You guys! I’m so sorry! I haven’t updated in forever! Personal stuff going on, not necessarily good…you know the drill.

But, here I am!

I’m not sure what I have to bring you today, so I guess I’ll just ramble on about some things I’m currently enjoying.

#1 - Slayers

Yes, the anime. The old one. The one from back in the day (it was a Wednesday) that most people cut their proverbial Otaku teeth on. You could say that I’m a Born Again Slayers fan. You see, like many, it was one of the first series I ever watched. Oh, how I loved Zelga…I mean, the show. Yeah, that’s it. I loved the WHOLE SHOW.

Oh, who am I kidding? I loved Zelgadis. He was my boy. One of my first big anime crushes. I remember buying the shitajiki (pencil board, for those of you who don’t speak weeaboo) with him in the modern day suit with his shirt unbuttoned. OOOH BABY. Give me a break, I was like 16 and easily excited. I taped it to my closet door. I’m sure my parents were thrilled. They were probably like, “Why is our daughter printing out pictures of this blue guy from the internet and taping them to the wall?” Being a budding fangirl was awesome.

Anyway, that said, I soon collected the whole first season on VHS and parts of TRY via low grade fansubs. My second love was Valgarv, in case anyone was interested. I must get off on those brooding, angsty types.

I never forgot my love of Slayers (or smutty Slayers fanfic) but for a long time I thought I’d seen it all and there was nothing left.

Then, just this past February, I finally got my hands on the entire second season on DVD. I had only ever seen the first four episodes of NEXT because I’m a very bad girl. I watched the hell out of it, and fell in love again. Then, this past summer, Slayers Revolution came out.  Ever since, my life has spiraled out of control like a wayward Giga Slave!

Yeah, I went there.

Only recently I got my hands on the novels that started it all. That’s right, the 8 currently translated volumes of the Slayers light novels. Having sped through all of them in about 3 days, I’ve come to one conclusion: The anime is better. Sorry, Kanzaka-san!

Now, don’t get me wrong. The novels are good and I will probably read some of them again in the future. But as the author once admitted himself, there is no romance because he doesn’t know how to write romance. He’s just a D&D nerd who wanted to write an epic sword and sorcery tale that went into great detail about the workings of magic. He definitely succeeded! The novels are fantastic at explaining how the magic works, why the spells work the way they do, etc. They explain the relationships between all the different types of creatures prancing around the world, and the fighting and gore is top notch. Hey, I’m the type of girl that loves a good shounen series, okay? Don’t judge.

But I am a girl…which means I love to see more character relationships. That’s where the novels fall short. I don’t mean Lina and Gourry need to be making out all the time (although they should) or that Amelia and Zel should skip back to Seyruun singing their undying love for each other (although they should) but there is like NO chemistry in the novels at all. Trust me, I can usually FIND chemistry, even where it doesn’t exist. But not this time.

As a fan, I like them. I like having this grasp of the original material. But all the changes made for the anime have been good ones. And it’s not as if the author doesn’t have a say in the anime, anyway. He does, even for TRY which was not based on the novels.

My only beef so far is the huge dumb leap they made with the character Duclis in Revolution. Seriously, what? I’m not even going to go there. Watch it yourself.

Oh, um, and because I cosplay (which I know I’ve mentioned here once or twice) I totally made an Amelia costume for Halloween this year.

I totally rule.

Shut up, a girl can dream.

#2 - Pushing Daisies

This is one of the best shows currently on TV.  Its stylized storytelling and settings reminds me a lot of the movie “Big Fish”, so if you like that sort of thing you will definitely like this show.  It’s a bit on the macabre side, which is what originally drew me to it.  But the stories, characters, acting, and beautiful directing have kept me spellbound.

The show follows Ned, a young man who makes pies for a living.  Ned has a particularly unusual ability.  He can bring dead things back to life with just a touch.  The problem is, a second touch makes them dead again forever.  Also, if he brings someone (or something) back to life and then doesn’t make them dead again within one minute, something else nearby has to die to keep nature in balance.

Ned eventually brings his murdered childhood sweetheart back to life and keeps her there.  He then finds himself teamed up with Emerson Cod, a private investigator who finds out Ned’s secret and uses him to help solve murder cases.  Much hilarity ensues.

Ned’s friend and employee at his pie shop, Olive, doesn’t know his secret (or the secret of the secretly dead girlfriend) but she often gets mixed up in their shenanigans.  The aforementioned dead girlfriend’s still living aunts, Lily and Vivian, are also an important part of the show.  I would like to take this moment to point out that Lily is AWESOME.  Then again, all the characters are awesome.  I adore them all.

The show has a smarmy British narrator and a tongue-in-cheek view of life, death, love, family and pies.

If you’re not watching this show…WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!  Get on it!

#3 - 30 Rock

I don’t know how you guys feel about comedies, but I’m not a big fan.  A comedy has to have a special something to get me involved with it.  I’d have to say the last actual comedy I liked (I don’t count Pushing Daisies since it doesn’t fit the normal comedy mold) was Arrested Development, and you know what happened there.

Well, 30 Rock is very similar.  It’s self deprecating and sometimes even a little offensive, but in a good way!  Masterminded by Tina Fey, 30 Rock follows the behind-the-scenes goings on of a live sketch comedy show.  Basically, it makes fun of SNL.  Alec Baldwin steals just about every scene as Jack Donaghy, the head of the network.  He’s a super conservative Republican who gets off on capitalism.

I don’t think I should say any more.  Just watch it.

#4 - Heroes

After the laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame second season (I blame the Writer’s Strike) it is finally starting to redeem itself a bit.  Although I kind of wish people would stop screwing with the time line.  It really isn’t helping.  Haven’t these people watched Star Trek?  Because if Star Trek taught me anything, it’s to NOT screw with the space time continuum!

Well, I think that’s all I have for tonight.  I figured since I haven’t updated in a while, I should make it a big one!

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Oh my gosh, you guys! Sorry I haven’t updated in forever! I’ve been sick for several days, and otherwise I’ve been busy researching the subject I wanted to write about!

I was going to call this article “Why Enterprise is Good and Everyone Else is Wrong” but after getting a bunch of opinions from the fine folks of the Star Trek LJ community, I now realize that opinions are opinions and since no one could really give me an EXACT reason why they hate Enterprise, I don’t have much material to go on.

Two of the main things people complained about is that the show screwed with canon, and they didn’t like Capt. Archer.

My argument about the canon thing is that IT’S STAR TREK! I don’t think Riker and Geordi were with Zephram Cochran on the Phoenix when it launched, either, but they sure as hell did it in First Contact! You can’t very well argue canon when it comes to sci-fi. That’s like trying to argue about what’s canon in comics. With all the different story arcs, and how everyone is a freakin’ Skrull, you just can’t do it!

As for liking Archer, that’s a matter of taste. I like looking at Scott Bakula, and he doesn’t bother me. So whatever.

Instead of talking about that, I’m going to talk about anime. Because I’ve been watching a lot of it lately, and most everything I’ve watched has been fantastic.

First off, Code Geass R2 is over. The loss of this show is like having a lover suddenly walk out on me while kicking my puppy and stealing my favorite sweater. Even when things were weird and convoluted, I always enjoyed the ride. I wore that red dress. I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. Code Geass only hurts me because it loves me!

I will miss it. And I want a Geass cake for my birthday this year.

Next, I was watching Slayers REVOLUTION while simultaneously finishing Slayers NEXT and then re-watching Slayers TRY. Basically, I’ve bombarded myself (and my poor husband) with this series for over a week, but I find that I’m still fascinated with the mythos and the characters and the world they come from. Everything about this show is amazing! I’ve been watching this series since 1998 and yet am just now learning all the details of their world. Gods, Monsters, Dragons, the differences in the types of magic they perform, and the details of the different worlds that exist in the same place but in different astral dimensions. The world of Slayers is so deep and rich, even though the show itself gives the impression that it’s just about a loud, hungry, obnoxious sorceress. Yeah, I’ll admit, Lina’s squealing can sometimes get to me, but my favorite parts are when things get a little more serious, around the middle and end of each season.

This is one of the classic anime series of all time. It’s among the first I ever watched, and definitely one of the first I collected (on VHS) and watched all of.

Now, about REVOLUTION…I don’t dislike it, but I’m sort of stuck wondering what happened to the characters between the end of TRY and now. For instance, at the end of TRY they dealt with some really heavy stuff. Of course Lina and Gourry go off together as always, Amelia goes back to Seyruun to do whatever it is princesses do, and you see Zelgadis on the road (presumably still looking for his cure) with one of Amelia’s bracelets wrapped around the mouth of his canteen. These guys are CLOSE. They have a closeness that borders on romantic (in Lina and Gourry’s case, that is pretty much canon. In Amelia and Zelgadis’ case…well, don’t ask me because I’ll try to convince you it’s canon!) yet in REVOLUTION it seems like none of that has ever happened. They seem straight up immature and silly, and almost out of character in their lack of concern for each other.

And speaking of canon…talk about ignoring facts that were established in all the other seasons! In one episode, Amelia punches Zelgadis. Now, yes, there is a lot of hitting and punching in Slayers. It’s how they communicate or something. But let’s back this train up a second. Amelia. Punches Zelgadis. Who is a chimera made of human, demon, and ROCK GOLEM. This is a man who has stopped bullets and cannonballs with his head. He’s stopped swords with his body. Yet little Amelia punches him straight in the face (which seems an odd thing for her to do, anyway) and actually HURTS HIM and DOESN’T BREAK HER HAND! Later he’s shown with an ice pack on the spot where she hit him. How could this happen?! People complaining that Enterprise ignores canon have obviously never seen this show.

But for my love of Slayers, I will keep watching. I’ll watch whatever crap they decide to put out, as long as Hayashibara Megumi and Midorikawa Hikaru and all the rest of them are in the cast.

I’ve recently found out that rather than take a break after 13 episodes and coming back with another 13 episodes as part of the same season, there is going to be a “5th” season tentatively titled “Slayers GLORY.” That’s a little weird. We shall see.

And now you’re all caught up on the stuff I’ve been obsessed with lately. As a side note, I’m totally being Amelia for Halloween this year. My HAMMER OF JUSTICE is mighty! Or maybe I’ll just get hammered. For great justice!

On a totally different note, if you’re not watching Pushing Daisies then you really need to start.  Immediately.

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I look forward to seeing the results of scientists activating The Doomsday Machine. Big Bang Theory be damned, I just hope it opens up a wormhole to another dimension! Or kills planets. Or can be used to defeat the Borg. You know, whatever.

Obviously I like a lot of weird things, but today I want to be a huge dork and talk about an anime that I’m currently watching and absolutely love: Code Geass.

Season 2 is drawing to a close, while season 1 has been domestically released and is now airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block of shows. Or so I’ve read, because I don’t watch dubs.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is a show that starts out about one thing, and then gets really wacky and becomes about betrayal, politics, war, and killing various family members.

This show has everything! Mechs, political intrigue, magic powers, really attractive noodle-people, and a dude so FAAAAAABULOUS he’s not even a whole number!

That last part will make sense if you watch the show, I swear.

Honestly, I hate feeling like I’m part of a bandwagon fandom. But I’ve come to realize that the reason a lot of these shows become so popular is because there is a lot to like about them! Just look at Gurren Lagann, the fandom has exploded (and is still exploding) and yet I am exploding right along with them because the show is fantastic. It’s the same thing with Code Geass, which I started watching on a whim several months ago and finished the first season within a few days.

I know it’s hard to believe, but I guess the reason stuff becomes popular is because it’s actually good.

But you know what’s NOT good? The show “Fringe.” Some new J.J. Abrams thing that premiered last night on Fox. Not only did it start out on a plane just like LOST, I swear it had the same soundtrack. Not to mention its shameless and blatant desire to be a modern version of one of my favorite shows of all time.

That’s right, J.J., I’ve already seen this show. It was called The X-Files.

I fear for the new Star Trek movie coming out next year, that J.J. Abrams is directing. Mr. Abrams was quoting as saying that he’s more of a Star Wars fan. My fandom weeps.

And then there was Cloverfield. That was two hours of my life I can never get back.

Damn, I wish I didn’t love LOST so much.

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So, my goal here is to write all the informative (and asinine) things I think about on a weekly basis. Sounds easy enough.

First off, my name is Cristi. I’ve been a huge nerd for as long as I can remember, and have been a con-hopper and costumer since the summer before I turned 14. It all started with Star Trek cons and tiny local comic cons, and then in 1999 it evolved when I attended Otakon in Baltimore for the first time. After that, I hit between 4 and 7 anime cons per year, plus Dragon*Con and the occasional Wizard World, etc.

The rest is history. I enjoy everything from Firefly to Ghost Hunters. Catwoman to Chastity. Slayers to Code Geass. Pretty much everything that has ever been good in the world, and even Star Trek: Enterprise, which I know is questionable.

But we’re not here to talk about me, though I am quite an expert in that subject.

I think I will start my first entry talking about something I happen to know a lot about: Cosplay.

The origin of cosplay has been debated for several years. We all know that a Japanese man came up with the word, itself. Just an Engrish amalgamation of the words “costume” and “play.” But I argue that we came up with the concept of costuming and reenacting right here in America. Look at the Renaissance folks, and the Civil War re-creators. I once heard a story that during World War II our Superman comics made their way overseas, and the Japanese were inspired to create their own comics after seeing ours. Well, I don’t care one way or another about that. I don’t even know if it’s true. But it’s definitely plausible, and makes me wonder if the very manga and anime we love now came from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s creation?

The first Star Trek convention was held around 1972, by a group of like-minded fans who rented out a ballroom with their own money. They had a costume contest even then. So all I’m saying is that while the act of costuming is only now coming more to the surface of popular culture (i.e. Jay Leno sending a correspondent to San Diego Comic Con to interview costumers) it has existed since before I was even a twinkle in my mom’s eye. Where it came from isn’t even that important, but what about where it’s going?

What about cosplay showing up in today’s media? Does it make those of us who participate look like weirdos, or does showing its popularity make it seem more acceptable? I find that cosplay in the media is a double-edged sword. After all, “mainstream” doesn’t necessarily have to be a dirty word. I can get my anime now at Best Buy, or online the very next day after it airs in Japan. Back in the day, I was paying $30 for a 4-episode crappy bootleg fansub at the local comic con, or ordering fansubs online that had to be *gasp* MAILED to me! So mainstream works for me in that way, because I benefit from it. But mainstream costuming? Suddenly everyone thinks they should go to school for fashion design, or thinks they are a model. While I think that’s great and everyone should do what they want in life, the hobby does seem to be getting a bit inundated with it. I used to say, “The more the merrier!” but as the con attendees keep getting younger and I keep getting older, I’m not so sure.

I guess I have more complex thoughts on the subject, but I don’t want to start sounding like a cosplay grandma. That does tend to happen. “BACK IN MY DAY ALL OUR COSTUMES WERE MADE OF TRASH BAGS AND CHEWING GUM!”

To change gears for a second, a female DJ on the local rock station where I live was making fun of Dragon*Con today. Somehow she found out about it, and started making really obnoxious jokes about nerds reading from books all about dragons. While I don’t take myself seriously at all (cosplay is NOT serious business), I was prompted to write to her. I called her out on her attitude, and explained how friendly, talented, and straight up awesome the people who go to Dragon*Con are. She wrote back and explained to me that she thinks of herself as a bit of a nerd and was only making fun because you’re allowed to “make jokes about your own kind.” She told me to let her know the next time there’s a con, so I linked her to Baltimore Comic Con. In return, she gave me free tickets to see The Black Crowes. Right on!

Anyway, it does make me wonder. Was she serious? Is she just going to show up at the con with her microphone and belittle the attendees? I really hope not, because I’ll feel somewhat responsible. I think I’ll try for some healthy optimism, and hope that she really is a geek and will go experience the con for herself. Maybe she’ll see we’re not all creeps living in our parents’ basement. I hate stereotypes, and I am living proof that they are wrong.

So what does everyone think?

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