The Doctor's Companions Ep. 5: Are You My Mummy?

in

We're back with another two-part story! It's very exciting because it is Steven Moffat's first Doctor Who story and it's the introduction of Captain Jack Harkness! The introduction of Jack creates an interesting relationship dynamic between he and Rose, he and The Doctor, The Doctor and Rose, and the three of them together.

We discuss some Who News this week, which came from this episode of

Nerdist News

, including Maisie Williams being cast (

More photos

have been released- Spoiler-ish), new armoured aliens, and returning characters and baddies.

Listen on

iTunes

,

Podbean

, or right here using the player below! Don't forget to answer this week's question by emailing us at

doctorscompanionspodcast@gmail.com

!

The Doctor's Companions Ep. 04: Introducing the Daleks

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The Daleks are back! Well, only if you were already a Classic Who watcher. And that is precisely my issue with the episode "Dalek". I don't think the episode was a good introduction to the Dalek race for people watching Doctor Who for the first time. Only people who are familiar with the horrible things Daleks are capable of would be scared to hear that voice in the dark. And furthermore, I don't even think Daleks are that scary. Yes, I now know what they are capable of, but as far as striking fear in my heart, they're not nearly as terrifying as, say, statues that move when you're not looking, a crazy time lord bent on revenge, or an unknown creature lurking under the covers.

This week's podcast is a three-for-one because the next two episodes of the show are a two-parter, so we had to keep them together in the schedule. We go from my issues with the Daleks return/introduction to our dislike of Adam, the companion that couldn't companion, and end with the emotional, but scientifically flawed, death of Rose's dad.

There are a few changes to our podcast format, as this was our second recording session. We're starting the episodes with any Doctor Who news we've heard and a question for us (and our listeners!) to answer. (This week was "Who is your favorite one-off companion?" inspired by

this article

on Geek & Sundry.) We're going to be rating each episode with grades (B is average, A+ would probably be a Moffat story, etc.) and we're working on smoothing out our intro and outro (which now includes a question for the next episode, so you have a change to send us your answer for us to read on the podcast!) 

Listen on

iTunes

,

Podbean

, or right here using the player below! Don't forget to answer this week's question by emailing us at

doctorscompanionspodcast@gmail.com

!

In the Movies... Ep. 4: Barbarella & Bad Movies


After our extra long, extra informative, extra infuriating last episode, we switch gears and have some fun talking about cult classic Barbarella and movies that are so bad they're good! 

We actually watched Barbarella together and had so much fun laughing at it. It's so ridiculous yet so good! We love the sets, her outfits, and the whole look of the film. We also have to discuss how sex is used in this film. Barbarella has a lot of it. 

Then we go on to talk about other movies that may be called "bad" but we like them anyway which brings up the question of what is "bad", anyway? We agree that if you like something, it's not bad. Are you entertained? Does it mean something to you? Then that's good for you!

In the spirit of bad movies, here's a list of some other so bad they're good movies on BuzzFeed. I'm really interested in seeing some of these now. This kind of movie is best viewed with alcohol and friends.

You don't need alcohol or friends to listen to our podcast, though! Listen on iTunes, Podbean, or stay right here with the player below! 


The Doctor's Companions Ep. 3: Alien Farts are Hilarious

in

This week, Linda, Juliana, and I are talking about the first two-part storyline of Doctor Who; "Aliens in London" and "World War Three". Juliana and Linda both think that the fart jokes are stupid and the Slitheen are hideous. I am super weird and think that farts as an alien tell is hilarious and that the Slitheen's faces are actually quite cute! Look at those big round eyes! If they had chubby little baby bodies, they would be adorable baby aliens! We're also excited to see Harriet Jones, MP for Flydell North, for the first time. This is a fun episode because we get to discuss two episodes as one big story.

This is the final podcast that we recorded in that first day (with bad audio, sorry). It feels like soooo long ago (it was) that we recorded, so I am super excited to get together to record again and make some improvements and additions to the format. Linda is up to season 4 now in her watching, so she won't feel as left out when we refer to future stuff, and we've got some good episodes coming up to talk about!

Subscribe and listen on

iTunes

or

Podbean

, or listen using the player below! Let us know you're listening by emailing us at

doctorscompanionspodcast@gmail.com

! We want to hear from listeners! Tell us what you think of the podcast, give us suggestions for future episodes, or even leave us some constructive criticism. We're new at this, we can always use your help.

In the Movies... Ep. 3: Bridesmaids & Women in Film

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This week's episode of the podcast is really important to me and Juliana as movie watchers, as women, and to me especially as a woman who has wanted to be a filmmaker since I was about 12 years old. We're talking about women in the film industry and the dismal statistics and realities of that.

But first, we talk about an awesome, hilarious, feminism-filled, female written & led movie that everyone loves; Bridesmaids! We talk about how great it is to see real, funny, sometimes gross, sometimes jealous, sometimes crazy, females and female friendships on screen. We talk about all of our favorite parts and why this script is so great, including how we would react if a guy wanted to bake with us (Spoiler Alert: We'd love it!) I talked about perspective/point-of-view in movies because I think this movie is a great example of how seeing a story through the perspective of only one character can distort how events really happened. We think Helen probably isn't really a huge bitch but Annie, in her current life state, would perceive every little thing Helen did as a dig at her. It's interesting to think about what movies would be like if seen from a different character's perspective. Something to think about when watching movies.

And then we get into the juicy stuff. We came armed with articles, infographics, statistics, interviews, videos, etc. to lay down some harsh truths that we think any movie lover, male or female, needs to know. I think we all know by now how underrepresented women are on screen and how few women there are in the industry, but some of the stats we throw at you are truly shocking. Not only are women not in the film industry enough, but we have some information that gives us an idea of why we're not. (Hint: It starts with a 'P' and ends with an 'atriarchy'.)

It's not all bad news, though. We do have some things to talk about how women are helping out women in the industry. We're not saying anything is getting better so far, but there is progress being made, especially recently. Just in the two weeks since we recorded this episode, some awesome women in filmmaking news has come up, which I share below. Apparently, we're not the only ones getting riled up about this issue and trying to do something about it.

So, please, take a listen to this episode. It's pretty long (2 hours) but guess what, it's a podcast, you don't have to listen to it all in one sitting. And it's jam-packed with important stuff that we hope will get your blood boiling as much as it did ours. Listed below are links to all of our sources, and some great stuff that we've found since then. I encourage you to take a look at the articles for more information. The infographics especially are great for visual learners to really get the point across.

Go listen in

iTunes

(subscribe, rate, review!), on

Podbean

, or right here using the embedded player below! And please, please share with everyone you know who watches movies! (If they're not into podcasts, they can at least check out the articles below.)

The Doctor's Companions Ep. 2: S01E02 & S01E03

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It seems like it's already been so long since the first episode was posted. (Real time: Two weeks ago.) 

This episode, we start to get into our usual format of two episodes per podcast. The Doctor and Rose travel to the future in "The End of the World" and to the past in "The Unquiet Dead". I had a lot of issues with how the space station would work, how the aliens were in fact very human-like, and the whole deal with Cassandra. And then Linda says the zombie episode was her favorite so far and we're all a little disappointed in The Doctor for almost getting killed and Dickens having to save the day.

The audio is still echo-y in this episode, as we recorded the first three episodes in one day and I didn't realize I had some voice-enhancing effect put on. So, bear with us on that for just one more episode and then we'll sound much better!

Listen on

iTunes

(where you can subscribe and give us a nice review) on

Podbean

, or right here with the player below!

New YouTube Show! Teach Me, Tish!


I'm very excited about my new YouTube show, Teach Me, Tish! My goal with this series is to share some fun knowledge about topics that maybe you think you know about, but I've got some more interesting information about it. 

I was mostly inspired by the British quiz show QI (Quite Interesting). It's a hilarious show that covers a wide range of topics, and focuses on debunking commonly believed facts, and diving deeper into topics that we thought we knew about. I often learn a fun fact on QI and then do my own research on that topic to learn more.

This first episode is a bit rough around the edges (My whiteboard drawing skills need some work.) but I'm happy with it for a first attempt and feel confident that they will only improve from here.

This first episode was inspired by learning (probably on QI) that humans have more than just the five traditional senses. I had never thought about it much before, but learning about proprioception and all of our internal senses sparked my interest in learning more about all of our senses, how they work, how they evolved, and what senses animals have that we don't. 

I kept this first episode pretty simple, just talking about all of our senses and how they work, but eventually episodes will dive deeper into subjects. I'm not trying to be an expert in any field, I just want to share fun facts and stuff you didn't know before!

Like I said, I'm no expert, so I will always share my sources here so you can do your own research if you want to know even more.

Sources:

If you want to learn more about smell and taste in particular, check out this video that Crash Course just put out. This would have been in my sources list, except that it was posted just after I filmed my video. Crash Course is created by Hank & John Green of VlogBrothers on YouTube. They also created SciShow & SciShow Space and Mental Floss. Lots of fun learning from the Green bros!

In the Movies... Ep.2: Much Ado About Nothing & Shakespeare Movies



Juliana and I were very excited to sit down and record our second episode of In the Movies! We both love Shakespeare movies but Juliana is a self-proclaimed "theatre kid" so she came prepared with a lot more knowledge and love and a big book of Shakespeare.

We didn't watch Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing together, but we did together watch our favorites, David Tennant and Catherine Tate, play Benedick and Beatrice in the West End's Wyndham's Theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing. (Recorded live in London, September 2011.) Juliana, being a Shakespeare nerd, has seen many interpretations of many Shakespeare plays in her time. I've seen a few in high school and a few movies. I wanted to see another version of Much Ado to give me some perspective on Whedon's version. If you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend watching the Tennant & Tate production. They are a dream comedy team.

We talk a lot about the beauty of Whedon's movie and how Shakespeare is best when watched, not when awkwardly read aloud by a teenager in a classroom. We also mention how many movies are loosely based on Shakespeare plays, and you might not even know it. Here's a list of some of them, and other classic literature that got interpreted in modern cinema, on the Geek & Sundry blog.

We hope you enjoy this episode and it encourages you to check out some Shakespeare movies that you didn't think you'd be able to understand or like. We're really looking forward to sharing episode 3 next Friday because it's a topic very important to us; Women in Film. 

Listen to this week's episode in the player below, or subscribe in iTunes (where you can also give us a five-star review!)

New Podcast! The Doctor's Companions: A Doctor Who Rewatch Podcast

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It's another podcast from me and my friends! For this podcast, Juliana and I are joined by our friend, Linda, to discuss our favorite show

Doctor Who

. Well, I should say, it's definitely Juliana's and my favorite show, but Linda is our resident newbie (NeWhovian, if you will). She's watching Doctor Who for the first time for this podcast, so we can get first impressions from her as Juliana and I have rewatched the show so many times we no longer remember what our first thoughts were.

In each episode, we are discussing two episodes of

Doctor Who

, starting at the beginning of the new series with "Rose". Linda gives her first impressions of characters and plot lines, while Juliana and I can be a bit more critical of how the show compares to its future episodes. This podcast definitely has spoilers as Juliana and I are always getting ahead of ourselves, comparing The Doctor, baddies, and companions to future storylines. However, as Linda is still working her way through the entire series, we try not to spoil ahead of what Linda has seen. In a few months, when Linda is caught up- all bets are off, we can talk about anything! So this isn't a podcast for people to listen to along with their first viewing of the series. It's for crazy Whovians who are so into

Doctor Who

that they would want to listen to three friends discuss each and every episode.

Aside from discussing what happens in each episode, our thoughts, and comparisons to the rest of the series, we will be pointing out sneaky foreshadowing (like every "bad wolf" reference), deciding how realistic the science is (Where is this artificial gravity coming from?!), and fun behind-the-scenes tidbits we get from

Doctor Who Confidential

. We also do fun stuff like tell you which British treat we are indulging in while we record (tea, of course, but also Jammie Dodgers, etc.), answer any emails we get from listeners, a question of the week (Who's your favorite one-off companion?), and we always check in to see if anyone cried during that episode. (Season 2 finale, for sure!)

We recorded the first three episodes in one crazy long afternoon full of comparing notes, feeling awkward talking into a mic, tea, Jammie Dodgers, and sore butts from sitting on shitty folding chairs. Unfortunately, I recorded those first three episodes with some kind of voice effect on, so we all have a bit of an echo. Fortunately, I realized what the problem was, and the audio will be much cleaner after the third episode.

This podcast will have the same uneven schedule (two weeks on, one week off) as

In the Movies

, so it will take approximately one hundred years to get through the entire series, but we are all looking forward to it!

Listen to it on

iTunes

(subscribe, rate & review!), our

Podbean

site, or right here, using the embedded player below!

New Podcast! In the Movies... with Tish and Juliana

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It's finally here! The idea was hatched in my brain a couple years ago, shared with Juliana a couple months ago, recorded a couple weeks ago, and now it's finally in the iTunes store!

Hop on over to the iTunes store with

this link

or you can search "Tish Chambers" (I'm searchable in iTunes, guys!) to find it or "In the Movies" will find it fifth in the list of podcasts! 

Here's the deal: We are passionate cinephiles who have a lot to say about movies and the industry. Each episode focuses on one movie and a related topic. We’re interested in how movies are made, how stories are told, and what they tell us about our culture.

In our first episode, we talk about

The Host

and movies based on books. (See how the topic is related to the movie? You get the idea.) Future episodes will include

Much Ado About Nothing

& Shakespeare in movies,

Bridesmaids

& women in the film industry,

Barbarella

& movies that are so bad they're good, Disney fairy tale villains, 3D technology, LGBT representation, science fact vs. science fiction... I could go on and on. We have so many topics to discuss that we are just so excited to get to all of them!

For now, our schedule is a bit odd. Unfortunately, hosting a podcast ain't cheap if you want enough space to upload one every single week. We're paying for a hosting site, but we can't fit four episodes in a month's worth of space. So, working with what we have, we will be posting episodes two weeks on, one week off (three out of any four weeks). Odd schedule, I know, every other week would make more sense, but we want to get out as many episodes as we can! So, almost every Friday you can expect a new podcast episode.

Who wants an origin story?! Here's how this all came together for me and Juliana... 

It was a couple years ago that I first started listening to podcasts, specifically

StarTalk Radio

 with Neil DeGrasse Tyson (I'm really into science and shit, guys.) It was then that I first had the idea of the format for this podcast. It was very exciting for me as podcasts were a new media to me. I'd never had a podcast idea before. There was just one flaw in my brilliant idea; I didn't have anyone to podcast with. All the podcasts I was listening to were essentially hour-long conversations between interesting people (

The Nerdist

,

Girl on Guy

). As much as I wanted to make a podcast, I knew it wouldn't be what I wanted, and what people would want to listen to, if it was just one person rambling on about her thoughts on movies. I needed a co-host, or at least a range of regular guests. The problem with that was my friends did not share my love of movies. I've never had friends that shared my hobbies (making videos, blogging) or some of my interests (movies, the movie industry, movie making, TV). So where would I find someone to talk movies with? 

I held onto the format idea, debating back and forth if I should just go ahead and do the podcast by myself, or maybe write it for the blog instead. I went so far as to purchase a good microphone and create

cover art

for the podcast. A few months ago, I decided I would condense the idea to make it into videos on my YouTube channel. I filmed one, but

editing it

was doing my head in. I was all over the place, and having trouble keeping it short enough. (No one watches anything over 5, maybe 10, minutes long on YouTube, really.)

Around that same time, I started listening to a

Friends

rewatch podcast (

Best of Friends

) that I really enjoy and sparked the idea in my head of a

Doctor Who

rewatch podcast with me (a full-on obsessed Whovian) and a friend who was new to

Doctor Who

. I thought of my friend Linda, who I knew listened to some podcasts and had asked me about

Doctor Who

a while ago. When we got together to discuss our idea, we were with our whole group of friends in a hot tub (Jealous?) and as we discussed, our friend Juliana perked up because she was also obsessed with

Doctor Who

and, evidently, podcasts. I should explain now that my group of best friends have been my best friends since high school. Juliana was a new friend that I met at work and had become a friend over the past six months. It had apparently completely skipped my mind that I had a friend who was as into

Doctor Who

as I was. So, Linda, Juliana and I decided to do the

Doctor Who

podcast together. And on the way home, I brought up my movies podcast idea to Juliana, since I had just that night realized I had a friend who was as into movies as I am. I was so used to doing my creative projects alone, or sometimes dragging my friends into them, that I forgot I had a new friend, Juliana, who actually shared my interests.

So, I sent Juliana all my notes I had for possible movies & discussion topics, and she sent back all her thoughts on them, and we got really excited to start recording! And the rest is history... Or, rather, one podcast episode so far.

Listen to our podcast on

iTunes

or, if you're new to this whole podcast thing and/or not into iTunes, you can listen on our

Podbean site

 or use the embedded player below! Be sure to subscribe, review, and give us five stars in the iTunes store. And, of course,

listen

to it! If you're not into movies that much (What are you doing on my blog then?) then share it with your movie-loving friends!

And watch out for our

Doctor Who

podcast,

The Doctor's Companions: A Doctor Who Rewatch Podcast

, premiering next Thursday!

February & March Round Up: Galentine's Day, Twitch, and FROOT


TableTop Day shirts // This is how I edit // I've been obsessed with Skittles lately

 Movies

Kick Ass 2 - I didn't like it as much as the original, although I always like seeing Hit Girl be kick ass.
The Host - Poor adaptation of the book. Juliana and I discussed The Host and movies based on books for our first episode of our In the Movies podcast... coming soon!
The Grand Budapest Hotel - It's all the delightful fun that you expect from a Wes Anderson movie.
The Pirate Fairy - I just watch all the Tinker Bell movies, okay? They're fun and the baby crocodile in this one is soooooooo cute I nearly cried.
Fast & Furious 6 - Yes, I'm so diverse and interesting that I can enjoy a Tinker Bell movie and a Fast & Furious movie equally.
Blue is the Warmest Color - I enjoy slow-paced movies like this that focus on character and relationship development.
The Emperor's New Groove - I blame Tumblr for this one. So many gifs and jokes from this movie going around that I figured I should watch it but I didn't think it was very amusing. Sorry, Tumblr.
The Lego Movie - This was just as fun as it looked and I loved it, but I couldn't help but notice the lack of female characters and gender stereotypes that it was full of.
Gone Girl - Well, if there was any small part of me that thought I might ever want to get married, this movie certainly killed it.
Life Partners - The story was pretty cliché; two female BFFs who are ridiculously close until one gets a boyfriend and moves on with her life (ie. Frances Ha) with the only twist being one of them is a lesbian.
Barbarella - I've been wanting to watch this movie for so long, but was waiting to watch it with a friend because I knew it would be a so-bad-it's-good kind of movie. Juliana and I watched it together and thought it was amazing and hilarious and crazy.

Rewatched: Bridesmaids

TV

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season 10 - Gotta catch up on my funnies.
Candidly Nicole - Nicole has such a knack for comedy.
Garfunkel and Oates - I love this comedy duo.
Cosmos - I love learning science with my favorite astrophysicist.
Orange is the New Black: Season 2 - I love learning more about the women's pasts.

Rewatched: Friends, Bunheads, How I Met Your Mother, Happy Endings, Doctor Who (S. 5-8), Tin Man, Alice.


YouTube

Adult Wednesday Addams, Season 2 - She has some great episodes this season, including one in which Wednesday deals with cat-callers.
VlogBrothers - I finally jumped on board the Green brothers' train, subscribing to their channels SciShow, SciShow Space, and Mental Floss as well.
KIN Fables - This beautiful three-part fairy tale is finally complete.
Candidly Nicole - I'm not sure what order these all go in, but it was short webisodes first, then a TV season, and now more webisodes, I think.
Craft Lab - Geek & Sundry's latest original show is really fun to watch.
Anna Akana - I watched all her short films in one day and was amazed.
The Creators - This short doc gives a look into what it's like to be a popular YouTuber.
Hello Giggles has been rolling out some really good web series on their channel including TALK, The Next Steps, and The Other Client List.
Every Frame a Painting - These video essays are a very interesting look into the filmmaking form.
Just Between Us - Two hilarious ladies give their very different ideas of advice.
Evan Rachel Would - This is actually an ad, but I don't even care because it's so awesome.
Epic Meal Time - I'm way behind on this, but I recently developed a slight crush/obsession with Harley Morenstein, so I'm watching him and friends make weird food that I would never eat.
Geek & Sundry Twitch - My favorite YouTube channel now has a Twitch channel. They stream every weekday with different programming. It's something I look forward to everyday. As someone who doesn't have cable/satellite/whatever, it's exciting to be watching something live, and see the hosts interact with the people in the chat. 


Music

Marina & the Diamonds - FROOT
Walk Off the Earth - Rule the World
Karmin - Along the Road

Games


Dixit - This game has been on my wishlist for a while, so I was really excited when my friend got it.
Star Trek Catan & Settlers of Catan: Seafarers Edition - We've gone a bit Catan-crazy, with one of my friends getting various expansions and extensions.
Pandemic - It can be a nice change to play a cooperative game with friends instead of competing with them.
My Little Pony Monopoly - We all agree that a Monopoly game always feels too long, but I liked the cute ponies and places.
Ticket to Ride - It's really fun and not too competitive and you can sing train songs while you play.

Videos







Fun Times


Galentine's Day - We went skating on the Rideau Canal. I've lived in the Ottawa area for almost 15 years and never been skating on the canal. I also haven't even skated since high school, so I had to buy skates just for this occasion. I used to figure skate, but it's been so long that I was really sore the next day, but I loved skating so much. I finally have something to look forward to when Winter comes again.

Recording Podcasts - Starting soon, I will have two podcasts coming at you! Juliana and I are talking movies on In the Movies and Juliana, Linda and I are talking Doctor Who on The Doctor's Companions. It's been a lot of work and a lot of fun recording the first few episodes. We're really excited to get them going and hope we have some listeners!

Cupcakes & Cocktails: The Little Mermaid


This video was super fun to make. I love my seashell crop top that I made with iron-on transfer paper, and I'm so lucky that I found shorts the exact shade of green to match Ariel's tail! I started off trying to do a higher-pitched sing-songy Disney princess kind of voice to be Ariel but it somehow turned into a sort of cliché dumb blonde kind of thing. Or just me being weird and stupid as usual but with a slightly different inflection. 

Sea salt buttercream (recipe found here) sounded super weird to me, but I knew sea salt & caramel was a popular flavour combo these days, so I figured it wasn't too much of a stretch that sea salt & dark chocolate turned out to also be a popular flavor combo. The icing doesn't actually taste salty. It's not like a chocolate cupcake you dropped in the ocean. (Although, I'm sure that's how Ariel would prefer to eat her cupcakes.) I found that the salt actually enhanced the sweetness of the icing in an unusual way. If you think about it, any sweet thing you make always has a pinch of salt, right? And some people (not me) actually enjoy sweet and salty foods in their mouth at the same time. It's something about contrast and juxtaposition that enhances both flavours.

The fish bowl cocktail (recipe found here) was an ambitious idea. It's clear to me now that the person who wrote out the recipe must not have actually made it like they described. The photo on the website has the ice and fish candy, but no nerds. You do not want to see what the drink looked like after I was done cleaning up after my video. (Hint: My friend said it looked like a disease.) The nerds as aquarium gravel is adorable, but not practical if you're going to take more than 2 minutes to drink your drink. I also should have had more ice and/or less drink. You can see as I'm pouring in the drink the point that the ice starts to float and my fishies fall to the bottom. You need enough ice in there that it doesn't move, so the fish candies stay in place. In the end, it didn't matter how cute the drink looked because it was actually soooo delicious! I have absolutely no taste for wine, beer, or any drink that actually tastes like alcohol, so I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first sip and it just tasted like a fruity drink. I'm also not a fan of pineapple juice, but in this drink it's just enough to make it taste very "tropical".

Are you surprised this is the first time that I've dressed up as Ariel when I've had my red hair since October? I am. When I went red with my hair it was more about fulfilling my dream of having long red hair that I'd had since I first dyed my hair bright red when I was 16. I didn't realize the Ariel comparison until I actually had the very long red hair. That's when I decided I would keep the red until at least May so that I could cosplay as Ariel for Ottawa ComicCon.

So, I'm finally getting around to making the most of my red hair by rocking the pin-up look for my TableTop Day photos (Red hair looks so good with the pin-up style, amiright?), and now being a modern/hipster Ariel for a video. My next red-hair-essential look will be a Snow White themed episode of Cupcakes & Cocktails (Skin white as snow, hair red as blood, lips black as ebony... That's how it goes, right?) I'm loving the red hair lately so much that I'm tempted to keep it into the summer months so I can actually wear my hipster Ariel outfit and get some good outdoor photos of my Ariel cosplay (her blue dress look). However, maintaining a very specific shade of red hair is a lot more work and dye ($$$) than my previous hair color, purple/pink. Purple is more forgiving because I liked it to be various shades of purple & pink, in various degrees of fading. Red has to be refreshed frequently or else I get people saying it's pink, which has always been a big pet peeve of mine.

Well, enjoy your cupcakes and cocktail. (They're honestly sooo delicious!) I'll leave you with my best #HipsterAriel impression.

Getting Ready for TableTop Day


Board games have become a big part of my life in the past year since I binge-watched all existing episode of Geek & Sundry's TableTop and started insisting on game nights with my friends. By now, we're all full-on board game geeks, playing together at least once a month, buying new games, and looking forward to International TableTop Day on April 11th.

Wil Wheaton (host of TableTop and well-known geek) and Geek & Sundry (led by geek queen Felicia Day) designated the first International TableTop Day three years ago. They created the day to encourage people all over the world to play board games. Local game shops and groups can organize a TableTop Day event and register it on the TableTop Day website so that local people can find it and attend.

Nothing is stopping my friends and I from spending an entire day playing board games at any time, but I see TableTop Day as a chance to play games with some new people, maybe even making some friends, and to play games that we don't have.

We're also particularly excited about this TableTop Day because they are holding a What's Your Game Plan? contest. For a chance to win a prize pack full of board game goodies, you can enter a 1-minute video about how you're getting ready for TableTop Day and what your plans are. Not knowing that it would be a random draw contest (boo!), I went into full video-creator mode and wrote a fun video idea that involved my friends and I training hard for TableTop Day. I'm really proud of it, so here it is!



I'm also really proud of our gaming t-shirts that we made. When my friend showed me an image of the Settlers of Catan pun, "Yes, we Catan!" I immediately wanted more gaming puns and the image of Rosie the Riveter saying "We can do it!" came to mind. That, and my friend's idea for matching game day shirts, led me to redesign Rosie to say "We Catan do it!" and add our gaming group name (that we came up with for the sole purpose of this shirt design), Board Bitches. With Rosie sporting the popular bandana look, we decided we'd have to follow suit. I also wanted the shirts to be like sports jerseys, so, with much difficulty for some, we came up with game-themed nicknames for all of us (TableTop Tish, MonopoLinda, YahtzKelsey, Kim of Catan, and RPJuliana) and threw our favorite number on the back, too. We made the t-shirts using iron-on transfer paper which proved much easier and better looking than I imagined and I only screwed up one t-shirt (and remade it).

We made sure to get some nice group shots of us all dressed up in our game outfits after we shot the video. I also got individual photos of my friends that day, but I opted to model for my own individual photos at home in my "studio". And I'm glad I did my photos later because I tried something different with my pin-up style hair and I loved it! So much that I had to take about a hundred photos. (As I usually do for any photo shoot I set up, and only get about 5 that I like enough to edit up nice.)

We brought a variety of games to build a game pile for the video.
Game face!

Board Bitches will fuck you up!
QTs
Channeling the pin-up vibe.






You can print your own Wil, Felicia, & TableTop trophy cut-outs so they can join you on TableTop Day, or live on your game shelf. 
Wil & trophy here. Felicia here.

January Round-Up: Blog Design, Settlers of Catan, & Joss Whedon

My Secret Santa gifts // Words for 2015 // Harley Quinn taking over my globe

This is an oddly short list of stuff I did this month, considering I had a lot of free time on my hands what with being unemployed. Yup, at the beginning of the month the bakery that I worked at closed unexpectedly. So, this is what I did this month in between looking for jobs, sending out résumés, feeling the heartbreak of having exciting employment opportunities fall apart, and dealing with the bullshit my former employer is putting me through. 

Movies Watched

 The Trip to Italy
This is a sequel to The Trip, both starring Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden. It's not for everyone, as it's not an action-filled plot. It's mostly the two of them battling Michael Caine impressions over dinner. I find the two of them hilarious, but the overall feel of the movie is a bit melancholy as they deal with their family lives.

In Your Eyes
I'm so glad I finally watched this movie. I have trouble getting through an entire movie without wanting to check my phone or get up for a break, but this movie kept my attention 100%. Two people discover they can hear, see, & feel each other's actions through a mysterious telepathic connection. It's amazing to see how they get to know each other, talk about past experiences that they were also connected, and change each other's lives without ever meeting. Highly recommend.

Rewatched: The Book of Life, Notting Hill, Love and Other Disasters, Legally Blonde, Lost in Translation, The Bling Ring, Serenity, Much Ado About Nothing

TV Watched

 Lost Tales of the Brothers Grimm - I wrote about my obsession with this strange puppet show here. I watch it every year around Christmastime because the first time I saw it was on New Year's Eve, and several years later when I finally got it on DVD, it was around Christmastime, so it's become an annual thing. It's so weird and hilarious.

Firefly - My annual viewing of Firefly (and Serenity) happens in January.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl - After watching Inara in Firefly, it reminded me how much I love this show about a "companion".

Misfits - One of the best British shows I've discovered yet. I meant this to be my "background watching" but I ended up just watching every episode because it's so damn good!
Friends - This show is always my "background" TV show this time of year, but I do end up just watching it a lot. It's really the only live-in-front-of-a-studio-audience sit-com that I can stand.

Web Series Watched

Co-Optitude & TableTop - I rewatched both these Geek & Sundry shows as "background" TV. 
Kiriosity - Kiri Callaghan has been making these videos on Geek & Sundry for a while, but I just decided to check them all out. She dives into some currently relevant topics, usually science.
LARPs - A new show on Geek & Sundry. I've never LARP'd but Felicia Day and Geek & Sundry create great web series about geeky stuff that I enjoy even if I'm not into that particular geeky world.

Music Played

Charli XCX - Sucker
Violents - Blush (Learn about the project here.)

Games Played

Settlers of Catan - One of my friends got this game for Christmas and we were all really excited to play it for the first time. It was really fun. (And I won, of course.) We love it so much we've been brainstorming our own versions of the game ie "Gangsters of Catan". Are you intrigued?
Yahtzee - Nothing like a ladies' Yahtzee and wine night to cheer you up when you're unemployed and lonely.

Fun Had

As you can see, I gave my blog a long-overdue redesign. Well, the basic structure is the same but I created a background, header, and side navigation all by myself. Yup, I'm gonna keep bragging about it because I had never made anything in Illustrator before and had to 'learn as you go' it. I'm really happy with the design and proud that I made it all from scratch. 

Along with the black, white & gold blog design, I made this square logo for myself, with my YouTube channel in mind. (I also ordered square business cards with this logo on one side and my basic info on the other. I'm pretty excited to see them!)

And speaking of my YouTube channel, I've been spending this month working on my new video ideas. I have four new shows I'm starting soon. I won't get too ahead of myself and tell you all about them as things can still change, but I've already shot video for the intros and I'm shooting a first episode this week which will be up in time for Valentine's Day. Spoiler: It involves champagne. 

2014 Round-Up: My Favorites




What a year! I may not have blogged as much as I wanted to, but I did have some good times. Here are some of my favorite things I experienced this past year. Here's to 2015!

Favorite Movies

Camp Takota - The "Holy Trinity" of YouTube (Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, and Hannah Hart) made a movie! It's hilarious and a touching story about friendship and nice things.

 Much Ado About Nothing - Making a Shakespeare movie that I not only understood completely but also made me laugh is another reason to adore Joss Whedon.

 Maleficent - It's a beautiful, magical story about the pain of betrayal, true love, and forgiveness.

 Guardians of the Galaxy - Dancing baby Groot. Need I say more? Okay, how about hilarious, fun, adventure, sci-fi, friendship...

 The Book of Life - It's just soooo beautiful! And a great story about love and a kickass lady standing up for herself.

Favorite TV

American Horror Story: Coven - I wasn't interested in this series until I started seeing lots of this season on Tumblr. I'm into anything to do with witches, so I had to check it out. It's crazy and weird and I love it.

 Broad City - These girls are my heroes, role models, BFFs (I wish). So hilarious and relatable and nuts and I just have mad love for these courageous characters.

 Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Funniest new show this year. It's brilliant. I love shows with a diverse ensemble cast. Every one of them is a weirdo and I love it.

 How I Met Your Mother - I finally watched it. Wish I skipped the ending. Nevertheless, it's a funny show and I grew to love the characters. I love seeing a healthy relationship on screen for once (Lily and Marshal), and I think I love Robin the best because she's so ambitious and badass and a bro.

 Parks and Recreation - I started to watch it once and wasn't feeling it, but tried again and loved it. Nearly everything April does reminds me of my best friend, so it's like watching friends on TV.

Favorite Web Series

 TableTop - Solely responsible for my board game revival this year. It's strange how fun it is to just watch people play a board game. But, you get to see a new game being played so you can decide if it's something you would like to play, and everyone is so funny, it's like being at a board game party except everyone is more entertaining.

 Co-Optitude - I was already into collecting old consoles & games, but this definitely inspired me to actually play them more and dub myself a "casual retro" gamer. Even if the game they're playing sucks, Felicia and Ryon make it so much fun.

 Bee and Puppycat - So weird. So funny. So delightful. I'm obsessed. Peed with excitement when they announced it was becoming a series. Now I pee with excitement every other week when a new episode is posted.

 Chris Hardwick’s All Star Bowling - I love bowling. I love Chris Hardwick. I love celebrities, comedians, and super cool people. It's like watching a bunch of cool people you recognize hang out and it leaves you with an urge to go bowling.

 The Guild - It's a web series about gamers. I am not a gamer. But I love these characters. Jeff Lewis as Vork is definitely my favorite because he is just the funniest.

Favorite Music

 BEYONCÉ by Beyoncé - I didn't jump on the Beyoncé bandwagon until early this year, but once I watched through the whole album, I was hooked. I still am. I haven't experienced this kind of album love in a long time.

 The New Classic by Iggy Azalea - I've never been one for rap and/or hip-hop but I am into Iggy. I just am.

 Goddess by Banks - Listened to this album a million times and I'm not sick of it. It's just gorgeous. It's just musical perfection to me. The music and the lyrics are just- Mmm. I'm just so deep into it and never want to get out.

 1989 by Taylor Swift - So much fun! I really liked her last album, too, but I am into every song of this album.

 Queen of the Clouds by Tove Lo - Powerful pop music with powerful lyrics. I'm dancin', I'm vibin', I'm singing along.

Favorite Games

 Child of Light - This is the reason I made my brother give me a PS3. (He had more than one, that hoarder.) Felicia Day talked about it in one of her videos and I thought it was just so pretty that I had to have it. It is very pretty with very beautiful animation and game play. It's a very pretty adventure and every once in a while you have to fight bad things. I like the fight style because you take turns with your moves, so I don't get that panic that I get from other games when I am suddenly under attack.

 Little Big Planet Karting - I love racing games. This racing game also focuses on weapons and defense while racing. It's got some crazy adorable and weird and awesome levels and you can make your racer and car really cute.

 Scotland Yard - I got this board game from my parents' stash and my friends and I played it so often this past year that we actually got sick of it and had to officially retire it. It's a really cool team detective game, but every game goes the same so it doesn't take many plays to get sick of it. We'll play it again someday.

 Say Anything - This game is super fun for a group of close friends. It's akin to Cards Against Humanity in that the funniest/best answer wins, but because you write your own answers to questions that begin "In my opinion..." it's really only possible to play with your friends who know you well enough to give good answers.

 The Game of Life: My Little Pony - My last board game purchase of 2014, we had a lot of fun playing this at Girls Game Night. I don't know the original Game of Life well enough to make comparisons, but this game is based on friends, friendship points, and good times. Not to mention, your game pieces are teeny weeny My Little Ponies (I dibs Doctor Whooves!)

Favorite Cakes

Favorite Fun Times


 Making The Unicorn Hunt - Kelsey and I finished up the first season of The Unicorn Hunt at the beginning of the year. I loved making The Unicorn Hunt so much. I learned so much, challenged myself, and am so proud that I did it! I'm excited to start season 2 this Spring!


 Dying my Hair - In May, I made a very rash decision to bleach da shit out of my beautiful long dark hair so I could have fun with pastel colors. I've had bright red hair several times in my life, but never when my hair has been this long (it's never been this long) and never any Manic Panic color other than red. I had fun experimenting with purple and pink for 5 months and then went red in October for my Queen of Hearts costume. I'm keeping the red until May at least so I can cosplay as Ariel for Ottawa ComicCon, and then I think back to purple & pink.


 Camping - My friends and I went on a little camping trip in July and it was the best! We camped near Toronto so we could go to a bridal shop and the Toronto aquarium. I can't wait to go camping again this summer!


 Getting My Ears Pierced - At the age of 24, I got my very first piercings. I decided to skip the lobes and go for two helix on one ear and the tragus on the other. I hated the silver barbells I had to get pierced with but now I have black hoops and I love them.


 My Birthday Party - I loved my Queen of Hearts costume, cake, tarts and Wonderland theme so much! My friends came over and we played board games and video games and drank and had fun!

 

 Kim’s Birthday Party - We went to Fun Haven which is like a big arcade with bumper cars, a laser obstacle course, laser tag, rock climbing, and so much fun! And then we went out to a club (first time in years, I'm such a boring old lady) and had fun dancing the night away.

 

 The Nutcracker - I've always wanted to get dressed up nice and go see The Nutcracker, so this year I finally did it! I went with two friends, we had great seats, and I loved it so much!


 New Year’s Eve - I went out for NYE for the first time ever, I think. The club we went to played old and new music so it was so much fun to dance to Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls and then Rihanna, etc.

What were your favorites in 2014?