Fangirl Xanadu

Cross Stitch is Cool!

Lori Henderson — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:36:49 +0000

My husband often rolls his eyes and asks why I like to read the icanhazcheezburger collection of sites. First and foremost, because they can have really funny pictures and videos. But secondly, because I can occasionally find real gems there. Here’s one such gem. Doctor Who fans can be very crafty. Knitting scarves (yes, I did that too), and creating Weeping Angel Christmas tree toppers. And then there’s my favorite crafting hobby: cross stitch. Thanks to Set Phasers to LOL, I’ve found a site that has some free Doctor Who cross stitch patterns.

At Hancock’s House of Happy, there’s been a spurt of Doctor Who creativity. The big draw of course is the Matt Smith pattern. Because bowties are cool, you can’t resist this one! But there are also freebies of the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker), a cyberman (new series), and a warning about the TARDIS, though I wouldn’t associate it with the Doctor. Rory and Amy definitely though. If you like geeky crafting, check out the site!

Elfquest Fans Make Good (Trailer)

Lori Henderson — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:31:43 +0000

I’ve been a fan of the comic series Elfquest for a long time. I started reading it in 1980 I think, with issue 4 of the origial, magazine size issues. I found on my older brother’s floor, and was first attracted by the beautiful art and then the epic story sealed the deal. It was the first comic I read and collected seriously. I was even in a fan holt for a while.

Over the years, we fans have of course heard the rumors of a movie, both live action and animation. Neither came to fruition. And while I would like to see an animated version more, I would watch a live action as well. Especially if it was done by these people. A conversation on twitter tonight about fan films found me this link to a fan made trailer for Elfquest that was made with the blessings of the Pinis. And it really is done well. It features mostly the female characters, and spans a couple of generations. But they get everything right. Not only are the costumes done well, but the people they put in them look like the characters too. It’s something only fans would care about and would never be seen in a Hollywood made film.

With technology as it is, I think with the funding, and the right people in charge (namely these women) I think an Elfquest live action fan film would be very doable.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Deviant Daleks

Lori Henderson — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:35:03 +0000

Deviantart is a great place to find clever Doctor Who fan art. Found on Twitter, this piece combines the Daleks with anime in a way you probably never imagined.

Pretty Soldier Sailor Skaro by ~elfgrove on deviant ART

Maybe this is what Steven Moffat had in mind when he came up with the new Daleks…

Bleaching Ponies

Lori Henderson — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 06:11:53 +0000

Take the first opening from the anime Bleach, with the song “*(asterisk)” by Orange Range, add a bunch of ponies from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and you get a music video that 20% cooler!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Light in Their Eyes

Lori Henderson — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:45:25 +0000

Last week, the kids and I went to get our hair cut. Just down the street from the hair salon is our local comic shop. The newest issue of Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters had come out, as did Mega Man. My oldest has started collecting the new Archie series, and I had to get the Godzilla, so we stopped in. They had my Godzilla, but not the Mega Man. The shop didn’t get it for some reason. My oldest was a little disappointed. But we checked the racks over, as it is my perchance to browse, and something caught my oldest’s eye.

She reached out and grabbed an issue of Axe Cop that was sitting on the shelf. “I’ve seen this online!” she exclaimed and immediately opened it up to start reading it to me out loud. It started with something about chicken brains attacking or something, I don’t remember exactly. But it was something she wanted, and in just the first few pages, was already enjoying it. It’s a really great feeling for a parent to see their child find something they enjoy. Seeing my oldest’s eyes light up really made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. All the more because it wasn’t something I pointed out. It was something she found herself.

After adding that issue to the pile, I went to see what my youngest was up to. She was sitting on the floor reading Phineas and Ferb. I asked her if she wanted it. She said no, she had just finished reading it. After scolding her not to be a manga cow, I do not encourage that AT ALL, she proceeded to point to an issue of Penguins of Madagascar. Issue 4 of 4 of course, just as my oldest had found Axe Cop 2 of 3. And our shop isn’t really good about keeping back issues. But, it’s okay, I’ve got a lot of Doctor Who Classics and Ongoing series to catch up on, and already have an account to Lone Star Comics.

Whether its books, or comics, or manga, I hope to see their eyes light up like that more often.

The Many Faces of Nyan Cat

Lori Henderson — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:31:31 +0000

Nyan Cat started out as a cute Youtube video and quickly became an internet meme. I first encounted it on Twitter, where it was a challenge to see how long you could listen to the Nyan Cat song. Here’s the original Nyan Cat. Go to the video on Youtube itself to see a special treat added to the status bar, just for Nyan Cat!

Click here to view the embedded video.

As Basement Cat is to Ceiling Cat, so Tac Nayn (Tac 9) is to Nyan Cat.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Old Time Nyan Cat has the music played on a piano, and actually sounds pretty nice.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And then came the crossovers. Where else to start than with what is probably the biggest game of the year, Portal 2. And who else than the Space Core to be the star.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If a poptart cat and a Space Core can flew through space with a rainbow and 8 bit music, why can’t the TARDIS?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Every one likes a versus match, right? Here’s the ultimate match up, Nyan Cat vs the Doctor!

Click here to view the embedded video.

And just for the manga lovers, there’s a Nyan Cat just for you. Her name is Chi!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rory Williams Facts

Lori Henderson — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:15:33 +0000

Found via Twitter. The Doctor is cool and all, but he’s not as awesome as Rory Williams. And here’s why:

Rory Williams Facts

For more facts, check out the comments on Reddit.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

Lori Henderson — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:07:57 +0000

I’m not a fan of Green Lantern or DC comic characters in general, but my husband is, so every time a new animated feature comes out we watch it. I don’t know a lot about Green Lantern, just the basics, and what I saw in the first GL animated feature, First Flight. So, I found this new feature to be enlightening and very entertaining.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is a collection of stories about the Green Lantern Corps The stories are told mostly by Hal Jordan to his new apprentice Lantern Arisia as the Corps prepares to battle an old enemy Krona, who is trying to break back into our universe from the anti-matter universe he has been trapped in. The first story tells of the creation of the Green Lantern Corps and of the first Lantern, Avra. An encounter with Kilowog leads to a story about when he was a rookie and his drill sgt Deegan. While waiting on a platform over the sun that Krona is trying to come through, the story of Laira and her first solo mission is told, as is the story of Mogo, a Lantern like you’ve never seen. After a battle with the Shadow Demons, Arisia is told a story of Abin Sur, Jordan’s predecessor, by Sinestro. The feature ends with the Green Lantern Corps fighting against Krona.

I really enjoyed this anthology. Most of the stories first appeared in the comics and were adapted into this feature. They were woven well together, and moved logically from one to the next. There is a lot of fighting and action, with swords and martial arts, and death (mostly red-shirt GLs from what I could tell), as well as drama and some fun humor. There isn’t a lot of emotional depth, but just enough to make you care about the characters and survive. I don’t think there’s one that I really liked more than the others. They all had their moments that I really enjoyed, as well as their “called it” moments. But overall, the good outweighed the obvious.

The voice acting was superb. I loved Nathan Fillian as Hal Jordan. I really enjoyed the other voices, but I’m not real big on actors, so I don’t know a lot of them by name along. I know Nathan because of Castle. The animation was well done. I saw no flaws in it. As I haven’t read the comics stories, I can’t speak for the adaptations. But as a non-comic fan, I found the stories entertaining and well within my grasp, so I would say it was successfully done.

If you are mildly interested in superheroes and/or comic book movies, this is well worth watching. It gives some good background on a character not well-known outside of comic book circles, and with a major release of the same character coming out, getting the un-initiated interested can only be a good thing.

Science is Awesome!

Lori Henderson — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:29:26 +0000

This is why Science is so awesome and Adam Savage is a great host. Watch for great music and goofy dancing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I Would Totally Watch This!

Lori Henderson — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:51:40 +0000

For a while now, an artist from the UK who goes by the handle “Otaking77077, has been posting home-made animated videos of what he thought a Doctor Who anime would look like. He has finally finished it and posted the completed video on Youtube. It’s about 13 minutes long and features John Pertwee’s 3rd Doctor. The animation style is done in the late 80′s fashion, so it is seriously old school for both Doctor Who fans as well as anime fans. But definitely watch it if you’re a fan of either. Most of the dialog is audio clips taken from Doctor Who episodes, with some original voice acting for the Japanese speakers. It’s also has Japanese subtitles for the English, giving this a real authentic feel. There’s not much of a story, but the images are so pretty, you won’t care….

Click here to view the embedded video.

While Otaking77077 took down the original video from his youtube account, and all images from his Deviant Art page, rumor seems to be that he is working on an actual Doctor Who animated reconstruction, so for proprietary sake, he had to take his fan work down. But as they say, once something appears on the net, it’s there forever. It might not be right to share this through another user account, but it’s just too awesome not to be shared.