Oops

Alright. So... I've failed at blogging again. It's always Comic-Con that throws me off. It's so hard to keep up with everything when there's so much going on and so little down time. And then it's so hard to catch up afterwards that I just get all defeated and don't want to bother.

But then Comic-Con also inspires me to want to blog again! For example, Andrea and I just got our badges for our FIFTH COMIC-CON IN A ROW! And that's exciting. So I want to blog about it. But then I look back and see that I really left things kind of up in the air last time. But... oh well, it doesn't matter, I'm still excited. And writing about my excitement is a good start to getting back into the swing of things.

So yeah, Comic-Con 2015 pre-registration happened two weeks ago yesterday, and if you followed me on Twitter you would have seen how extremely nervous and excited I was. I was literally sitting in front of my computer staring at the yellow status bar in the virtual waiting room for over an hour. Luckily, they kept us entertained with said status bar, throwing out lots of nerd culture references and words of encouragement.

When 9am finally hit and they started putting people through to the registration page, the nervous excitement pretty much boiled over as Andrea and I sat in front of our computers, texting back and forth. And then it happened. I was IN! I went to work and reserved our 4-day plus preview night badges and was done by 9:20am. It was a blur of excitement. And now we're going to San Diego yet again!

The other day Andrea and I were talking about the fact that this will be our fifth year in a row, and it's something we don't want to give up because the preregistration gives us that extra chance to make it in. But if ever this whole thing loses its excitement, that will be when we consider giving it up. But right now, we both are still way too excited to give it up.

And this year we will have at least one extra person with us, as Mama W (Andrea's mom) will be joining us in San Diego! And we're still hopeful that more of our friends will get badges when open registration happens 'cause it would be kind of awesome to have more people with us. Planning out our attack, divide and conquer, make the very best of Comic-Con! Plus... with more people we can look at making hotel costs cheaper!

And speaking of hotels, hopefully we can manage to book a downtown hotel this year! That would be kind of awesome. While I like the mall near our hotel for the last three years, it would be really nice to not have to shuttle to the convention centre every day. And it would make things much easier if we need to camp out over night for the ridiculously popular panels.

But anyway... Comic-Con is still many months away, so I shouldn't get too carried away. I've still got to secure the time off work, and save up the funds for hotel, food, and spending. But for the money side of things it's definitely never too early to start preparing. But for now, it is time to sleep! G'night!

(I almost didn't post this. I accidentally closed the window, and was worried it didn't auto-save, but it did, so that's cool. When I went in to find this so I could post it, I discovered that this is post number 80 of my blog, which is kind of a cool milestone. But maybe not of you take into account that I've had this blog for over 5 years...)

SDCC 2014 - Day Two

And we're back for more San Diego Comic-Con coverage! Friday, day two of SDCC was really a day of exploring for Andrea and I, and it was a lot of fun!

We decided to sleep in a bit, which was nice at the time, but turned out to maybe be a mistake when it came time to take the shuttle to the convention centre. We waited over half an hour for a shuttle, and finally Andrea decided to go grab us food while we waited. And that's when suddenly the shuttles started showing up. I made it all the way to the very front of the line, and then just in time, Andrea showed up with our breakfast.

When we got to Petco Park where our bus dropped us off, we decided to explore outside the convention. First, we went by the annoying Christian Cosplayers (as we call them), some angry group of religious people with signs and megaphones preaching about hell and damnation. The other day we saw some people following them with signs of their own, "Godzilla Saves", "Kneel Before Zod", and a few others.

Anyway, we went by them and spotted a great Alice and Mad Hatter having a tea party on the grass in front of the Marriott. We asked to take a picture, and they invited us to join them. It was really odd and fun. They had their accents, were totally in character, and introduced themselves and their other guests, a TARDIS, the Doctor, another Doctor, and another girl. It was really random, but a great start to the day.

We said thanks and goodbye, and continued on our journey. We went through a Simpsons zone, complete with giant Homer's head sticking out of the ground and a lot of odd Simpsons art. Next was the Batman zip line through the skyline of Gotham, which had a ridiculous line. But we did get to see Mary Poppins zip down with her umbrella. We also saw a big Godzilla statue thing made of tires or something? I dunno.

Anyway, after that, we headed back into the convention centre and got in our first line of the day: Starbucks! Caffeine is important at comic-con. After a long long wait, where a drink for James sat on the counter being called out for a good ten minutes, we finally got our coffees and headed upstairs for the Marvel: Avengers NOW! panel, where they talked about the new initiative pushing a bunch of new Avengers-related #1s. Somethig about the panel did make me want to read Avengers World, which I had pretty much written off, but it sounds like it might be fun. They also talked about the new (lady) Thor series, Sam Wilson taking over as All-New Captain America, and Superior Iron Man, all of which sound pretty exciting. And a new Angela series that looks like it could be fun.

After this was over, we left the convention centre again to check out the Nintendo Gaming Lounge, the Xbox Lounge, and we grabbed our Hannibal soundtracks from the fulfilment room for free stuff. Of particular note was a contest to win a whole bunch of different custom Xbox One systems, and lots of awesome game demos at both Xbox and Nintendo.

After this, Andrea decided we'd waited long enough, and needed our guacamole fix, so we headed to our favourite place in San Diego, La Puerta. And it was glorious. There was a bit of a wait, but the food was soooo gooood, and I got a little bit drunk off of two mojitos. Oops. I'm a lightweight, I'll admit it. I don't drink much anymore, so it hits me hard. Anyway, the guacamole was magic, and my tacos were delicious, and when we left, I felt I was going to explode.

Next, we headed to the Ballroom 20 line again, and this time we had a bit of a walk, and a bit of a wait, but we got in during the panel for the Originals. I don't know anything about this show, and I don't really care about it, so I decided to take that time to catch up on my blogging. (Much like I am doing right now!)

The reason we got in line for Ballroom 20 was right after the Originals panel ended, Arrow! We got to see Stephen Amell, Colton Haynes, John Barrowman, Willa Holland, Paul Blackthorne, and David Ramsey, plus the showrunners and a writer for the show. This panel was great. There were so many cute moments between the cast members, Willa cuddling up to Daddy Barrowman, and various imitations of that, plus John Barrowman being hilarious and ridiculous. And the showrunners were totally nerding out, which is always fun to see. The other thing I noticed was how different Stephen Amell sounds from Oliber Queen and the Arrow. He just sounds so genuine and endearing. I won't lie, I'm a little more attracted to him. The men on this show are all pretty attractive.

So after this panel, we really didn't have anything else we wanted to do, so we headed back to the hotel to relax and recharge (ourselves, and our devices). Our plan was to rest up and then head back to the convention centre to get in the Hall H line for the next day, 'cause we figured camping out from 10pm on, we'd make it into Hall H for all of the great panels the next day (Warner Bros., Women Who Kick Ass, Marvel Studios). But we decided to do some research on twitter before dedicating our night to this, and it's a good thing we did, because after searching #HallHLine, we learned people had been lined up since 3pm, way before they were allowed to be lined up, and there were already thousands of people in line by the time the line officially opened up. It was ridiculous, so we abandoned that idea and formulated a new plan.

Instead of spending our evening sitting around on a sidewalk, we went to the AMC Theatre nearby and did our fourth annual Comic-Con movie night and saw Hercules. It was a pretty fun movie. Interesting reinterpretation of the stories, and it fit in with our theme of Comic-Con movies. And that brought us past midnight, so the end of Day Two of SDCC! It was another really fun day, and it's continued on, so again, stay tuned!

SDCC 2014 - Day One

Okay! So like I mentioned in yesterday's post, after the disappointing Preview Night, Thursday was much much better.

We decided to get to the convention centre a little bit early to try to get into the Funko booth again. We swung by once, saw it was the same ridiculousness as before, and decided to write off getting any exclusives. We DID still want to get some non-exclusive Funko Pop! figures, so we headed off to the various booths selling them.

And it was a good thing we did! A bunch of the other exhibitors had managed to obtain a bunch of the exclusives, so we decided to buy a few. The were marked up significantly above the Funko prices, but to not have to deal with that headache, we went for it. There was one booth that was selling them for ridiculous prices, between two others, Andrea and I managed to pick up some good ones. (I got Bloody Sharknado, Bruised Buffy, plus the Unmasked Desthstroke I got the day before.)

After our successful Exclusive-hunting, Andrea and I were both feeling way happier, and much more motivated to get our Comic-Con on. We did a little bit of exploring in the exhibition hall, saw the awesome Lego Groot and Rocket Raccoon statue, an amazing giant Smaug with sleepy eyes that open and close, plus Lola on display at the Marvel booth.

At this point, we switched our focus to panels! We had plans on getting into the Ballroom 20 line for a panel in the afternoon, but when we got there, we just... walked right in... Now, if you've never been to Comic-Con, you may not understand how crazy that statement is. We tried to get in two years ago, and the line was probably a mile long, at least. Just crazy.

So anyway, we walked right in to Ballroom 20 at the end of the 24 panel, so we got to see the handsome Kiefer Sutherland up on the stage. I didn't pay a lot of attention 'cause I don't watch the show. I do remember someone requesting a "dammit" in the audience questions portion. Next was Under the Dome, which I do still watch, but I can't figure out why. It's terrible. But we saw pretty well the whole cast up there. Mike Vogel was handsome as ever, and it's always cool to see Dean Norris (breaking Bad! Woo!). Of particular note was that Rachelle Lefevre dressed up as Starbuck from BSG, and Alexander Koch dressed up as Daryl from the Walking Dead. Otherwise I mostly laughed at the should-be-dramatic moments in the exclusive footage.

After that was Scorpion, which I had only heard a little bit about and had sort of written it off, but they showed the pilot episode, and it was actually really good. I am definitely adding it to my PVR in the fall. Next was Reign. And while I have absolutely no interest in the show, the panel and cast were very fun to watch. They were kind of crazy and really funny. Following that was the TV Guide tribute panel to Community, which was another great panel. Seven seasons and a broadway musical! It was great to see how happy Joel McHale was that it got picked up again, and Dan Harmon was reading the twitter feeds about the panel, as the panel was going. I've always loved this show, and I'm looking forward to what is coming with it.

Finally, the panel we really wanted to see, the cast, and showrunner, of Teen Wolf took the stage. This panel was... ridiculous. I loved it. Tyler Posey really doesn't seem to have any filter on what he says, and the guys all have a great time. Holland and Shelley were both adorable, and Jeff Davis has really nice arms. They also showed some exclusive footage for the rest of the current season, which makes me glad I have a buddy to watch it with, and they announced that they have been renewed for a fifth 20-episode season. This has been my favourite panel so far.

After that, we decided to try to get into the Marvel AXIS panel, but there was a crazy line, so luckily we had grabbed a pass to get back into Ballroom 20, and we caught the Hannibal panel. The footage they showed really made me question why the fans are SO EXCITED for this show. It looks so dark and terrifying... If Kim is reading this, I'll need to ask her why she loves it so much. We DID get a free supplementary soundtrack out of it, which is kind of cool. We also got a free bestiary for Teen Wolf in the previous panel, so that was really the start of our "free stuff" collecting this year. 

I really didn't actually pay much attention to the Hannibal panel, I was busy reading online about what was being discussed in the Marvel AXIS panel that we didn't get into. I will admit, I got a bit distracted by Raul Eaparza on the stage. He was pretty darn handsome. And I was paying attention when they announced they were doing a signing at the Funko booth, which is a terrible idea. That place is crowded and insane already.

Finally, we watched the Penny Dreadful panel, which was pretty interesting. I've never seen the show, but now I'm pretty intrigued by it. It looks like something of enjoy. But about 20 minutes in I was starting to get really sore sitting in those chairs so long, and I was starving, so I was really happy when it came to an end and we got out of there. We headed to the Rockin' Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina to grab some food and a drink, and then made our way back to the hotel.

It was an awesome day! So many great panels, some great collectables, and a lot of laughs. It really felt like Comic-Con again, and I really remembered why it is I love coming to this convention every year. And it's continued to be pretty awesome, so stay tuned! And follow our Twitter, @sigmaflight for more updates!

SDCC 2014 - Preview Night

So! I'm trying to keep up with this. I'm a little late because by the time we got back to the hotel last night, we were exhausted. And also kind of bummed out. But I'll get to that.

So Wednesday is a little bit more of a chill, exploring kind of day, because Preview Night doesn't start until 6pm. So we really had no rush to get up and about, we could take our time with getting showered and eating breakfast. But around 10:30am, Andrea and I headed off to the nearby Fashion Valley Mall to get our "shopping day" started. I think we both only actually bought anything at JC Penney, 'cause they have awesome prices (I swear I'm not being paid for advertising). We checked out the Lego Store and a few other places, but that was about it.

After shopping was done, it was time to head to the Convention Center. This is where we get a little boring. We got there easy, got in fast, grabbed our badges in no time, and then sat and waiting in line for THREE. HOURS. so we could get into the exhibit hall early and get to the Funko booth. Funko has all kinds of awesome exclusives for SDCC (google Funko Pop! SDCC exclusives and you'll know what I'm talking about). We dedicated our Preview Night entirely to this cause.

So when we were finally let in, it was such a disappointment that we couldn't even get in line for the booth. Ten minutes before the doors opened, a bunch of exhibitors crowded the line and it was capped off before anyone was let into the hall. And worse, the guy in charge of letting people into the line was awful. He would only let people in randomly, without any system or tips on how he would choose. He was just very unfriendly and unhelpful.

So after about an hour, hour and a half of making passes by the booth and getting rejected, but seeing him let other people in, we gave up and headed elsewhere. We found a few other booths selling the regular non-exclusive Pop! figures and both managed to find some we liked. We kind of gave up at that point and headed out of the Convention Center to meet up with Natalie for dinner.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, ate the rest of our cheesecakes from the night before, and headed to bed. We were feeling pretty defeated, and sort of pessimistic about things at that point. But don't worry! Thursday is going MUCH better, so don't worry, things will cheer up soon! I promise!

And I will say, our shopping time was awesome. We had a great time. And our three hours in line at the convention center helped me get a lot of reading done on The Clockwork Princess, and Andrea read lots of comics. So there were some good points. But yeah, I'm gonna end this here. Look forward to my Thursday post, 'cause it's gonna be AWESOME.

SDCC Is Right Around The Corner...

So. San Diego Comic-Con 2014 is right around the corner, and for the fourth year in a row, my excitement is building exponentially as it gets closer! For the last couple weeks Comic-Con's Toucan Blog has been been doing a "Tip of the Day" post every day on all of the things not to be missed at Comic-Con, and that gave me the idea to do a post about what I can't wait for this year.

The first thing I'm excited for doesn't actually have anything to do with Comic-Con itself, but it's one of my favourite things about visiting San Diego. The food! After a long day of exploring the convention centre, there's nothing like grabbing a drink and some delicious food. And my favourite place to do that is a great place in the Gaslamp Quarter that Andrea and I found our first year, La Puerta! I've talked about it before, but it's worth mentioning again. They have fantastic guacamole, and between 3 and 7pm every day, it's Happy Hour! Meaning cheap delicious drinks and food. I can't wait to go back there, and find some great new places to eat!

The next awesome thing I'm excited for is the exhibit hall! The whole place is a madhouse full of awesome exciting things, but crowded with thousands and thousands of people. In particular, I'm looking forward to seeing what's new at the Marvel booth. In 2011 it was decked out for the Avengers, 2012 it was Iron Man 3, and last year they had a SHIELD setup featuring all kinds of cool Marvel Studios props from all of the different movies. With a lot of big Marvel projects on the way, there's sure to be something cool. And there's sure to be tons of other awesome booths to check out, too! All of the comic book companies, TV companies, movie companies, toy companies, and video game companies. Plus all of the smaller booths for webcomics creators and various other awesome things.

I'm also really looking forward to all of the awesome panels! Andrea and I have already booked ourselves for Thursday July 24th at 3:30pm to be in Ballroom 20 for... TEEN WOLF! We've become somewhat obsessed with the show, and we both can't wait to see the ridiculousness of the cast. That and the promise of sneak peaks into what's coming. We've also decided to focus all of our former Doctor Who energy onto getting into the Marvel Studios panel. And I'd love to get into anything else Marvel related, as usual. I'm also hoping to see anything Nerdist or Geek & Sundry to get my Chris Hardwick and Felicia Day fixes, and any good movie panels would be great to see as well.

Besides the exhibition hall and the panels, there's also all of the awesome costumes to see. The cosplayers tend to do a pretty fantastic job, so it's a lot of fun spotting the great ones and getting pictures of/with them. There's also the hunt for free stuff and convention exclusives. I know both Andrea and I have seen tons of awesome stuff we want from the Funko booth, so we need to hit that, and there's bound to be plenty of other things for us to spend our money on. There's also the Nintendo Lounge next door to the convention centre, and all of the cool stuff that gets set up outside and nearby. I'm really excited to experience all of the fun surrounding Comic-Con.

And there's still our shopping day before SDCC begins! I can't wait to head over to Fashion Valley Mall near our hotel and see what we can find there. It's a really nice outdoor mall that just feels like San Diego to me. It's become tradition to spend a few hours our first day checking out all of the stores in there. The Lego Store, the Nike Store, the Apple Store, JC Penny, Old Navy, and all of the other stores. I don't even remember them all at this point. There's also the Cheesecake Factory which will need to be visited, and our annual tradition of seeing a movie at the AMC Fashion Valley Cinemas. I'm not sure what we'll see this year, but I'm sure it'll be something fun and scifi-related.

So there we have it! A rundown on some of the awesome stuff I can't wait for! I know I don't have a great track record with keeping up with this blog during Comic-Con, but I'm going to try to update it during the trip. And Andrea and I have some fun ideas for this year that we'll hopefully manage to put into action, so stay tuned for that! I'm not sure if I'll post again before the trip, but if anything exciting happens, it'll show up here at some point!

WWDC 2014 News

Alright. So, this Monday, Apple kicked off WWDC with a bang when they announced a ton of awesome new software developments. Apple's big Keynote was full of goodies, and I'm gonna talk about a few of my favourites. To start off, iOS 8 was announced with quite a few interesting improvements.

The first thing I want to talk about is the updated Messages app. This is actually one of the biggest things for me. They've packed a lot of features into the app. It's now possible to send quick voice messages within the app, as well as pictures and videos. It's easier to manage a conversation, making it possible to add and remove people from the conversation, or leave it yourself. You can set a conversation to "Do Not Disturb" so you don't get constant notifications. You can also name a conversation, and share your location with the other participants. You can also view all attachments that have been sent and received under the "details" screen so you don't have to scroll back through hours of messages to find a particular picture.

Another really interesting thing is the new Family Sharing feature. You can now share content between family members allowing all members to have access to each other's music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps, as well as shared calendars and photo streams. Find Friends and Find My iPhone have also been worked into it. My favourite part of this is that you can set it so when your kid wants to buy something from the App or iTunes Stores, it pops up with "Ask" instead of buy, and it sends a notification to your device to approve or deny it.

The new Health app provides a central place to find all of your health and fitness data from other apps. It also lets you set up an emergency card with your important medical information, just in case. iCloud Drive improves on previous iCloud functionality, adding a central place where you can manage all of your files, and not just the ones used by iCloud apps, but you can now store any file and access it on all of your devices. And Spotlight continues to evolve into a powerful search engine.

On to OS X, the new version is called Yosemite, and they've made some pretty nice visual improvements to the interface, and updated the app icons. Many of the features added to iOS 8 have been implemented here as well, and that's just a start.

The biggest thing I am excited about in OS X Yosemite is the ability to make and receive phone calls on your Mac. If someone calls and your phone is in the other room, you'll get a caller ID notification on your Mac, and you can answer it right there! You can also select a contact or a number from a website and start a call right from your Mac, through your iPhone. This also applies to regular text messages! You can now answer all of your messages on your Mac, not just your iMessages.

Another bit of new functionality is called Handoff. If you're working on something on your iPhone or iPad and walk up to your Mac, an icon will show up and you can instantly pick up your project without missing a beat! And it works the other way as well.

In Mail, they've added the ability to send large attachments with Mail Drop. Large attachments will be sent to iCloud and then downloaded again on the other end. You can also Markup attachments in Mail before sending them. You can draw on pictures, full out PDF forms, and even sign documents.

There's tons of other new things coming with these updates, but those are the ones I'm most excited for. They're still a ways off though, with a tentative release date of "fall", so the excitement will have to wait for a while.

Pokémon! I Choose You... Again!

You would think that, by now, I wouldn't get excited about things like Pokémon game remakes, but MAN am I excited!

The day before yesterday, it was announced that remakes of the third generation games, Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version will be updated and released this November as Pokémon Omega Ruby, and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. These will be released using the same engine as the current Pokémon X and Y games, which means a significant update to graphics and game mechanics, much like past remakes in earlier generations.

While no real details have been released, The Pokémon Company is promising a rich new world and brand new adventures. What this means, we'll have to wait and see. Along with the announcement, the game packaging was also unveiled, featuring images of Groudon and Kyogre looking powered up and intimidating. It was mentioned that there is a significance to their souped up looks, so we'll have to wait and see if this means new forms, or perhaps Mega Evolutions for these legendary pokémon. I'm also curious what that will mean for the third member of the generation III legendaries, Rayquaza.

If there are, in fact, new forms to these legendaries, how will they incorporate that into the story of the game? Will they follow the story of the originals? Or take it a brand new direction? Will we be seeing Team Aqua and Team Magma up to their old shenanigans again? Will mega evolution be possible in Hoenn? Will we finally see mega evolutions for the Treecko and Mudkip lines? So many questions! But with this only being the initial announcement, there's plenty of time before the November release period for them to slowly feed us details.

And one more thing... In X/Y they introduced the blue pentagon symbol that represents that a pokémon was caught in the Kalos region... Will they have a new symbol for Hoenn? And will it be immediately compatible with Pokémon Bank so we can bring back our favourites from the original Ruby and Sapphire games for this new adventure? So much to think about!

So that's what I'll be looking forward to for the next six months. Perhaps it's time to get X and Y out again and get back to shiny hunting... Anyway, that's all I've got to say for today!

Long Overdue, And Pre-SDCC

Okay. I know this is long overdue. I'm sorry guys! It's been a busy few weeks! Sorta. But sitting in the airport waiting for our now-delayed flight is as good a time as any to catch up!

So, what's been going on? Well, I moved. Away from my little hometown of PG to the big city of Vancouver. What an adventure that's been! Also: an emotional roller coaster. The week before the move was nuts. Too many teary-eyed goodbyes. Lots of fun. Rob came up to help the move go smoothly. And also to drive the U-haul for me. AND to meet everyone before he steals me away. It was a great week and a terrible week all at once. It's great to be on this new adventure, but it's really hard leaving everyone back home.

The drive down was scorching hot. Rob and I had coffee with my mom on the Sunday morning and then hopped into the truck and hit the road. We left early and the heat was already up there. It got as hot as 36 degrees through the canyon and it was above 30 the whole way. It was beautiful and such a great drive. It was kind of surreal, driving through there for the first time in a few years, this time with Rob taking me to my new home. I don't really know how to describe how it felt.

Unloading and unpacking went pretty smoothly. And my first week was pretty fun. Spent a couple of nice evenings getting drunk in the back yard. Had a couple of interviews and found myself employed my very first week. That was a huge sigh of relief. And I don't start until after my trip! So it's been like an odd long vacation. That's actually exactly how it's felt so far since I've moved. Like I'm on some sort of weird long vacation. It's finally starting to sink in that I live there, but now I'm actually going on vacation.

It is that most wondrous time of year again. No, not Christmas. Comic-Con! I feel like I've used that joke before... Oh well. I'm going with it. Anyway! The airport and delayed flight I mentioned before are the start to our Comic-Con trip. Andrea and I are still sitting in YVR airport. We can see our plane out there. But apparently there's another hour to go.

In other news, we are SUPER EXCITED!! And also really tired due to lack of sleep. I think I slept 2-3 hours last night? It was pretty dumb. Anyway. I can't think of anything else to say right now. Stay tuned for updates throughout Comic-Con!

Ready To Nerd Out

So, Andrea and I will be on our way to San Diego in a little over a month for our third annual nerdy adventure! 36 days from now we will be headed to Comic-Con once again, and I'm getting pretty excited about it!

We've done SDCC twice now, and you might think the novelty would've worn off by now, but I can't wait to get there again. Pretty soon the panel schedule will be released and we can start planning exactly who and what we wanna see, and figure out how many insane line-ups we'll be waiting in. I love all the exclusive clips and special announcements and the excitement of the crowds.

I've taken a step to improve communication while I'm there. I found a great company operating out of Vancouver called Roam Mobility. As the name of their company implies, they are a company that specializes in all of your cell phone roaming needs. Check them out! They have great plans for use while traveling in the USA. For about $28, I will have unlimited calling and texting in the US and back to Canada, plus 700 MB of data, for a week. It was a huge pain not having use of my phone last year, so I'm hoping this will be the solution I'm looking for!

Otherwise, I think we are pretty prepared for the trip. We just booked our flights. Hotel has been booked for a long time. We both managed to get our 4-day plus preview night badges. AND we bought our tickets to see the Nerdist Podcast again. I've got my USD savings account just sitting there full of money to spend. I just need to actually go!

In other news, today marks the beginning of WWDC AND E3, and I wish I was an Apple developer and/or in the gaming industry so I could be at one of them. I'm a very excited nerd right now. Anyway, this thing is already late enough and I should probably get to work, so have a wonderful week!

Better Late Than Never?

I'm falling behind on my blogging again. I'm sorry! I've made a few attempts over the last week and a half, but I keep losing interest partway through. I've really gotta be in the right mood and place to do this right.

There's plenty new going on. My life is currently in a state of change. I'm preparing to make my big move to Vancouver, and it's a little scary, but also really exciting. Adria and I have given our notice at our place here in the Great White North and are making arrangements for our respective moves. I've been applying for jobs in Vancouver, which is a little scary 'cause I haven't actually heard back about anything I've applied for. I wish I could just make a career out of being a nerd. That would be ideal.

When I was in Vancouver last weekend I got my first taste of what it would be like to be a foodie. Rob and I joined our friends George and Richard dining at a fantastic restaurant called Fable. Their whole theme is "from farm to table," meaning they use only fresh local ingredients in the food they create. We went for a special menu put together by recently eliminated Top Chef Canada contestant Geoff Rogers. And I think we were all impressed.

The three course meal started with a pemberton beef tartar served with everything bagel chips. I had never had tartar, and when I saw it on the menu I considered getting something else, but it was so delicious. Unexpectedly great. The second course was braised rabbit pappardelle, which was another thing I'd never tried before. But it was also pretty fantastic. I'd eat rabbit again. The finishing touch was a peanut butter s'more, which I don't even have to tell you was amazing. Layers of chocolate brownie, marshmallow, and peanut butter ice cream served in a mason jar. Just fantastic.

Probably the best part though was talking to the staff and the chef. Our server was fantastic, full of conversation and stories, answered all of our questions about the menu and the restaurant. And Geoff Rogers came to tell us about the food when our main dish was served. Plus he came and talked with our table for a good 20 minutes after we had all finished eating. It was a really cool evening, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

That was pretty much the big highlight of the weekend, but it was pretty packed full of awesome. I got to spend the better part of my Friday with my wonderful friend Nicole. Coffee, amazing doughnuts, arcade games (old TMNT! Dinosaurs! And zombies!), some shopping, and just some general good hangout time. Got to enjoy the beautiful sunshine walking around with Rob, and exploring downtown with George and Richard. Ran into Pam and Rob randomly on Robson Street. And Rob and I got to see Star Trek Into Darkness with Andrea and some of her friends! Fantastic movie.

So yeah! It was a busy weekend, all full of awesome. It was hard to come back. Not that I don't love my PG family and friends, and not that I don't love PG itself, but it's gotten to that point where I know I'm going to relocate, and the constant back and forth is getting difficult. Leaving Rob always sucks. But luckily I do have my friends and family that are always there for me. That will be the toughest part of moving to Van. I can't even bring myself to type how much it hurts to think about leaving Adria after a year living together.

Yeah, I need to stop there or I'll start crying in the middle of Starbucks and no one needs to see that. So anyway, have a great weekend everyone!

It's The End

So once again, it is season finale... season. I could probably have worded that differently. Anyway. It's that time of year when all of our favourite shows come to an end, some forever, and some just until the fall. It's a bittersweet time of year. Most shows seem to leave you on a cliffhanger begging for September. BUT. It's summer. And who really wants to spend the summer indoors watching TV?

I've managed to fall pretty behind on a lot of shows, so I don't even know what's going on, or how they've been left for the season. The few I've kept up with have been pretty interesting. Oh. SPOILERS AHEAD! You've been warned.

Let's start with Castle, since it's the first one I caught up on. I had about 4 episodes to watch this week so they've all pretty much just jumbled together, but the season finale left things very much on the verge of change. Not like when Kate got shot and the season ended with her dying on the ground, but still pretty crazy. Beckett gets a job offer that she really wants to take, but it means she has to leave New York. And of course that comes into conflict with her and Castle's romance. Neither is happy about it. So Castle proposes. End. I guess it's not THAT crazy, but if you're as invested in their relationship as I am, it's pretty intense.

Next: Grey's Anatomy. I know, I know. This one isn't even remotely nerdy. At least Castle has Nathan Fillion. This one is just all full of drama. I'm sorry, but I got caught up in this one and I just can't stop watching. Just let me have this one. Anyway. This one has been all full of drama all season. (Big surprise, right?) after the plane crash last year there's been so many changes, that by the time we get to the finale, which is another two parter disaster story, you start wondering who's gonna die this time. And they keep teasing it all the way through. Two of them nearly get staked by a tree flying through their living room. Another doctor is in critical condition after getting beaten nearly to death by another doctor, making you worry someone might end up in jail. Another doctor nearly gets blown up saving a little girl from a burning bus. Birth-related complications nearly kill another doctor. And none of them die. Until the very very end of the episode, Richard Webber is lying on the ground in the basement of the hospital, dead or dying of major electrical burns after getting the emergency generators running (after having saved the maintenance guy who had a heart attack while trying to get them fixed). So yeah. Never work at a hospital. If I've learned anything from this show, it's that hospitals are dangerous, and you're far more likely to die working there than being sent there in critical condition.

Didn't realize I had so much to say about that one. I hardly have time for Once Upon A Time. Oh how I love this show. This one I've actually kept up on all season, except I only JUST watched the finale last night. And boy howdy was it good. It's funny, at one point, Adria and I were both all, "Well that was anticlimactic." But then it just keeps going and you're back to being all enthralled. The end of the season has been leading up to this point where the town is in danger of destruction, but suddenly it's not, but then you learn new facts, and suddenly everyone is off on a rescue mission through a portal and the show takes another twist for the next season. PLUS someone thought dead is not, and he's found by two other characters we haven't seen in a while with someone ELSE thought dead. I dunno. I'm being a little vague, but if you've seen it you know what I mean. My Adria friend can attest, I was very very excited about this episode.

We also watched the season finale of How I Met Your Mother. And I am not gonna say anything else but... we FINALY meet the mother! I mean, the characters don't. But WE do! Yay! Other than that, I'm still behind. I've got a lot to catch up on. And tonight! Season finale of Doctor Who! Can't miss it! I'm excited. And sad, 'cause I don't wanna wait until November for more Doctor Who.

Well, I'm off to work. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. And a great long weekend!

OMGWTFBBQ FCBD!!!

Hey guys! Guess what! It's one of my favourite days of the year today! It's a nerdy holiday of sorts. Free Comic Book Day! What is FCBD, you ask? Let me tell you.

One day a year, always the first Saturday in May, comic book stores across Canada, the United States, and around the world, give away free comic books to anyone who comes in! Comic book companies go to the effort of creating a selection of comics specifically for this special day. It's all very exciting.

This year I'm most interested in Marvel's Infinity free comic, which is supposed to lead into this summer's big Avengers event. There's also a special Walking Dead comic I'm interested in, and probably a bunch more cool stuff. I'd say I'm being vague about the selection to get you interested enough to go, but really I just haven't done a lot of research. Big fails. But still! Be interested! Go! Comics are fun!

In other news, it's a special day for another reason. I've got three birthday shout-outs for today. It's my little cousin True's bday. And also the not-so-little-anymore Acacia's bday. And last, but definitely not least, it is the birthday of the woman who brought me into this world. Happy birthday to my amazing Mom! (Who probably won't read this so I need to remember to talk to her after work today...)

Today is also Doctor Who day, so don't forget to tune into Space (or BBC/BBC America) tonight for a new episode, The Crimson Horror. There's only two more episodes after this for this season! Then we've gotta wait all the way to November for the 50th anniversary special. At least it should be amazing and worth the wait.

In no way related to the previous topic, I'm feeling excessively tired and sore from a run yesterday. I definitely pushed myself a little harder than I realized. Ran the university hill with my canine roommate. I thought I might just die when I got up this morning. But it'll be worth it if I manage to get myself back into shape. Anyway, I'm off to work. I hope everyone has a fantastic Saturday!

He Liked It, So He Put a Ring On It

I hate when I can't think of anything to blog about. I'm sitting here in Starbucks drinking my free giant coffee flipping through websites and twitter and Facebook trying to find inspiration, and it's just not working. I'm trying to think about what I've been up to this week, but I'm coming up blank on nerdy topics. Huh.

I haven't played much in the way if video games. I can't seem to focus on anything when I sit down in front of the Xbox. I played a little bit of Defiance, but I'm sort of awful at shooters so I stopped pretty quickly. But I want to play it! Same with Bioshock Infinite. I played a little but but quit pretty early into it 'cause I'm not very good at it, and I can't seem to sit still. I should just start one of my Lego games. I've got Lego Batman 2: DC SuperHeroes, and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean that I haven't started yet, and those games tend to keep me hooked.

I read a book really fast for a change. Maybe that's why I can't focus on video games: I'm in reading mode. I read The Rise of Nine (Lorien Legacies #3) in about a week and a half. It's not a terribly difficult read, but that's the most focused on a book I've been in a long time. It was really good! I love that series. I'm pretty sure I've talked about it here before.

You know PSY, right? That South Korean pop star that made the viral hit "Gangnam Style." You know the one. Well, he has a new video out. And it's terrible. Just terrible. But I couldn't help watching it. Like a train wreck, you can't tear your eyes away. Here, just look.

http://youtu.be/ASO_zypdnsQ

Gentleman. Not even. I dunno. Some Marvel guys were tweeting about it the other day and I had to check it out. It made me sad.

In other news: I am engaged! It's been announced on Facebook already, but I'll announce it here too. My Rob proposed a little over two weeks ago. I'm very excited about it, and can't wait to move to be with him. It's making me slightly miserable being away from him. That might also have a little bit to do with my inability to focus on anything that usually makes me happy. I just wanna be in Vancouver, where my heart is.

Anyway. It's time for work. I hope you all have a happy Saturday! And don't forget that there's new Doctor Who on tonight!

Can't Think of a Good Title

Hey! So, apparently I took a weekend off from blogging. Sorry. I wish I could say it won't happen again, but if you look at my track record, it is almost guaranteed to happen again. And soon. But I was in Vancouver last weekend! This is my excuse. I never seem to blog when I'm away. I started one in the airport on my way back but I got bored... But now it's my usual before-work-on-a-Saturday coffee and blogging time, so here goes!

Since my last blog post, much has happened. And by that, I mean not much has happened, but I can still make something out of it. The super-awesome weekend of TV came and went. I could tell you how awesome Doctor Who and Game of Thrones were, but you watched them so you already know. DON'T YOU.

While I was away in Van I went with my good buddy Andrea to her meet-up group, Nerd HQ! It's this great group of nerds that get together every Friday evening (as well as various other times) to enjoy some form of nerdy culture. The focus starting last week has shifted to Doctor Who and GoT, so it was a great night. It's always held at La Fontana Caffe, a great little place at Boundary and Hastings, and the owner makes some really great food. Plus he's awesome. So it was pretty great to hang out with some fun nerdy people, eat some delicious food, and watch some great TV. Plus there was karaoke. OH! And this one guy sang a song while doing a perfect Gollum voice. SO GREAT.

What else is new? Jurassic Park 3D is in theatres right now. I saw that with Rob, Andrea, and some of the nerds. That movie will never stop being awesome. I could take or leave the 3D, but I was a kid when it came out originally so this was my first time seeing it on the big screen. The movie STILL makes me jump, even though I know what's coming.

Also on the subject of movies, I saw the Host last night with my Mom, and we both really enjoyed it. I've never read the book, but she has, and apparently they did a pretty decent job of sticking to the story. There's plenty cut for time, but it was done well. I might have to go read the book now, 'cause it was a really good story.

I FINALLY finished reading the Mark of Athena this week. It only took me several months. I still don't know why it took me so long 'cause I liked the book! I love the story, the characters, the writing. I'm just a bad reader I guess. Except that I started the Rise of Nine (third book of the Lorien Legacies series, think I Am Number Four) right after that, and I'm already just about halfway through. This is another series I've really been enjoying. The books themselves are really good, but they've also got mini-e-books that they release alongside the main story, usually delving into the past of characters just introduced or mentioned in the main series. It's a good way to keep interest in the story even when there's not a new full book in the series to read.

Anyway, it's time to head to work now, so this is it for this week. Maybe one day I'll actually find a real focus to this blog so it's not so all-over-the-place. But that's kind of how my mind works. Oh well. Happy Saturday! And happy new episode of Doctor Who day!

Great Week to be a Geek

It's a great week to be a geek. I mean, most weeks are good weeks to be geeks, you know, unless it's sports week in high school, but this one is particularly great.

Reason #1: New Doctor Who! TODAY! Seriously, guys. It does not get much better than that. It could be a terrible week otherwise, and it would STILL be a great time. It's been a few months since we've had our last dose of the Doctor, and I couldn't be more excited to have it back! After everything that's been happening in the show, I need to know what's next! And the 50th anniversary is coming up and THAT is looking like it's gonna be pretty fantastic.

Reason #2: New Game of Thrones! Season 3 starts TOMORROW! I managed to get myself all caught up for the new season, so bring it on! Now I can feel out with the best of 'em as the episodes air. I'm very interested in seeing what's gonna happen next. The season finale was pretty crazy.

Reason #3: The season finale of The Walking Dead! Also tomorrow! This one I'm not actually caught up on though, so I'll just have to assume it's super exciting. At least now I can watch the whole of season 3 all at once and not have to wait a week for a new one. But still, I need to make sure I'm caught up on this one for next season.

Sundays have been a pretty great TV night... Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Once Upon A Time. Plus Revenge, and while it lasted, 666 Park Avenue. Anyway...

Reason #4: Actually not TV-related, but this week was pretty awesome for comics too. Age of Ultron #3 was out this week, and I've been pretty unsure about that one so far, but the last page was somewhat shocking and has definitely got me hooked now. Uncanny Avengers has really brought up its game this week and I definitely recommend giving it a read, however it would help if you've read Remender's run on Uncanny X-Force prior to reading this. New characters and the beginnings of some really interesting plot points.

Astonishing X-Men brought the next chapter of the X-Termination crossover which I'll admit has me wanting to pick up the last few issues of X-Treme X-Men and Age of Apocalypse so I don't miss any of the story. Young Avengers is really kicking it up, and I'm enjoying it a lot. Uncanny X-Force seems interesting but also pretty jumbled. The different points really need to come together and make some sense or I might get bored. Wolverine and the X-Men is trying hard, but I'm struggling to stay interested. The current arc just isn't doing it for me. And Ultimate Comics: Wolverine is turning out to be a pretty interesting mini-series. I'm enjoying the story, and the artist is great. Even had a fun little cameo by some familiar scientists.

Anyway, those are the main points of geeky interest from my week. What made your week great and/or geeky? Have a great Saturday! And Happy Easter!

Early Morning Rambling

Okay, so, I'm getting really tired of this winter crap. It just keeps dragging on. I know, I know: it's PG. Winter lasts until May some years. But come on! Can't we have spring on time for once? There's green grass and flowers in Vancouver already!

Anyway, that's my rant for this morning. What brought that on is just the fact that I bought this new Jawbone UP and I've been trying to be active and eat better, but it's really not going all that well. I probably shouldn't blame the weather, but I just find it so hard to motivate myself to do something in the cold. I should really just accept that I'm lazy and deal with that problem.

The one sorta-benefit of being lazy is that I've finally been catching up on some of my nerdy pastimes. I've gotten myself all caught up on Game of Thrones for the new season. Can't wait for that! I've also made a tiny bit of progress on reading Mark of Athena. That book is taking me forever to read. And there's no reason for it. It's a good book!

I finished off Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance a couple weeks ago and started playing Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. It's a pretty fun game, but I'm really not far in it yet. I haven't gotten to build anything yet, and that's the part I'm really looking forward to. I spent a large portion of the day yesterday playing Mass Effect 2. It's not my usual kinda game. I'm not very good at aiming, so I usually prefer games that auto-lock on to your enemies. But it's pretty fun anyway. I like story driven games, and this seems to have an interesting story so far.

I've been keeping up on my comics, but I can't remember what came out recently. I forgot to take my usual "this week's comics" photo for Instagram. I know I enjoyed them. There was All-New X-Men, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Cable and X-Force, and New Avengers. I can't remember what else. Hmmm. I'm a failure of a comic book fan.

Whenever I go to Great White, which is where I buy my comics, I always go look at the Lego. I desperately want to get a few of the sets they've got. All of the Hobbit Lego sets they've got. And the Marvel and DC Superheroes sets. At the Lego store in Vancouver they have even more awesome sets. If I was rich, I'd have a whole big room dedicated entirely to Lego. It would be epic and amazing. But sadly, all I've got are my few little mini-sets.

Anyway! That's my rambling for this week. I will try to come up with something more focused and cohesive for next week. Happy Saturday!

Going UP in the World

I really have no idea what I wanna blog about today, but I already missed a week so I'm gonna just have to go for it and see what happens. Hang on for the ride! ...Or just keep reading...

Last weekend when I was in Vancouver (yet again), I visited my good buddy Nicole at the Apple Store, and she introduced me to the Jawbone UP! Remember last year at Comic-Con when I got that Nike+ FuelBand and was all excited about it? Well this is kinda like that, but BETTER!

Much like the FuelBand, it's a band you wear on your wrist that measures your movements and tells you how many steps you've taken and works that out into calories burned and makes a pretty little graph in the app that goes with it. So far it sounds pretty familiar. Nothing too terribly exciting right? Might as well just have a step counter. But WAIT! There's MORE!

You also wear this thing to bed and switch it into sleep mode, and it somehow records your sleep! When you wake up in the morning and sync the band to your iPhone app, it pops up with a cool little graph showing you how long you slept, how much of your sleep was light versus deep, and it shows you how many times you woke up. I'm not sure how it works, but it's really cool.

The app also lets you input your other activities, like biking, cross training, weights, and a bunch of other things, and then tells you approximately how many calories you burned. You can also put in all of the food you've eaten throughout the day. This one is a really big thing for me. You put in the nutritional information of what you ate and it compares it to what you should be eating, and then I feel guilty for having way too much sodium and not enough fibre, or whatever. Did you know that EVERYTHING you eat has sodium? Even water.

One of the really interesting features of the band is the "smart alarm." I mentioned before that it somehow can tell when you are in a light sleep versus a deep sleep. Well, you can set an alarm on the band with a window to wake you up. You can set it to wake you at 7:30am, with a window of half an hour. The band will then find a point between 7am and 7:30am when you are in a light sleep stage and wake you up then so you'll be less groggy. The band vibrates on your wrist, which worried me at first, but it's not a bad way to be woken up. It's pretty interesting. It seems pretty effective, but me being me, I still set an alarm on my phone. And my alarm clock. But maybe I'll change that after I test it a little longer.

There are a lot of fun features in the UP app. You can add your friends to your "team" and see their activities and comment on them, cheer each other on. I've got a few friends on it, and I love that. It's nice to have friendly encouragement. You can also look at a timeline of everything you've done since you started using the UP band, and you can compare your sleep and activity on different graphs. And the app pops up with helpful tips and information based on your activities.

All in all, I'm really enjoying the Jawbone UP so far. It's pushing me to get more active again, and that's something I need. Plus it's fun AND pretty. And I think you should get one.

This Went a Very Different Direction Than Intended...

So, this week I was gonna blog about the new comics I picked up on Wednesday, but when I tried to do that, I realized I barely remember reading them. That either means they weren't all that exciting, or I was too tired to really take it in when I read them in bed that night.

So, what else can I blog about? I have been watching Game of Thrones finally. I started a few weeks ago. I finally signed up for HBO and I've been recording the second season as it aires, and I managed to find the first season online. I'm only two episodes in to season two right now, but it's very good.

What I've learned so far: the Starks are fairly naive which gets them in trouble, the Lannisters are pretty awful, and someone really needs to kill Joffrey, and there's a lot of cool mythology that needs to be explored. White walkers? Dragons? The weird stuff going on with Bran? I'm pretty excited to continue on with it and see what happens.

While on the subject of good TV, I have also signed up for AMC, which means I can finally watch new episodes of the Walking Dead! Sadly, though, I had set up the first eight episodes of season three to record when they had the marathon the other day leading up to the ninth episode, but my PVR decided to die that weekend while I was in Vancouver, so none of it recorded. Which means finding it online. Which isn't difficult, just annoying when I could be watching it in HD on my TV.

In other news, last weekend when Comic-Con badges went on sale, I had way better luck than I thought possible! I was standing there at work waiting for the link to go live on the badge sales website at 9am, which also happens to be when the bank opens. Convenient right? Luckily, it wasn't busy, so when the link went live, I clicked it both on my work computer and on my phone. And then sat there and waited. It was about 5 minutes of loading before I got a weird error message. So I refreshed, which you're not supposed to do. No luck still. So I clicked on the address bar and hit enter, and it started loading again. All wasn't lost! And finally when I got into the waiting room, I was number 147 in line! Apparently I was lucky, 'cause at the same time my phone popped up with me sitting 6489th or so in line.

Two minutes later, the waiting room let me through and I was on my way! I managed to secure 4-Day with Preview Night badges for myself AND Andrea! So we are on our way to Comic-Con and getting the full experience once again! I really can't wait to start planning our trip! Andrea and I were talking about last year and our odd theme of accidentally stalking Chris Hardwick the whole trip, and how we're curious what this year's theme will be. Hopefully something fun and exciting again!

The other thing this has made me think about is that I really need to eat my ass in gear saving money! I still owe money from last year's trip, plus my oddly expensive summer, so it's time to really start sticking to a strict budget so I can afford flights and whatnot. I already have US cash saved for spending money, but the other expenses need to be prepared for.

I am really excited right now! And it's still five months away! That's not all that far away though... Oh boy. Anyway! Time to go to work! Have a great weekend!

A Very un-Craig-like Feat

So, yesterday was a pretty amazing day for me. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. I finished a video game. But wait! That's not all. I finished... wait for it... TWO video games! Wow, right?!

I rarely finish a video game. It's pretty rare. Most games I get to a certain point and just... stop. Quite often it's at that point right before you head into the final level/boss/whatever and it's your last chance to do all of the sidequests and collect all of the collectibles (you know me and collectibles).

Yesterday I managed to get through the last chapter of Jurassic Park: The Game. There is replayability in this one 'cause there are still a bunch of achievements to unlock, but this game frustrated me so much that I probably won't make any attempts at that anytime soon. Seriously, I am so terrible at reflexive button presses, and that's the whole base of the gameplay, so I relied more on repeatedly dying and memorizing the button prompts. My roommate probably got a little tired of my swearing constantly while I played this game, so it's being retired.

The other game I finally beat was Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the Nintendo 3DS. I started this game a while ago and, as usual, quit playing it right at the final boss fight. Although not for the usual reasons. I had actually managed to collect all of the stickers and find all the HP hearts and hidden Luigis and all that stuff. I just got wiped out in the final boss fight and got all discouraged. I knew I needed to prepare better, but I didn't wanna go to all of the trouble finding better stickers and whatnot, so I just quit for a while. I picked it up a while ago and did all the prep work, but didn't wanna try the battle again. But last night I was already on a roll with JP, so I gave it a shot, and sure enough, I managed to beat Bowser!

I loved Paper Mario: Sticker Star. I was so afraid that I'd hate it with the big changes they made to the gameplay mechanics, but it's my favourite game for the 3DS so far. It's cute and fun, lots to do and collect, and challenging to figure out the right strategy for each battle. It's overall a very charming game that I'd recommend to any 3DS owner.

So now that I've beaten those two, it's time to refocus my video gaming efforts! I'm thinking I'll push to finish off Lego Batman ('cause I STILL haven't finished that one), and I'll try to get into Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. I tried playing KH:3D when it came out, but for some reason I had a lot of trouble really getting into it. It's odd 'cause it's one of my favourite video game franchises.

Anyway! That's all I've got for this week. Time for work! Oh! AND Comic-Con badges go on sale today! Wish me luck in getting mine! (And good luck to you if you're trying today too!)

Lego Everywhere!

So, I'm sitting in my room at home attempting to come up with a blog idea. I am not in my usual blogging environment, so we'll see if I can still come up with something if I'm not sitting in Starbucks.

Have you ever played a Lego video game? Like, Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter? They are some of my favourite games. It's ridiculous, 'cause they have been made to appeal to children, but the games are just so fun! And addictive!

I think I've mentioned before that I have a thing about collecting things, and these games definitely play to that part of me. I've been playing Lego Batman for a long time now. I've beaten the main story to the game already, but every level has a bunch of things to collect, and I have to get all of them. There are pieces of special mini-models I every level, plus a person needs to be rescued from bad guys, and there's a special red brick that can be found, bought, and when activated give you special abilities in the game. There are also a ton of characters to be unlocked as you go that you can then use in levels afterwards.

This is the basic premise in all of the Lego games. Plus, the fact that its on the Xbox means there are achievements to be unlocked, which is another huge pile of things to unlock/collect. So far I've only managed to beat two games to 100% completion. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4, and Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7. Both I have gotten all of the stuff in game, as well as all of the achievements. I'm nearly there with Lego Batman. But then I've got Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Star Wars, and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean to beat, plus Lego Lord of the Rings just came out, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes comes out this fall, so I've got my work cut out for me.

And that's just the Lego series of games! I've also got all of the Assassin's Creed games, Dragon Age II, Bioshock 2, Fable II and III, Skyrim, and so many other games to get through, PLUS all of the games I've got for other systems. I could probably take a year off from work and do nothing but play video games, and STILL not get through them all. Oh well. There are worse addictions.