SDCC 2013!!! + Best Cosplays (Part 1)

It's that time of year again! San Diego Comic Con 2013 was just a couple of weeks ago! I look forward to it all year. It's a great amalgamation of a lot of very different things that I like. This was the very first year I got to go all 4 days with preview night and it was a very cool experience with one bad occurrence. Despite the bad things, the camaraderie of nerds and the unforgettable experiences outshine those things.

So, to start this series, here are my very favorite cosplays of this year.

* Genderbent Powerpuff Girls and Him

* modern and stylish interpretation of Ursula.

* Rufio! Rufio! Ru---fi----ooooooooooooo!!

* Sharknado! I never thought I would see it as a costume!

* Edward Scissorhands! This guy stayed in character for everyone that came up to him. He had the mannerisms and expression down pat, plus the costume is amazing.

* Bane. This was another guy that stayed in character. He had the voice and the mannerisms very accurate. This type of cosplayer makes me feel like I'm meeting the character rather than just a person dressed as them. It just makes the experience a little more special.

More tomorrow!

The Beautiful and the Cursed

It's the turn of the century and Ingrid Waverly moves to Paris from London in disgrace. Not only did the boy she loved propose to her best friend, but she is also blamed in burning down said best friend's house (which was a total accident). Seeing no other option, the Waverly family relocates with Grayson, Ingrid's twin brother, going ahead to make preparations. When the rest of the family arrive to move into their new home, Grayson is missing and no one is concerned because of his reputation for partying and disappearing for days at a time. Enter Luc, a servant with an attitude problem and a deep, dark secret. Of course he's gorgeous and Ingrid is inexplicably drawn to him. Her little sister Gabriella sense there is something weird about him and that he knows more than he lets on. Can Luc help them find their lost brother?

The Beautiful and the Damned is the debut novel of Page Morgan and the beginning of a series. Although not a perfect novel. I found it to be enjoyable. Gargoyles are the focus creature and they prove to be a welcome change to the typical werewolves and vampires. They protect a certain piece of consecrated land and are obligated to protect the humans that live there. They also have the ability to transform from human form to grotesque winged gargoyle form. All of the gargoyles are people who killed a clergyperson in their life and have to spend eternity in service and atonement. Heaven and hell, demons and angels are major figures in the novel. Angels aren't the beautiful, serene creatures we usually imagine, but cold, hard, and cruel. The prose is engaging and kept my attention even with the inconsistencies and annoyances.

I had quite a few problems with the novel. Ingrid is generally likeable and lauded for being pragmatic and sensible. All of that goes to hell when she meets Luc, who is abrasive, arrogant, and rude. There is no rational reason why she would ever look at him twice in addition to the social constructs separating them. The instalove I hate so very very much is in full force here, totally going against what defines Ingrid as a character. Although gargoyles have a different mythos than vampires, the gargoyle-human relationship has a very similar dynamic to vampire-human relationships: the same angst, the same issues with age, the danger of being involved with him, etc. I was expecting something much different like a relationship actually built on getting to know each other instead the same old Romeo and Juliet crap.

The Beautiful and the Cursed is a typical paranormal romance. The only thing that really sets it apart is the use of gargoyles and the beautiful gothic flavor and setting. I was expecting something more, so I was a little disappointed. I would read the next book in the series, but I would check it out from the library.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Siege and Storm

Alina and Mal have fled to an unfamiliar land and seek to build a new life there, away from the Darkling and Ravka. She returns to her sickly, weak state and suffers from the guilt of the deaths caused by her power. They don't stay in hiding for long and quickly have to face the Darkling along with his frightening new power that was previously thought to be impossible. Alina escapes the Darkling with the help of a notorious pirate that is more than what he seems, but not before she acquires another amplifier. This new power prompts her to seek even more power and drives a wedge between her and Mal. They all return to Ravka to prepare for the coming battle with the Darkling, but only time will tell if all of their efforts will do anything against the Darkling's shadow army.

I read Shadow and Bone before it came out last year and was dismayed that although I got to read it early, I had to wait even longer than normal. The wait was completely worth it, I am pleased to report. All of my expectations were subverted time after time, making Siege and Storm exciting and surprising to read. I expected the beginning to have an extended time in hiding with narrow escapes, but the Darkling showed up fairly quickly to capture them. It was so outside my expectations that it was jarring. In a genre with so many conventions and stereotypes, Siege and Storm is a very welcome breath of fresh air. Most second books of trilogies simply set up for the last book and don't have a lot going on outside of that. Siege and Storm accomplished that and so much more. New and very memorable characters are introduced, my favorite being twins Tolya and Tamar. The characters we all love (or passionately hate) develop and change throughout the story.

Alina Starkov is wanted by a great many people. She's known as the Sun Summoner and Saint Alina, after rumors that she died and resurrected circulate Ravka. Very few people know her as simply Alina. Everyone wants something from her. Princes ask for her hand in marriage, not because they like her, but because of the power she wields. A growing group of people idolize her as a saint and hang their hopes and dreams on her, but know nothing about her at all. She doesn't even recognize herself at times because her hunger for more and more power is changing her. I like this new story line. She's grown a lot since she discovered her power. Now the questions are how much is too much and is she seeking it for herself or to save Ravka? I still like Alina, but I see some dumb decisions she's making, like pushing the only person who likes her for her (Mal) away for his own good.

Siege and Storm is an amazing read with crazy twists and turns, breathtaking action, and heartwrenching events. The Darkling is back with a vengeance, charming, frightening, and seemingly unbeatable. He is such a compelling yet evil character that appears and influences throughout the novel. The ending of Siege and Storm was completely shocking and I didn't see it coming. I need to know what happens next and I will be definitely preordering the final book.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

I'm back! (rant and list)

Hello all. I meant to keep posting throughout the semester, but I have never had so much stress and unhelpful people, and bureaucratic crap to go through. The following is a rant about the semester, so feel free to completely ignore if you aren't interested.

I have had the worst semester ever in my life, so I fell of the face of the planet. My student teaching started off on a bad start when I  had to harass the coordinator for a week before classes started to get my assignment. Then I didn't know what date it started or ended because my lovely school doesn't see fit to make that clear at the beginning or really ever.

Then, I was placed with a band director that had no control over their classroom at all and I, as a brand new teacher, was expected to magically fix all the behavior problems. This person also undermined any sort of authority I had all the time so the kids didn't respect me at all. This person basically thought of me as a free secretary/assistant and would make me teach without her observation, which is required for me to improve and receive input. My supervisor that comes and observes me every so often was completely unhelpful and only succeeded in being completely discouraging, insulting, and a bit sexist. About a month before the semester was over, he said if things don't improve, I'm not going to pass. I had shown improvement and didn't really know what else I could do to improve the situation. I was incredibly stressed and hopeless.

I did end up passing because that teacher I worked with, although awful to work with, really fought for me. I'm so happy to never set foot in that school ever again and to have lots and lots of free time this summer.

Anyway, here is a list of things that kept me sane over this hellish, horrible time.

1) The Binding of Isaac

This adorable and creepy video game is addicting as hell. Isaac is a sweet little boy with a mother who tries to kill him because God told her to. The game features dungeon exploration clearly influenced by Legend of Zelda. Isaac starts in the basement to hide from Mom and works through creepy crawlies and monsters in the cutest cartoony style to kill his mother with the help of items, trinkets, tarot cards, and pills before she kills him. He ventures into this hellish dungeon nude and only welding his own tears as weapons. Each powerup and certain items changes his appearance, making him at times appear horribly disfigured and/or mutated. The game stays fresh because each dungeon is randomly generated with a huge number of creatures, mini bosses, and stage bosses. The deeper implications are pretty depressing, but give the game interesting layers of reality and fiction. If you have a pitch black sense of humor like me, you will like this game. I would play the game for about an hour each night after school to wind down and relax.

2) Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Making a complete 180 from Isaac, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a super addicting, cutesy Nintendo game.  You are the mayor of a town full of animals and the town looks kind of crappy with boarded up buildings and not a whole lot to do. It is up to you to build up the town with ordinances, public works projects, planting greenery, donating stuff to the museum, etc, etc. You can do anything you want in the game: go fishing, catch bugs, earn money, talk to villagers, make the town look like how you want, among many other things. I've played this game since it came out for the DS because my boyfriend played it and I've been hooked every since. This game was only out for about 2 weeks before school was out, but it helped me push through to the end.

3) Books of course!

Books also kept me sane. I read in every free moment. Even though a lot of the books I read in that time were kind of mediocre, they still gave me a nice distraction from my worries and kept me entertained in the long hours I sometimes had to sit around.

So that's it for today. My awful semester and the stuff that kept me sane. What stuff keeps you sane in crazy times?

Til the World Ends

Til the World Ends is comprised of three short stories: Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa, Thistle and Thorne by Ann Aguirre, and Sun Storm by Karen Duvall. All of the stories are apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic and feature some sort of romance.

In Julie Kagawa's Dawn of Eden, a disease threatens to wipe humans off the face of the planet. Red Lung is widespread and only a small percentage of people survive. After a mysterious man, Ben, and his friend show up at Kylie's clinic, a new symptom appears: bleeding from the eyes. Then the people who died get up again and savagely attack any human around them.  These zombie-vampire hybrids are wild, insanely strong, and bloodthirsty.

The situation basically a zombie apocalypse situation except the zombie aren't around during the day. I liked this story, but it seemed a little run of the mill. The plot was very typical for a zombie situation with one slight difference. The romance is based on instalove (eyeroll) with one sex scene, which was unexpected since it's the prequel to Kagawa's teen series Blood Eden and it did seem a little out of place and out of character for Kylie. I think the characters make pretty stupid decisions and don't stand out much, simply being defined by their attraction to each other. The writing was engaging and really the only reason why I liked this story at all. Overall, it was an ok story with a lame romance and zombie-vampires.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Thistle and Thorne features a post-apocalytic world ravaged by pollution and chemical spills. The only law of the land is kill or be killed and the mob bosses have taken control of each city, ruling with fear and intimidation. The extremely rich get to live in protected communities, away from the harmful pollution. Everyone else, including Mari Thistle, gets to live in the Red Zone, scavenge for valuables, and protect what is theirs at all costs. Mari takes jobs as needed to provide for her little brother and sister. A heist goes wrong when she tries to steal a figurine from a rich community based on out of date plans. She goes into hiding to escape the mob boss Davros that hired her and teams up with Thorne, who works for the mob boss but is using Mari's situation to plan his downfall. Together, they hope to bring Davros' reign of terror to an end.

I loved this story the most out of all of them. There was a sense of companionship between Mari and Thorne  and the story didn't focus too much on their romance. There is initial attraction and they get to know each other over time, but that's about the extent of it. Other events were much more important. These characters had the most development out of any of the other stories and the world was much more interesting. I found the structure of society fascinating and utterly believable if the pollution levels got that bad. I loved that Mari is tough, but has a soft spot for her siblings and will do anything to protect them. The storytelling was good and the pacing added tension and kept me interested. My only real complaint is that the ending feels too abrupt and I want to know what happens to the characters and that world after the ending. This is the only one I would have liked to see as a full length novel.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Sun Storm describes a world where sun storms cause radiation and either kill people or give them cool powers. Sarah Daggot has the power to predict the sun storms and chases them to warn the potential victims and to get power from the storms. She meets another Kinetic who can control the weather, but he's on the run from a rogue government agent set on caging and experimenting on Kinetics.

I did not like this story. I love a good sci-fi story, but emphasis on the science part. There was no real explanation for the sun storms or the radiation or anything else for that matter. I would have preferred a straight fantasy story with magic if there was going to be no effort to scientifically explain the extreme climate change. The love story was frustrating. One moment, Sarah doesn't trust the guy and then she does and then she doesn't. Ugh. The changes came out of nowhere and didn't really make sense to me. The developments and revelations were cheesy and unbelievable. The ending was too convenient. The characters didn't develop much and the villains were practically cardboard cutouts. I would not read another story by Karen Duvall.

My rating: 1/5 fishmuffins

Mila 2.0

Mila lives with mother in a boring, tiny Minnesota town. She's used to bigger cities and larger populations, but due to her father's death, her mom felt they needed a change of scenery. Mila has gaps in her memory and doesn't remember when her father died or even if she was there when it happened. Needless to say, she is overwhelmed with dealing with her emotions, adapting to her new surroundings, dealing with her overbearing mother, and coping with the death of her father. A car accident that leaves Mila injured uncovers a shocking secret that her mother tried to keep from her: she's actually an android. Now, she and her mother have to run because the government and another mysterious organization are after them. While running from people who want to kidnap her, Mila has to come to grips with her newly discovered state of being and the relationship with her mother that was essentially built on lies.

There have been a few teen series with artificial intelligence as the focus and they seem to be quite similar to each other. I had a set of expectations going into Mila 2.0 because of this, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it didn't follow the typical formula I had become familiar with. The first part of the story establishes Mila as normal teenage girl in a very emotional situation. She keeps to herself and is very shy, but has her own circle of friends. Her social life is thrown into turmoil when Hunter, a mysterious and hot boy, comes to live in the small town. Her friends turn on her when Hunter shows her more interest and this leads to the car accident and revelation of her true nature. I hated her best friend Kaylee, who dropped Mila over a random boy she doesn't even know, but the portrayal is disturbingly accurate. Although I'm usually not a fan of cliche romances, I didn't mind this one. The actual romance is paper thin and based on instalove, but the reason it is there is necessary. It gives Mila something that is only hers, not manufactured by her mother or the people who made her, and it cements her humanity. It's a small portion of the book, but gives her an anchor and something to fight for when she feels despair.

The next portion of the book follows Mila and her mother on the run. Mila finds out what she is and has to process that information. She could have just allowed her anger and despair to consume her, but she pushes through. Not only does she have to rethink her entire self image, but she also has to figure out how to use all her android programming as uncomfortable as that makes her in order to survive. Their journey also makes her differentiate how much of her memories and personality are programmed and how much are hers. The rest of the story is emotional, exciting, heartstopping, and addicting. I love the third act the most because it gives insight into one of the groups out to get her and shows how her humanity and emotions make her a unique hybrid that has the best of both worlds.

Mila 2.0 is a wonderful debut novel. It isn't perfect, but the writing flows well and kept me reading for hours on end. I can't wait for the next book in the series and I would recommend this installment to fans of science fiction and artificial intelligence stories.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond

Oz Reimagined is basically Oz series fanfiction by published authors. The majority of them are either mediocre or bad. A select few proved to be just as magical as the series it's based on. I'm a huge Oz fan. I read most of the series as a kid and the 1939 film is still one of my favorite films. I love reading retellings and reimaginings of the stories, but a few things really annoy me. Stories that completely ignore the existence of Ozma, the ruler of Oz (I'm looking at you, Oz the Great and Powerful movie) annoy me because she's a central and very important character. Also, writing about the wizard like he actually has magical powers is flat out wrong. The whole point of his character is that he is a charismatic charlatan, not a true magician or wizard. A few of the stories fall into these pitfalls, but there were a few stand out stories that I loved.

Seanan McGuire's Emerald to Emerald, Dust to Dust is a definite standout. Dorothy is in disgrace after being rejected by the manipulative and bitter Ozma, but she remains the Wicked Witch of the West and the leader of the Winkies. Ozma threatens her in order to get her to solve a murder in the Emerald City. McGuire brings so much into the story: political intrigue, class war, drugs, bigotry, and complex relationships. This Dorothy is jaded and tired, but still does what is right, even if she receives no recognition. People like her from our world are seen as riff raff that need to be kept out. Much of Oz lives in poverty while the rich in the Emerald City blind themselves with emerald glasses. The sands from the Deadly Desert are turned into dangerous drugs. I would have loved to see this story fleshed out into a full length novel, especially because of the shocking revelation at the end.

One Flew Over the Rainbow by Robin Wasserman retells the basic Oz story in a mental institution. Dorothy is manipulative and draws Tin, Crow, and Roar into a group. The Wicked Bitch of the West is head of their ward and a yellow stripe runs through the east and west wings of the hospital. Together, the group of misfits grow bolder as they barter for alcohol and attempt to escape, but not everyone gets to go home. This contemporary retelling of Oz really stuck with me and used the Oz allusions the most successfully. It's a dark, gritty story that doesn't have a happy ending.

The Cobbler of Oz by Jonathan Maberry is the sweetest story that is great for all ages. Nyla, a winged monkey who can't fly, goes on an adventure with the help of a cobbler to fix  pair of magical silver shoes made of dragon scales. This one is the closest in tone and style to the original Oz stories. It's full of whimsy, magic, and tinged with sadness. The writing is wonderful and touching. I loved the story and it was a wonderful ending to the anthology.

I did enjoy a few of the other stories, but these are the ones that stayed with me. Too many of these stories just didn't stand out, but the ones that do are worth the read.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins