA Sookie Stackhouse novels. Told from Sookie Stackhouse's point of view (first person), the novels are funny, scary, and full of life.

And yes, these are the novels that the HBO series, TrueBlood, is based on.

Previous to these books, the only time I've heard the name "Sookie" was from Witches of Eastwick. Apparently, it's a form of Susanna. This Sookie has telepathic powers. She has spent her life bombarded with other people's (sometimes inappropriate) thoughts. But when she meets a vampire called Bill Compton, she realizes that there is a blessed silence with him. Sookie can't read vampire thoughts.

Lovers or animation and wonderful storytelling know that Pixar has been tops for the past decade or so. And while the trend of some digital animation houses is to pack as much popculture as possible into the hour and a half or so of runtime, Pixar stays classy by keeping their content focused on what is important. Story.

And it is the power of their stories that make Pixar so successful. With their latest effort, Pixar not only proves that they are have great visionary directors, but that they also are still growing and evolving as storytellers.

UP appeals to audiences of all ages. There is a great amount of emotion that beats within this story. And while it features a geriatric gentleman and a pre-teen wilderness scout, it's packed full of entertainment power.

Guess what time the exhibitor's hall opened this morning?

8:30 am.

This has to be the earliest start for any exhibit hall that I've worked in. But this con is a bit unusual in that it lets the pre-reged members have first pickings before letting in general admissions.

It's super nice for the members, but really, really tiring for exhibitors!

I made the drive with S.Y. from West LA to Pasadena a little before 7am. We arrived via amazingly clear freeways a little before 7:30. I say amazing because freeways in LA are almost always sort of crowded. But I guess people don't wake up on the weekend before 8am, so could make our way to the land of giant robots without any impediments.

Apparently the line for general admission took about an hour to get through. The general public is allowed to go to the exhibit hall and but wristbands for autograph sessions. I'm not really sure if they let them attend panels.

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The hall, of course, was busy and quiet in waves. Today, there were A LOT more families. Also? A lot of people with massive amounts of Transformers bodyart. Sleeve and calf tattoos of battles and stuff. Which must have been all sorts of painful, yes?

It was also sweet to watch dads buy robot stuff for their kids. I guess that's a great way for geek-dads to bond. Over the love of giant robots. And of course, on the hope that their kid will be that genius scientist who INVENTS GIANT ROBOTS!

This was the first time I've ever worked at a Transformers Convention. Apparently BotCon moves from city to city each year, so it's not so strange that I've never actually attended before.

I guess this is the case for many conventions. BEA (Book Expo America) is in a different city each year (well, either in New York, Chicago, DC, or LA). I'm used to conventions like San Diego Comic-Con and Anime Expo. They stay in the same region year after year.

This Exhibitor Hall is so much smaller AX or SDCC. Of course, the dealers are catering to a different crowd. Well, more like a very specific crowd. All the exhibitors must feature Transformers or Robots of the giant variety.

The booth I'm working at is featuring poseable Transformer figures along with figures from Macross, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor), Die-buster, and more.

My faith in the new Fall TV season may be redeemed. I just watched the pilot for Glee and it is wonderful.

It's a Comedy-Drama-Musical that focuses on high school life. Yes, musical. And it isn't High School Musical.

I could go on and on about this, but you can watch the pilot online or download it on iTunes.

Speaking of downloading, the songs are available on iTunes, too:
Rehab - Glee Cast
Don't Stop Believin' - Glee Cast

At the urging of my friend @shawnnar, I finally caught Star Trek (note: iTunes link goes to the ORIGINAL Star Trek Motion Picture Soundtrack, not the reboot). While not everyone loves Star Trek, the characters still have resonence.

I am more of a Star Trek: the Next Generation fan, but the themes of diplomacy, humanity, and diversity that are ingrained in the series has always been fascinating.

This new movie isn't focused on those characteristics.

J.J. Abram's reboot of the Star Trek saga is full of action, special effects, and... characters. There must have been quite a sense of pressure to live up to the popculture collective's expectations. And while the movie isn't about the Prime Directive, it is so freaking entertaining that I had an urge to go for seconds right after.The last time I really felt this urge was when the first Matrix was released.

While watching the movie, you forget about plot holes. I was engrossed by the movie, by the plot, and especially by the dynamic between Spock and Kirk.

The audience is NEVER bored during this movie. J.J. Abrams knows how to set the pace between action and story, seducing the audience into this world that is so very familiar to fans and yet so different.

I'm a big fan of desserts. I made for Mother's Day. The calorie content of it was, shall we say, on the side of horrific. I mean, egg yolks and condense milk are a delicious combination but just begging for some sort of fat content award.

I decided that I couldn't just eat a mouthful and get away with it. Well, yesterday, I ate several mouthfuls and then collapsed in a food coma. But 2 days in a row was pushing it.

So instead, I decided to eat my mouthful and head to the gym.

I'm a member of LA Fitness even though I do not live in LA. It's a chain of gyms along this side of the US. I'm actually not sure about the rest of the country, but I'm sure the LA Fitness webpage would tell me....

I used to be a member of Bally's but I never went to that gym even a quarter as much as I go to LA Fitness.

As a member, I've never taken any classes or did the free training sessions. I like to listen to podcasts and giggle to myself while on the weight machines or the elliptical.

Anyway, today was the first time I took a class. I watched while the class before us sweat and stepped to music. All I wanted was the calming joys of yoga.

But I haven't taken a yoga class in years, preferring to do it from disc at home. I'd forgotten the class atmosphere pushes you to go further. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to be the person who falls out of the one legged chair pose. (I did, though. Fall, that is.)

Anyway, after a hour of yoga, my arms are sore from holding down dog to plank to left-arm to left elbow plank to warrior pose. She really made us hold that down dog pose for a long time.

I'm planning on attending BotCon 2009 and will be working on Saturday. I shall be tweeting, so you can find me via Twitter (@hanabatake). While I'm like Transformers, I've never been an obsessive fan, I have watched quite a few episodes and did like the animated movie. 

I have to admit that I have NOT watched the live-action movie. Well, I did see bits and pieces over at my cousin's house during Thanksgiving, but I wasn't paying attention. I did catch the last scene, though.

**** SPOILER /****  

Ew. Your car = alive. Do you make out on your cat or your brother? Please do not do so on your sentient car.

**** /SPOILER **** 

Cao Fang is a Chinese Indie Pop singer who's song was just featured in the US. Her song, In Summer, underscores an adorable GE commercial. It was so adorable that I just had to google the song (and watch the commercial again on the internets.) You can download "In Summer" from the album Meet Me from iTunes.

I don't usually comment on commercials, but the story was cute and funny. The song really is just catchy. Check it out in action! The song