Miss Geeky

Video of The Day: CL!CK

Melinda — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:30:52 +0000

Episode 163: Inspired by a million true stories

Where great ideas come from:

CL!CK: A LEGO Short Film from Lego Click on Vimeo.

Movie Review: Alice In Wonderland

Melinda — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:29 +0000

When I was 7 my mum made this beautiful cake for my dad’s birthday. It was stunning, with intricate swirls of pink and green icing. You could see the amount of effort my mum had put into the cake and I so wanted to love it. But then I had a bite. It wasn’t really bad, just bland, and with a cake as stunning looking as that, you expect something amazing. And that’s exactly how I feel about Alice In Wonderland.

In this Alice in Wonderland, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is 19 years old who falls down the rabbit hole after running away during her own marriage proposal. She lands in Underland, a place she previously visited 13 years ago, but doesn’t remember. Alice encounters the weird inhabitants of Underland, including the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) and the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and gets caught up in the battle between the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).

Visually this movie is gorgeous. I saw it at the IMAX in 3D and it’s definitely worth the little bit extra to see it there. I wasn’t that convinced by 3D last year, but now movies like Alice in Wonderland and Avatar are proving how beautiful this technique can be used. There are so many pretty things in this movie: the landscapes and buildings, the costumes, the characters, everything just looks great.

Wonderland (or Underland as it’s called here) is a weird place with some wonderfully Burtonesque characteristics, like twisty curly trees and a moat full of heads. I loved both the Red Queen’s and White Queen’s castles; each have little details in them, emphasizing those character’s personalities. The animated characters also look great, with only the white rabbit in the “real” world at the very start of the movie appearing a bit jarring. My favourite has got to be the Cheshire cat though, acting just like a cat is supposed to (I so want a cuddly toy like that!). I also have to mention the brilliant costume design here. Alice has at least 7 different dresses in this movie and they all looked amazing.

Despite how stunning everything in Alice In Wonderland looks like, there’s something missing in this movie. I still can’t pinpoint exactly what it is. Charm? Warmth? The thing is… I didn’t care for Alice or any of the characters at all, there was no emotional connection to make me feel invested in the movie. Besides that, Alice just jumps from one event to the other and you never feel as if she’s in any real danger. The Red Queen screams “Off with her/his head!” a number of times, but you never really feel as if there’s an actual threat.

Alice In Wonderland is a visually stunning movie that deserves to be seen in as large a cinema you can get. Everything looks amazing and it’s worth seeing it for that alone. Story-wise it isn’t the epic movie I was hoping for, but it’s still a good addition to the Alice In Wonderland interpretations.

Tron Viral Game: Find The Video Games

Melinda — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:03:22 +0000

Last year I blogged about a cool “game” that was a giant image where you had to solve cryptic clues of movie titles. Now there’s been a new chapter in the Tron viral game that does something similar but for video games.

If you haven’t been following what’s been happening with the Tron viral game, head on over to Firstshowing.com who have done some great coverage of it so far. The latest discovery of the game is the site Arcade Aid which features an image of a huge pixel city with 56 hidden video game references. Once you solve all 56 references, you can get a ”Special Access” Encom ID, which will most probably lead to another step of the viral game some time in the future.

I’ve only got 10 so far (and then I decided I should blog about it first before continuing with it), but I already love some of the cryptic clues. How many were you able to solve?

The Saga of The Lenses Part 2

Melinda — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:00:28 +0000

Sorry for the peace and quiet on my blog the past couple of days. As most of you know I spent the past two weeks in the Netherlands, celebrating my birthday with family, but also making some must needed trips to hospital, dentist and optician. Anywho, I arrived back in London two days ago, and am slowly getting back into the daily rhythm of work.

The main change for me is I’ve got to switch to hard contact lenses (I’ve been using soft contact lenses for 10 years now) and it’s proving quite a challenge. Remember my blog post during Christmas where I went to the optician and found out my eyes had declined even more, and that I had to go to the hospital first before I could get any new lenses? Well, I went to the hospital, they checked my eyes and everything is fine. My eyes have declined quite a bit, but that happens more often and they can’t see anything weird going on.

So I went back to the optician where they had a new lens specialist who measured my eyes again. She explained to me that my astigmatism is now so high that soft lenses might not work properly anymore. Astigmatism is caused by the curvature of your eye; the higher the astigmatism the more irregular your eye. When the astigmatism becomes to high, what can happen with soft lenses is that when they dry out or when you blink, the lenses warp and the wearer can’t focus properly. Hard lenses don’t warp, so they don’t have that problem.

I’ve gotten test sets for both soft lenses and hard lenses, and I already notice the difference. I just can’t see properly through the soft ones anymore, while with the hard ones everything is so much sharper and precise. But my eyes need time to adapt to them; each time I put them in my eyes tear up terribly and there’s nothing I can do about that. It takes about 2-4 weeks to fully adapt your eyes, and I’m now on day 7. All I can do is keep wearing them and hoping my eyes adjust to them as quick as possible.

I’ve always wanted to switch to hard lenses, but was always too busy, and didn’t want to spend time getting used to them. Now I have no choice in the matter and I’ve got to make time to adapt my eyes to them. It’s annoying and time consuming, but in the end I know it will turn out better. The great thing about hard lenses is that they last way longer than soft ones (like at least 2 years) and they only cost €230 (in comparison to 4 times €160 in 2 years). So fingers crossed that my eyes will adapt quickly.

My Oscar Predictions

Melinda — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:30:35 +0000

I’ve always found it fun to try to predict the Oscar winners, but never took the time in previous years to turn it into a blog post. This year however I thought I owed it to myself to actually have an Oscar week on this blog and there’s no better way then to start with my predictions! Of course next Monday I’ll let you all know how many I had right and wrong (with more in the wrong I’m guessing).

I’ve left a couple of categories out (Best Documentary – Short Subjects , Best Short Film – Live Action, Best Short Film – Animated ), cause I haven’t seen any of the films in those. But the rest I’ve tried to guess; let’s see how many I’ll have right. If you want to play along, leave your predictions behind in the comments!

Best Picture :

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Director:

James Cameron – Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious
Jason Reitman – Up In The Air

Best Actor In A Leading Role :

Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up In The Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

Best Actress In A Leading Role:

Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Best Actor In A Supporting Role:

Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress In A Supporting Role:

Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up In The Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up In The Air
Mo’nique – Precious

Best Animated Film:

The Fantastic Mr Fox
Coraline
The Princess and The Frog
Up
The Secret of Kells

Best Original Screenplay :

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Best Adapted Screenplay:

District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up In The Air

Best Foreign Language Film :

Ajami
El Secreto De Sus Ojos
La Teta Asus Tada
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Best Original Score:

Avatar – James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker – Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes – Hans Zimmer
Up – Michael Giacchino

Best Original Song :

Crazy Heart – “The Weary Kind”
Faubourg 36 – “Loin de Paname”
Nine – “Take It All”
The Princess and the Frog – “Down in New Orleans”
The Princess and the Frog – “Almost There”

Best Documentary, Features:

Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Best Art Direction :

Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography :

Avatar
The White Ribbon
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds

Best Costume Design :

Bright Star
Coco Avant Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Makeup :

Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Editing :

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Visual Effects :

Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Sound Editing:

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Best Sound Mixing :

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Update: I completely forgot to mention this (stupid brain isn’t working 100% today), but this post is my entry into VoucherCodes.co.uk’s Oscar sweepstake! It’s only open to entertainment bloggers and critics, and whoever collects the most points (+1 for a good prediction, -1 for a wrong prediction) can win a £250 Amazon voucher. Wish me luck!

Everything You Wanted To Know About The Oscars

Melinda — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:30:03 +0000

I stumbled on this cool infographic from LocateTV about the Oscars and of course it’s a perfect post for Oscar week!

Link Love: February 16th through March 3rd

Melinda — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:00:01 +0000

Interesting links for February 16th through March 3rd:

Final Fantasy Food Shop | ElectricSpectre – Lol, your guide to what to eat while you’re stuck playing Final Fantasy.
Model-Morphosis – Cool series of posts showing before and after shots of models with makeup and styling.
News: Taylor Lautner Fan Letter To Universal: Your Wolfman Ripped Off Twilight – Ridiculous letter from a girl complaining how The Wolfman was a ripoff from Twilight…

Oscar Week!

Melinda — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:30:03 +0000

It’s Oscar Week on MissGeeky! I was planning to start this yesterday, but my trip to the Netherlands is taking up a lot of my time (lots of appointments with dentist, optician, doctor, etc etc) and I haven’t been behind my laptop nearly as much as I’ve wanted to.

This entire week will be devoted to the Oscars. I’ll (try to) write an Oscar related blog post every day leading up to the Oscars on Sunday night, including of course my predictions. And I’ll be live-tweeting my thoughts during the show. So are you excited yet for the Oscars?

Me Wantz: My Home Is My Castle Keyring

Melinda — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:30:14 +0000

Pwetty! I’m completely in love with vintage keys at the moment, and am still looking for something like this as a necklace:

It’s £8 on the V&A website.

Fashion Focus: Tights from Les Queuses de Sardines

Melinda — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:00:08 +0000

I always like it when tights are livened up with some interesting graphics. These ones from Les Queuses de Sardines are pretty cool and a little bit on the weird side:

Check out all the designs on the Les Queuses de Sardines website.

Via Girlybubble

Laptop Decals: Ivy Bee’s Isaac Newton, Robin Hood and Lady Gaga

Melinda — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:30:06 +0000

I stumbled on another store with cool decals for your laptop: Ivy Bee. There are a couple of pretty funny designs, really integrating the apple logo into them.

Take for instance this decal featuring Isaac Newton:

Or this one with Robin Hood:

Then there’s the obvious Eve and the Apple and the snake:

Lady Gaga:

But my favourite has to be My Little Pony:

The decals are made from durable high grade gloss finish vinyl. Decals are self adhesive making them easy to apply and remove, leaving no residue behind. This material is specifically made for this application and will last a very long time outdoors. The decals all cost $12.99 with shipping costs $1.00 for US and $5.00 for everywhere else. Check out Ivy Bee’s store for more information.

My Birthday Presents!

Melinda — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:30:43 +0000

Today it’s my birthday! And the past week leading up to today has just been fantastic. For almost the entire week, I’ve been in such a good mood. Things have just been going so well and half the time I’ve had this silly grin just plastered to my face.

It started last Tuesday with a great turnout to the first Movie Geeks of London. I am so glad that event went well, and that people were just excited for it as I was. It’s always tricky launching a new event, so I’m happy it seems to be an event that actually fills a gap in the event space. I’m definitely going to do another one next month (end of March-ish?), so if you missed the previous one, keep an eye out on my Twitter for any announcements. Then I celebrated my birthday last Saturday with friends, feasting on pizzas, donuts, cookies and cocktails. I might have overdone it a bit (my stomach still hasn’t settled down), but it was awesome to spend that day with friends.

One thing that totally contributed to my good mood was the fantastic presents I got this year. First off, from my parents, brother and sister:

A PlayStation 3! Squeeeee! I kind of knew that I’d get that this year, but I thought later in the Netherlands while I was there. Instead my mum conspired together with Cristiano so that I unwrapped it on Saturday morning. Plus it came with 2 controllers, loading dock and 3 games:

I’ve already started Darksiders and Soul Soul Calibur IV and I’m loving both of them so far. I haven’t started Uncharted 2 yet, mainly because I haven’t had the time yet, but also cause I’m not sure whether or not I should play the first one first. Besides those 3 games though what really has me psyched:

It’s not been released yet, but I’ll be getting the Collectors edition of FFXIII on 9th of March. That includes the game, plus soundtrack cd, a special hardback book featuring artwork and designs, 3 artprints of the Eidolons, and a decal of l’Cie brand. Awesome!

From Cristiano I got my very own iPod Touch:

I’ve been wanting one for ages! Then I got some great gifts from friends:

I loved The Prestige (both the movie and the book), but I hadn’t taken the time to check out any of Priest’s other stuff. Priest seems to be brilliant though at building weird intricate stories which I adore.

Regular readers will know how addicted I am to Lush! I got a bunch of lovely Lush stuff, including the tasty Sweet Lips in the picture above. It’s one of Lush’s new products and is so far the best lip scrub I’ve found (mainly because you can lick your lips clean and just eat the sugar once you’re done).

Besides these presents, I got some yummy chocolates, Body Shop giftbag, book vouchers and a chocolate recipe book. My friends are awesome…

To top it off, I’ve gotten screening tickets to Kick-Ass tonight! I’ve been wanting to watch this movie for ages and being able to see it a full month before it actually comes out? Sweet. I won’t be able to write about it though (there’s an embargo until sometime March), but you might guess my mood from my tweets later tonight.

Me Wantz: Octopus Jewellery

Melinda — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:30:35 +0000

This is a little bit weird and creepy, but at the same time I love how this looks. OctopusME is an Etsy seller who specializes in sterling silver cast octopus parts… made from actual sushi grade octopus. I think it’s gorgeous, but at the same I’m a bit creeped out by it.

Here are a couple of her designs:

Check out all her designs in the OctopusME etsy store.

Via Girlybubble

Miss Geeky Birthday! Plus a Giveaway!

Melinda — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:00:29 +0000

I almost forgot about it, but last Wednesday the 17th of February was my 3rd blog birthday. Or anniversary. Whatever you’re supposed to call it. So today I’ve been blogging now for exactly 3 years and 3 days. Yay!

It’s not the actual MissGeeky.com birthday; I started this site months later that year in September (and moved all existing blog posts from the old site to here). For me though this date is the more important of the two, cause this is when I started realizing how much I love writing about the stuff I like and sharing it with you all!

It seemed kind of apt to celebrate it today, cause in real life I’m having my birthday party today. Which weirdly enough is in 3 days time. So this 1 day falls exactly in between my blog birthday and my real birthday (3 days after and 3 days before).

So to celebrate both my blog birthday and my real birthday, I thought I’d hold a giveaway for my dear readers. The winner will receive a copy of the Yoko Tsuno comic “On The Edge of Life” (below is an image of the French version, but don’t worry the giveaway here is for the English one).

All you have to do is leave a comment behind with what your favourite blog post on MissGeeky.com has been in the past 3 years. The competition ends on March 6th 17:00.

If you haven’t been around the full 3 years, take a look at the archives to see some older post (although honestly looking back, I have to admit some of my writing was pretty bad)). Here are a couple of my favourite ones (at least the ones that were fun to write):

5 Geeky Last Minute Halloween Costumes For Girls
Book Review: Agent To The Stars by John Scalzi
The Definition of Geekiness
20 Cartoons You Might Have Forgotten
Game Review: Carcassonne
The Dark Knight “It’s All Part Of The Plan” London Report
Disney Fairy Tale Wedding Dresses
Musical Review: Spring Awakening
My Favourite Geeky Web Comics
Tokyoflash Watch Tibida

I’m still amazed that it’s already been 3 years! In that time I’ve written 820 posts with around 1500 comments, and have slowly gained 25000 visitors per month. Thanks to all you readers out there! I’m glad you’re all enjoying what I write about.

Event: Final Fantasy XIII Launch

Melinda — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:00:52 +0000

Regular MissGeeky readers will know how addicted I am to the Final Fantasy games. I haven’t played that many games the past two years, but FF is something that will always get me hooked. The latest edition to this epic series will be coming out on March 9th, after a 4 year gap of no FF games. Like I said in previous posts this game is what will finally convince me to get a PS3 or an Xbox360.

So I was excited to see that there’s a special UK launch event happening on the 9th at the HMV on Oxford Street! Both Yoshinori Kitase, the producer of the game, and Isamu Kamikokuryo, the game’s art director, will be there to sign games and answer any questions. Also the first 50 people to show up dressed in Final Fantasy costumes will be treated to the soundtrack cd of FFXIII. Plus anyone who attends will have the chance to win special goodies.

Date: 9th March 2010
Time: 5.30pm – 7:30pm
Address: HMV, 150 Oxford Street, London, W1D1DJ

Awesome! I wish I could make it, but I’m flying in that day from the Netherlands, so regrettably won’t be able to join.

Video of The Day: The Best Performances of the Decade

Melinda — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:00:54 +0000

Episode 162: “If I looked like Kate Winslet, I’d act naked as well”

We’re already well into 2010 and while it’s a bit late for your Best Of 2009 lists, I still think we’re allowed a bit more time to reflect on the past decade. This video from the New York Times features a whole bunch of actors and actresses all answering the same question: What is the best performance of the decade?

Here’s the full list of everybody appearing in it: Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Christoph Waltz, Sam Worthington, Vera Farmiga, Tobey Maguire, Colin Firth, Zoe Saldana and George Clooney.

Some of these answers are great; it’s hard to pin down what makes a great performance and it’s such a personal choice, I think. I agree with Carey Mulligan about Saoirse Ronan in Atonement and with Sandra Bullock about Kate Winslet in The Reader; they both were brilliant in those. But Sam Worthington about Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor? I do think Eddie Murphy’s roles are sometimes unappreciated, but seriously, Sam?? THAT was in your eyes the best performance in the decade?

Btw, what the hell is going on with Sandra Bullock’s big hair? Is it part of whatever movie she’s currently filming?

Who do you most agree with? What is for you the best performance of the decade?

Via BuzzSugar

TV Preview: Glee Promo

Melinda — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:00:36 +0000

I’ve kind of gotten addicted to Glee the past couple of months. I know how cheesy it is, and I have to admit I’m not the greatest fan of the actual story lines, but I love the songs performed in it (I’ve got a weakness for musicals, growing up with lots of singing along to The Sound of Music and Oklahoma!).

Anyway, in the US the show has been on hiatus since December and we’re having to wait until it comes back in April (Tuesday April 13th to be exact). Fox has just released a new trailer though and I’m guessing in the weeks before airing we’ll get to see even more goodies:

What do you think of the trailer? They don’t show a lot, but it looks like they’ll be doing some good songs!

Trailerrific Thursday: Toy Story 3, Defendor and More

Melinda — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:00:08 +0000

And it’s time for another Trailerrific Thursday! There weren’t that many trailers released this week, but there were still a couple of interesting movies that are definitely worth checking out.

Toy Story 3: So far I haven’t been that excited for Toy Story 3; none of the previous teasers and trailers looked that interesting to me, but this trailer changes that all! It finally features some of the new toys (a couple of which look hilarious) and a bit more of the actual plot. Love the look of it now! Just one thing: why do all Pixar movies come out way later here in the UK? Release Date: 18 June (US), 23 July (UK)

Defendor: A crooked cop, a mob boss and the young girl they abuse are the denizens of a city’s criminal underworld. It’s a world that ordinary Arthur Poppington doesn’t understand and doesn’t belong in, but is committed to fighting when he changes into a vigilante super-hero of his own making, Defendor. With no power other than courage Defendor takes to the streets to protect the city’s innocents. Release Date: 26 February (US limited)

Get Him To The Greek: A sort of sequel/spin-off to last year’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which a record company intern (Jonah Hill) is hired to accompany out-of-control British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) to a concert at L.A.’s Greek Theater. I really liked Forgetting Sarah Marshall and thought Brand was hilarious as rock star Aldous Snow. He was great as a side character, but putting him here as a central character next to Hill… I’m not convinced yet. Release Date: 4 June (US)

Leaves of Grass: An Ivy League professor (Edward Norton) is lured back to his Oklahoma hometown, where his twin brother (also Edward Norton), a small-time pot grower, has concocted a scheme to take down a local drug lord. Release Date: 2 April (US)

Me Wantz: Chocolate Pie Chart

Melinda — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:00:43 +0000

There’s nothing better than chocolate to cheer you up on a miserable day. Add a pie chart to the mix, and you’ve got the Math Geek in me drooling over this:

An actual Chocolate Pie Chart! With 70% dark, 20% milk and 10% white chocolate. You can get it for $20 on Chocolate Editions.

Video of The Day: The Descendent

Melinda — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:00:24 +0000

Episode 161: “Once upon a time there lived a young prince”

Creepy short movie. Made me jump a couple of times:

Link Love: February 10th through February 15th

Melinda — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:01:41 +0000

Interesting links for February 10th through February 15th:

‘Love Actually’ Interconnections – Diagram showing all the relationships between the characters of Love Actually.
Wonderland: Escher lego – I love staring at Escher drawings, my logical mind always wants to make sense out of them while realizing that's not really possible. How to make Escher better? By adding Lego of course!
‘Library Loft’ Condo: 100+ Built-In Wall Cabinets & Shelves – Ooh, I've always wanted a house with built-in bookcases, but the nooks and crannies in this design are awesome!
Toy Story 3 Trailer Easter Eggs Revealed | /Film – Awesome hidden easter eggs! If there are so many already in the trailer alone, how many will be in the actual movie?
Minimalistic Posters – Brilliant minimalistic posters for shows, like 24, Macguyver, Twin Peaks, and Battlestar Galactica. I love the ones for Scrubs and Friends!
Sin to Win?: Video Gaming’s Most Ridiculous Marketing Stunts – List of 5 marketing stunts to promote video games.

Fashion Focus: Skater Dress

Melinda — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:00:04 +0000

Last week when Siany at A Change of Dress blogged about a cute little skater dress from New Look, I just knew I had to go in to try it on. So on Friday I had a look at New Look’s new Oxford Street store (where Borders used to be… bit depressing to see how different it now looks) and the dress fit perfectly!

It’s available in 5 different colours (black, alabaster, grey, peach and mint green) for only £16. I ended up getting the black one, mainly because that’s the only one of the 5 colours I could actually find. But even then, I’m not really sure whether the other colours really suited me (especially not the peach or the green… alabaster maybe). I love how simple this dress is; it’s not perfectly made (there are a couple of sewing faults near the waist), but it falls in a flowy fun way. It’s a bit thin for winter, I think, but with spring coming up it’s perfect!

Check out the New Look website for the full details.

Me Wantz: Button Hairband

Melinda — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:00:02 +0000

I’ve tired wearing hairbands with stuff on them, like roses and butterflies, but they also end up looking silly. But this hairband could look super cute!

You can get it from the V&A online store for only £14!

Laptop Decals: Frank Miller GelaSkins

Melinda — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:00:17 +0000

GelaSkins has added a new artist to their ever growing collection of skins: Frank Miller! These skins look awesome:

There are six designs in total, some available for iPhones, others only for laptops (depending on the shape of the image).

Take a look at the artist page on GelaSkins.com to see all of Frank Miller’s available designs.

Trailerrific Thursday: The Losers, The Ghost Writer and More

Melinda — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:00:24 +0000

The Last Airbender: We already saw the Superbowl TV spot last week, and I was hoping to see a bit more of the acting in this one. I still think this looks amazing in the visual effects department and the martial arts. Acting wise though… still not convinced; it doesn’t seem promising that they’re not showing any proper acting scenes with Aang. I want to like this and I’m still excited for it, but I’m scared this could turn out to be a disappointment. Release Date: July 2nd (US), August 13th (UK)

The Losers: This looks like fun! The Losers centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they’re joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Release Date: 9 April 2010 (UK, US)

Killers: Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher) is just your average, undercover, government-hired super-assassin accustomed to a life of exotic European locales, flashy sports cars and even flashier women. But when he meets Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), a beautiful, fun-loving computer tech recovering from a bad break-up, he finds true love… and happily trades international intrigue for domestic bliss. Release Date: 4 June 2010 (US)

The Ghost Writer: When a successful British ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), his agent assures him it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang’s long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident. Release Date: unknown

Les Aventures Extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec: Directed by Luc Besson, an adventure set in the early party of the 20th century and focused on a popular novelist and her dealings with would-be suitors, the cops, monsters, and other distractions. Release Date: unknown

She’s Out of My League: An average Joe meets the perfect woman, but his lack of confidence and the influence of his friends and family begin to pick away at the relationship. Release Date: 12 March 2010 (UK, US)

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps: When Gordan Gekko (Michael Douglas) comes out of prison, he essentially has to redefine himself, redefine his character, he’s looking for that second chance. Shia LaBeouf portrays Jake Moore, who is the fiancé of Gekko’s daughter, played by Carey Mulligan; Josh Brolin as the head of an investment bank; and Susan Sarandon as Jake’s mother. Release Date: 23 April 2010 (UK, US)

MacGruber: The long awaited movie about America’s most awesome hero. Ehm, well, no. This doesn’t look as bad as it could have, but it’s still not something I’m interested in seeing. Release Date: 23 April 2010 (US)

Cemetery Junction: A 1970s-set comedy centered on three upstart professional men working at an insurance company. Directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Release Date: 14 April 2010 (UK)

Secret Santa: Necklace

Melinda — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:00:38 +0000

The final Secret Santa present I got was a beautiful necklace from Colleen of Lavender Lines:

Thanks, Colleen!

Video of The Day: Roger The Cat

Melinda — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:00:11 +0000

Episode 160: *purr*

Awesome cat:

Roger The Cat from Goro Fujita on Vimeo.

Mini Movie Reviews: 2009 (Part 2)

Melinda — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:00:08 +0000

Slowly working my way through reviewing the rest of the movies I watched last year. I also still need to do some proper reviews of the movies I’ve watched this year. I can’t believe it’s February already!

9

Great concept, bad execution. 9 takes place in the future, where mankind has been wiped out by machines. When a small burlap doll, called 9, comes to life, he has no idea what has happened to this world. Together with a group of other dolls, he tries to figure why they were created and were meant to do.

Visually 9 looks gorgeous; the doll designs, the apocalyptic world, the monster robots, it all looks superb. But the story behind it was just too weak. There’s no real answer to any of the questions raised and the plot just jumps from one encounter to the other. It kind of feels like a bad video game, with the plot taking a back seat to the visuals. Such a shame because this could have been amazing.

High School Musical

Yeah, I finally went ahead and watched this. I always find it a bit hypocritical to completely trash a movie if you haven’t seen it. Was it as bad as I expected? Yep. Did I enjoy it? Ehm, honestly? Yes. It’s so cheesy and predictable, but it’s a fun movie that never takes itself seriously. And some of the songs are pretty catchy.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Staying in the realm of musicals for a bit, I had wanted to watch Repo for ages. The movie is set in the year 2056, where GeneCo rents out organs to people. If they can’t pay though, the Repo man is sent to collect their organs…

A horror opera in a futuristic world. Awesome idea! In reality though, I didn’t like the movie as much as I had expected. I didn’t like any of the songs and the story just wasn’t that interesting. I loved the comic book snapshots throughout the film though and adored all the actors singing (Anthony Stewart Head!!). I just wished they had better songs to sing.

I should have expected how bad this was, seeing as Nicholas Cage is in it. It’s loosely based on a Philip K. Dick story, but plotwise it really isn’t that impressive. Cage stars as a man who can see a couple of seconds into the future and is wanted by the FBI because of this skill. A waste of time: avoid.

Eragon

I love a good dragon story, but Eragon was just aweful. The acting was bad, the story was boring (and completely ripped off from Star Wars of course) and just didn’t make sense. The dragon was pretty though.

Eagle Eye

I watched this straight after Next and Eragon, thinking I’d do a bad movie afternoon. Jerry (Shia LaBeouf) and Rachel (Michelle Monaghan) are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. Surprisingly it was more enjoyable than I had expected. It’s not the greatest action or thriller ever made (no by far), but it’s a good fun movie for a rainy afternoon.

The Escapist

Frank is a convict fourteen years into a life sentence without parole. But when his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to escape and be with her before it’s too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, recruiting a bunch of other inmates escapists, each with specific skills to make their escape work.

I really liked this movie. It was a bit slow going, but the way the story unfolds was pretty cool. Instead of just a normal narrative, we get to see two stories simultaneously: the preparation of the escape and the escape itself. I was expecting some weird scifi twist (mainly because I had seen glimpses of a London underground station during the escape in the trailer and was trying to figure out why they were underground, but that’s actually never explained), but even without that it’s an interesting movie.

City of Ember

Another underground movie. For generations, the people of the City of Ember have lived underground. But Ember’s once powerful generator is failing… and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Two teenagers must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city’s existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever.

I wish I had read the book first, but it’s still a great movie. Yes, it’s a kids movie, but the way the fantasy world has been built up is charming. Bill Murray is good as the unlikable Mayor and Saoirse Ronan is sweet as the young heroine.

Vantage Point

I always love slightly different narratives in movies. In Vantage Point we see an attempted assassination on the American President from several vantage points. Instead of just repeating the same exact period of time from different points of view though, we slowly get more and more parts of the story. I had expected it to become a bit tiring after a while, but the movie manages to keep you interested and intrigued without repeating too much of what you seen already. Some of the ‘twists’ were a bit predictable, but even I hadn’t figured it all out.

Oscar

I wonder how many of you have even heard of this movie? Oscar stars Sylvester Stallone as Snaps Provolone, mafia boss who promises his dying father that he’ll turn into a honest businessman. On the day that he’s supposed to ‘go straight’ all things go wrong, starting with his accountant announcing he wants to marry Snaps’ daughter.

This is one of those movies I remember loving as a kid/teen, but it had been ages since I had last seen it. Was it as good as I remember? No, but that never is the case with movies you worshipped as a kid. It’s still a funny movie and has some hilarious mixups in it.

Shelftastic: My New Bookcases

Melinda — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:00:13 +0000

When we moved to our new apartment a year ago, the one major thing that was lacking was shelf space. Now I’m not the best person when it comes to interior design. Somehow I’m a little bit too logical and practical and always go for the solution which makes sense space and money wise. And of course the same happened here.

I bought a huge bookcase from IKEA (120cm wide, 40cm deep and 192cm high) which could fit 3 rows of books on one shelf. Awesome, I thought. Very space efficient and the maximum cost vs shelf space solution. But it was really way too large and bulky; it took too much space up and actually only fitted on one spot in the entire house. Plus there were 2 rows of books which I couldn’t see or reach! I’m enough of a book addict that I want to SEE my lovely books.

So when we realised that we needed a new mattress we thought we might as just as well order a couple of new book cases. I actually went for the same IKEA system, but ones that were half as deep (only 20cm vs 40cm):

These are perfect for my books! I need a couple more shelves, but I love how flat these shelves are. I’ve got 3 bookcases now in total (the 2 you see above and exactly the same one against another wall) and there’s most than space for all my books.

The bookcase is £35 on IKEA and comes in 4 colours.

My Top 10 Most Anticipated 2010 Movies

Melinda — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:00:10 +0000

Yeah, I know we’re already a month into 2010, but I still wanted to do a list of the movies I’m most excited for. These won’t be the best movies or the top grossing movies (otherwise I would have added the Twilight and the Harry Potter sequels), but these are the movies I personally am really looking forward to.

Alice In Wonderland – March 5th (US, UK)

I can’t wait for this movie! I’ve been keeping an eye on the IMAX website, waiting till the tickets will be released (I’m not even in the country on the actual release date, but still want to get seats as quick as possible). If you hadn’t heard about this little movie yet, it’s Tim Burton’s interpretation of Alice in Wonderland, starring new comer Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and tons of more familiar actors. I’m a sucker for Alice In Wonderland stories/reinterpretations, and I love the look of this movie.

Kick-Ass – April 2nd (UK), April 16th (US)

The first two trailers I saw of Kick-Ass looked awesome, so much so that I’m now in Avoid All Marketing mode. I know I want to see this movie when it’s released and I just don’t want to be spoilt by any new trailers. I’m still a little bit scared about Nicholas Cage (when was his last good movie?), but my hopes are high. Kick-Ass is about a teenager (Aaron Johnson), who decides to become superhero after being inspired by the heroes of comic books. He soon comes across a mysterious vigilante called Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), and his daughter Hit-Girl (Chloë Moretz).

Iron Man 2 – April 30th (UK), May 7th (US)

I wasn’t the hugest fan of the first Iron Man, but I still am excited for its sequel. The moment Samuel Jackson was revealed at the end of the last movie was one of my best cinema experiences (everyone was cheering together and it felt great). I know this movie is going to be a blast! Especially with Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke added to the cast. Not too sure about Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, but at least she does look the part!

Robin Hood – May 14th (UK, US)

This is the one movie on this list I’m still really dubious about. So far it just looks like Gladiator in medieval times. But it’s Ridley Scott. And Russell Crowe. And freaking Robin Hood. I want to like this so much and be swept away as I was with Gladiator.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time – May 28th (UK,US)

I love the look of the trailer; it reminds of The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean (in a good way). I think this is mainly going to be a fun action movie. It won’t win any awards or anything like that (and I have a feeling it might lean towards the cheesy side), but I think it’s going to be one of those movies I could watch over and over again.

The Last Airbender – July 2nd (US), August 13th (UK)

Yeah, I was addicted to the TV show, so it was kind of a given I’d be excited for the movie. As I said last week, I think the trailer looked awesome! I haven’t always been a fan of M Night Shyamalan, but I like how he’s staying true to the original (at least from what we’ve seen so far). I still have some doubts (like how will Appa and Momo look like?), so bring on the full length trailer!

Inception – July 16th (US)

Christopher Nolan is one of my favourite directors, mainly because of Memento and The Prestige. I mean, I loved Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but I adore and love love love Nolan’s movies with unusual intricate story lines. Inception seems to fit right in along those lines with a trailer that looks complex and a completely mental. Yay, my type of movie! I love how Leonardo di Caprio has said in an interview that it “didn’t make sense to him” while shooting the movie.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – August 6th (UK), August 13th (US)

I know I shouldn’t be this excited for a movie of which I’ve only seen a handful of images. But everything I’ve seen so far just looks cool. The comic book has been on my wish list since I’ve heard of the movie, and I like the style of it all. Plus it’s being directed by Edgar Wright, the genius behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I mean it can’t turn out bad, right?

Rapunzel – November 24th (US)

I still haven’t seen Disney’s latest animation yet (The Princess and The Frog), but I’m already excited for Rapunzel. I grew up with the golden era Disney musicals (I was 6 when The Little Mermaid came out) and it’s great to see them going back to them. Plus Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi (Chuck!!!) as the main characters? Yay!

Tron Legacy – December 17th (US)

And last but not least, Tron Legacy. It’s been ages since I last saw the original, and about time that I give it a rewatch. The footage we’ve seen so far of this sequel looks awesome!

So do you agree with my choices? Or are there other movies you’re more excited in seeing?

Secret Santa: 5 Great Novels by Philip K. Dick

Melinda — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:00:02 +0000

As I said in previous posts, I’ve got some catching up to do with old blog posts. Remember I organized a Blogger’s Secret Santa last December? Well, I ended up getting this wonderful book:

Awesome, right? I still haven’t had time to read it, but it contains some of the essential Philip K. Dick stories: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which Blade Runner is based on), Martian Time Slip, Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and A Scanner Darkly.

Thanks, Secret Santa!

Events: Geeks of London

Melinda — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:00:29 +0000

If you’ve been following my Twitter account, you will have noticed I’m working on a new series of events: the Geeks of London.

Most of you here know that I’ve been doing the Geek Dinners for two years now, so why the sudden new event? While I loved organizing the Geek Dinners, I noticed a couple of things: For starters, it’s always been confusing to people what ‘Dinners’ meant. In a lot of people’s eyes that meant a sit-down dinner, and some were then scared off by such a formal setting. We never ever did an actual proper sit down dinner, most of the time it was just a buffet, but it’s always been a bit unclear to people what the dinner part entailed.

Besides that I’ve always felt the term Geek doesn’t necessarily only mean techy geek. I think geeks come in all types of varieties, like movie geeks and comic book geeks. One final reason to change the event was because of the Girl Geek Dinners. I appreciate what the Girl Geek Dinners are doing, but they’ve grown so much by now that a lot of people didn’t realized there was also a “normal” Geek Dinner (I hate using the term “normal”, because that would imply the GGDs are abnormal, but I hope you get my drift).

So the idea of this new series of events was to step away from the former Geek Dinner name, but to also organize meetups for all different types of geeks, be they movie geeks, comic book geeks or tech geeks. The first meetup will a Movie Geeks of London meetup, which will take place next week on Tuesday the 16th (for more details check out the website).

I’m hoping more people will get involved and will take on the role of organizing some of the meetups. I really want this to be as varied as possible with all sorts of themed events. The first event will just be a hang-around-a-pub-and-meet-lots-of-new-cool-people type meetup, but I’d love to do some meetups with special speakers or sponsors (or in the case of the movie meetups maybe a certain movie that everyone agrees on seeing before meeting up). I know we might have a pub quiz being planned and once the weathers a bit warmer I want to do some photography and geocaching walks. If you’ve got an idea for an event, let me know and I’ll help get you setup.

Link Love: February 1st through February 8th

Melinda — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:02:34 +0000

Interesting links for February 1st through February 8th:

Happy Pills!? Sweet Happiness in Sugar-Pill Supplements – Shop that sells “medical emergency sets” filled with sweets.
Can Live-Action Airbender Live Up To The Cartoon? – Some side by side comparisons of the teaser trailer and the cartoon. Plus: Appa!
Do Knot Forget – Cool ad from Ford.
Spelling Society : Chaos poem. – Awesome poem.

Mini Book Reviews: Rest of 2009

Melinda — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:00:28 +0000

My arm is finally starting to feel better, and I’m slowly getting back to sitting longer behind my laptop. It’s still not completely healed, but it’s much, much better than the past couple of weeks. I’ve got so many blog posts to catch up on: my final movie and book reviews of 2009, the Secret Santa I organized and more.

Here are some short review of books I read last year:

A Song of Ice and Fire – George R R Martin

Ages ago I tried reading A Game of Thrones and just couldn’t get through it. When I heard HBO was making a TV show out of them I knew I had to give them another try. Maybe I was too young the 1st time around, cause this time around I loved the books. The story, the characters, the world, everything is so detailed and built up, I think I might be spoilt for other series. I still have to read the fourth book (A Feast For Crows), but the first three are amazing.

I’m now so looking forward to the HBO show, I just hope they get this right. This is the type of fantasy TV show I’ve been hoping for; something that’s more like a costume drama, just not set in our world.

A Game of Thrones (UK, US), A Clash of Kings (UK, US), A Storm of Swords (Book 1 UK, Book 2 UK, US), A Feast For Crows (UK, US).

The Nightwalkers - Jacquelyn Frank

I really enjoyed these books, it’s again a cool different type of world. In this case it’s set in our world, but with demons, vampires and shapeshifters. The demons (with which the series starts) are the most interesting species with the characters each having elemental powers. The series starts off pretty cool, with some revelations being made over the demons and their back history. There are 5 books in the Nightwalkers series (Jacob, Gideon, Elijah, Damien, Noah) from Jacquelyn Frank. The story continues in her next series Shadowdwellers, about the 4th species in that world, but these 5 form a complete story.

Jacob (UK, US), Gideon (UK, US), Elijah (UK, US), Damien (UK, US), Noah (UK, US)

The Black Magician Trilogy – Trudi Canavan

I read this series a couple of years ago… and absolutely hated it. Well, I liked the premise, but somehow at the time I just didn’t like the ending. Re-reading it now though makes me realize how your tastes do change through the years. This time around I loved every bit of it.

The trilogy is about Sonea, a young girl who lives in the slums and finds out she has magical abilities. But as long as the city can remember only people from the upper classes have been found with magic and have gone on to train at the Guild. The first book drags on a bit and it only really becomes interesting once Sonea is actually at the Guild learning her powers. There are some cool concepts in here, like the way the magic works.

The Magician’s Guild (UK, US), The Novice (UK, US), The High Lord (UK, US)

Heart Fate – Robin D. Owens

The 7th book in the Heart series from Robin D. Owens. I didn’t love this book as much as some of the previous ones, but still an enjoyable read. Heart Fate is about Tinne Holly, the younger brother of Holm Holly (who was the hero in book 3) and his heart mate Lahsin Yew.

Heart Fate (UK, US)

Fire Study – Maria V Snyder

I loved Poison Study and Magic Study (the first two book from this series) and had been looking forward to their conclusion for ages. I won’t say anything about the plot, cause I’d otherwise spoil the first two books too much. Yelena is a great character and it’s cool to see how much she grows during the series.

I liked Fire Study, but somehow at the same time I was a bit disappointed by it. I think I just wanted it to be more than it was; with characters and a world this rich, I was expecting a grand emotional finale. It’s sort of there, but it’s missing that special something that makes me fall in love with a book.

Fire Study (UK, US)

The Rogue Hunter, The Immortal Hunter – Lynsay Sands

Two books from Lynsay Sands’ new Rogue Hunter series; it’s basically a continuation of the Argeneau series (same world, same recurring characters) only she ran out of Argeneau family members to write about.

The first books from the Argeneau series were hilarious, they’re the funniest romance books I’ve read. But the last couple ones… meh. They’re still okay, but I’m missing the funny in them. The Rogue Hunter has some cute moments in it, but most of the plot is pretty boring. The Immortal Hunter, however, gets interesting again, setting up a new main storyline and mystery. I can’t wait to see how this continues.

The Rogue Hunter (UK, US), The Immortal Hunter (UK, US)

The Tamir Triad – Lynn Flewelling

I’m a fan of Flewelling’s other series, The Nightrunners, and was curious to see more of one of the stories we heard about in there. This trilogy takes place a couple of hundred years earlier, when the country Skala is being ruled by an usurper king. For Skala to prosper though, there must always be a Queen on the throne, so the current king is secretly murdering his own female king to protect his own reign. Following prophecy, two wizards spellbound a princess at birth, with a glamour to disguise her, making her look like her dead (sacrificed) brother. The girl grows up believing she’s a boy…

The premise of this book is pretty unique, yet without interesting characters this could have failed completely. The characters and the world that Flewelling has created are fascinating; I sped so quickly through these books, I just wanted to know what happened to them as quick as possible. Great books, I recommend them to anyone who wants a cool new fantasy world.

The Bone Doll’s Twin (UK, US), Hidden Warrior (UK, US), The Oracle’s Queen (UK, US)

The Summoning Series – Robin D. Owens

I read the first two books of this series in early 2009 and finally got around half a year later to finish this series. The books are about the world of Lladrana, where forces of darkness have invaded. The different factions of the world resort to their final option: Summoning their prophesied saviours from the Exotique land aka Earth.

Each book is about the summoning of a human to this strange world where they each discover they have magical abilities. What I loved about these books was how unpredictable they were; they didn’t follow the standard romance formula. Plus it’s got a great fantasy story with lots of magic and talking hamster!

Protector of the Flight (US), Keepers of the Flame (US), Echoes in the Dark (US)

Video of The Day: Google’s Superbowl Ad

Melinda — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:00:42 +0000

Episode 159: “cafes near the louve”

Most of you might have seen this yesterday already, but if you haven’t… so sweet:

Fashion Focus: Black and White Laura Ashley Dresses

Melinda — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:35 +0000

Ever since getting my bridesmaid’s dress from Laura Ashley, I’m kind of digging some of their designs. I still find most of their stuff a bit too stuffy and proper, but some dresses look really cute.

This first one is leaning towards the too ‘neat and proper’, but I think with the accessories it could look awesome.

And this second just looks elegant:

Both dresses are on sale right now, and are only available in limited sizes.

Video of The Day: Oceanic 815 – Side by Side

Melinda — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:00:40 +0000

Episode 158: “Well, it’s not a very strong drink’.

SPOILER alert: if you haven’t seen last week’s season opening of Lost, don’t watch this video.

Via io9

Mini Game: Grayscale

Melinda — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:00:25 +0000

Funny little flash game where you have to turn gears. It’s only 20 levels, but gets pretty tricky:

Tee-rrific: Build Robots, Not Bombs

Melinda — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:00:30 +0000

Yep, I’m starting yet another “rrific” post, this time all about terrific t-shirts! I managed to get this one in a sale yesterday at David & Goliath’s Carnaby Street store for only £5:

Cute, right? And perfect for Hackdays!

Trailerrific: The Last Airbender

Melinda — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:00:49 +0000

I told you last week I’ve been waiting to see more footage of The Last Airbender. We saw a teaser last June, but since then we’ve only gotten glimpses of posters and screenshots. Well, the TV spot for the Super Bowl has just been released and supposedly some time soon we’ll get to see a full trailer:

This looks awesome! I loved the cartoon on which it is based and I think M. Night Shyamalan has the skills to make this work. I’m still worried about how they’re going to squeeze 8 hours of story into only 3 hours max of movie (yeah, not every single episode of the first season is important to the main plot, but you’d be surprised how many episodes are necessary for the story or feature recurring characters).

I also want to see some non-action scenes and see whether or not these kids will be able to portray the characters the right way. The TV show was pretty goofy at times, but that goofiness made the serious episodes all the more worthwhile. I hope that they don’t get rid of that for the the movie.